Articles and Publications

This article was written as background material for a panel discussion at the Think Tank Forum: EU Enlargement. The authors of the article are Oszkár Roginer, Project Manager, and Žiga Faktor, Head of our Brussels office. In the article, the authors discuss, among other things, elections, political pluralism, civil society, media, and fundamental rights in the Western Balkan countries.

Our Senior Research Fellow Jana Juzová has prepared a background paper for the National Convention's roundtable on the EU. The roundtable is presented with three main questions: how can the EU and the Czech Republic support Ukraine in its post-war reconstruction and reforms necessary for EU integration? What tools does the EU have at its disposal for deeper economic and political integration of Ukraine? Is the EU ready to fully integrate Ukraine and other candidate countries? Can it use the experience of previous enlargement rounds for this purpose?

Jakub Ferenčík has written a blog on German dependence on Russian gas. In his post he discusses how the German government's initially positive intention to tie Russia to Europe through economic intergation for political stability has backfired and resulted in the opposite. It mentions the role of former Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, who contributed significantly to Germany's dependence on Russian supplies, and the circumstances surrounding the construction of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline. The second part analyses the legacy of former Chancellor Merkel and her failure to perceive Russian expansionist tendencies.

On Wednesday 21 September 2022, the National Convention on the EU took place. The roundtable featured three recommendations, which were formulated by our office and project manager Alexandra Ilkova together with our researcher Danielle Piatkiewicz. The convention produced three recommendations by answering the following questions: How will the implementation of the Strategic Compass contribute to shaping the EU's defence capabilities and how can the EU Strategic Compass and the NATO Strategic Concept make the EU a stronger and more capable guarantor of security? How will the Strategic Compass address current and emerging security threats within the strategic areas of competence? What can CZ PRES achieve in the implementation of the Strategic Compass?

Tatiana Mindeková, our project manager and junior researcher, wrote a blog named “How do Czech and Slovak governmental parties perceive the EU Green Deal? Online monitoring of Facebook posts”. In this blog, Tatiana analysed approaches of Czech and Slovak parliamentary parties to the European Green Deal and identified whether the parties and their representatives are supportive or critical towards it.

Our Researcher Daniele Piatkiewicz and Office Manager Alexandra Ilková have produced a background paