Visegrad Insight Podcast

Once a year, the European University Institute in Florence brings together high-level EU representatives and leading thinkers to reflect on the critical challenges for the Union in the upcoming years. With attention increasingly focused on the Conference of the Future of Europe, a bottom-up perspective should also be taken into account as part of the conference exercise. What can Central Europeans...

The  Polish Constitutional Court recently ruled in a controversial judgement that Human Rights Ombudsperson Adam Bodnar should be removed from his position after the expiry of his five-year term. In the absence of a  chosen successor, Bodnar has continued his work supporting and intervening on behalf of Polish citizens as stipulated by the Polish Constitution. With the departure of one o...

V4  governments quickly put out a joint statement in support of Czechia's  expulsion of 18 Russian diplomats following an intelligence services  investigation into Russian spy involvement in an ammunition warehouse  blast in 2014. While the statement was communicated quickly after the  news broke, coordinating a common V4 position on other aspects  concerning Russia h...

The  political situation in Ukraine is slowly reaching a boiling point due  to stalled reforms, the continued Russian threat in Donbas and sensitive  issues such as Nord Stream 2 and Black Sea connectivity. How  comfortable is President Volodymyr Zelenskyi in his seat after his  resounding victory in 2019? We discuss the latest domestic developments  as well as Ukrain...

With  the latest news that Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov will not  take a seat in the next parliament and is prepared to put another name  forward as designate to form the next cabinet, the recent elections have  thrown Bulgarian politics into disarray. While the ruling party GERB  came first in the vote it fell short of a resounding victory and obvious  coal...

In the week before Easter, there was little sign of Central European politics slowing down before the holiday period. In Slovakia, the resignation of Prime Minister Igor Matovič caused a brief moment of relief, even though the former head of government will remain an important and divisive voice as Minister of Finance in the reshuffled cabinet. The news about the tragic death of PPF lead...

Although it is hard to predict what the future holds, it is certain  that new sectors will be created, existing industries will be disrupted  and professions transformed. Magda Jakubowska from Res Publica  Foundation, Weronika Kuna, Government Affairs Lead at Microsoft  (Poland), and Daniel Szemerey, Director and Co-Founder of Health Venture  Lab (Hungary), explore wh...

Political instability is not limited to Europe’s immediate neighbourhood and also keeps the political scene preoccupied within the European Union. Whether it is a crisis over vaccine purchases in Slovakia and Czechia. the prospect of new lockdown measures in Poland or tense weeks before elections in Bulgaria, these events often have repercussions elsewhere and a discernible impact on the EU’s fore...

This week, fast-developing events in Central Europe appear to overtake the pace of opinion and analyses. While every day brings new revelations concerning PKN Orlen CEO and Kaczyński-protégé Daniel Obtajtek in  Poland, the Slovak coalition government led by Igor Matovič appears to have reached a dead-end following the prime minister's brash decision to order Sputnik V vaccines from Russia. Wh...

With judicial cooperation in the European Union on the verge of a breakdown because of continuing doubts about Poland's judicial system and a recent government-led takeover of local and regional media, many are expecting the European institutions to step in and put a stop to democratic backsliding and threats to the rule of law. Whether it is the European Court of Justice or the European Parliamen...

Being  adaptable and flexible is the cornerstone of human development. Though  each of us is born with a certain skill set and associated prospects,  the nurture of these skills is a never-ending process, if we want to  develop and utilise them in practical settings. In order to be  successful, companies need to modernise and adapt, too, as well as seek  to create an...

The ongoing rule of law debacle in Poland and Hungary and the case of a  whistleblower in Romania are only signals of a wide-spread problem of coercive clientelism and corruption that beset Central Europe. So-called judicial reforms or changes to media pluralism undermine checks and balances rather than strengthening the democratic institutions of the  region. We discuss recent analysis...

The  words of US President Joe Biden at the Munich Security Conference last  week suggest the Trump years of transactionalism and cosying up to  autocrats are over. Whether it concerns energy or human rights, the US  is demanding a clearer stance by Central and Eastern Europe vis-à-vis  Russia. This may have an impact on Nord Stream 2 but also the EU's  foreign policy...

Earlier  this week, the signing of the Visegrad Declaration in 1991 was  commemorated as an important moment and stepping stone for Central  Europe in its pathway to European integration. European Council  President Charles Michel joined the four leaders in Kraków for a  discussion to map out the future of the V4. But what achievements can  the Visegrad Group look bac...

During and after his visit to Moscow, Josip Borrell was heavily criticised by MEPs and national governments for the ill-timed diplomatic encounter with Sergey Lavrov after a severe crackdown of the Russian authorities on protests in support of Alexei Navalny. What signal did it send to the neighbouring countries of the Eastern Partnership? We speak with Stanislav Secrieru, Senior Analyst at the Eu...

Fluctuating levels of the pandemic-related governmental restrictions resulting in the unpredictability of the markets and economies have been one of the largest issues facing businesses in CEE. At the New Europe 100 Forum in October 2020 Martin Ehl, Chief Analyst, Hospodářské noviny (Czechia), Martyna Trykozko, Deputy Editor-in-Chief, 300Gospodarka (Poland) and Ignacy Morawski, Founder & Head,...

The  sheer size and weight of the Czech financial and investment group PPF  (based in the Netherlands) have raised a few eyebrows in Central Europe  in previous years because of investments in important sectors such as  media and telecommunications. While PPF's founder Petr Kellner has kept a  low profile and consistently emphasised the group's focus on efficient  bus...

Last  weekend, protests were held in 196 Russian towns and cities following  the arrest of Alexei Navalny upon his return to Russia. With a  heavy-handed and violent crackdown on protesters, the Kremlin is opting  for the same tactics used by Alyaksandr Lukashenka in Belarus and Viktor  Yanukovych in response to the Euromaidan in 2013. The possibility of  continued in...

School  closures since the start of the pandemic have brought tremendous  social ramifications for children, however, they have also led to  dramatic consequences in terms of loss of revenue and diverging economic  wellness for present and future generations. Edit Inotai, Senior  Fellow, CEID (Hungary) and Larissa Zierow, Deputy Director, ifo Cente...

How  does the future of professions and enterprises look like? Will working  from home for many of them become a new normal, and is it sustainable?  Does the real estate branch in general, and co-working spaces in  particular, have chances to survive the pandemic? Res  Publica's Tomasz Kasprowicz talks with Ketevan Ebanoidze, Co-CEO of  Impact Hub Tbilisi an...

Talk about social media platforms taking a more active stance against hate speech and persons inciting to violence has ruffled feathers in Warsaw and Budapest. While some governments in Central Europe are now planning to legislate on protecting freedom of speech online, other more concerning digital power issues may continue unchecked. In this week’s podcast, we speak with the Kalecki Foundation’s...

A  couple of weeks in, 2021 shows signs of being as eventful as the  previous one. In the first episode of the new year, Wojciech Przybylski  and Quincy Cloet look at what the storming of the US Capitol means for  world politics and Central Europe in particular, where autocratic  leaders have been inspired and abetted by the Trump playbook. Closer to  home, incitation...

The  world has shifted dramatically over the past several decades.  Nevertheless, one of the evergreen issues persists, and that is  employment. A lot has been said about finding and keeping jobs. However,  the question facing us nowadays is whether education is still key to  securing them. Res  Publica's Wojciech Przybylski looks for an answer with Pavlo Shereme...

Year  2020 has forced us to embrace technological solutions to challenges  that we were hardly prepared to handle. However, now we have the chance  to leapfrog and adapt to the world where effective digital  learning becomes a new normal. At the same time, does technology  actually make education better? Res Publica's  Tomasz Kasprowicz talks with...

The world of finance and economics becomes increasingly dominated by cards and electronic payments, and the technological race to develop secure systems of cashless payments has been heating up for years. Does this mean that we entering a cashless future? Res Publica's Tomasz Kasprowicz explores the issue together with Martin Miszerak, Visiting Lecturer of the Renmin University Business...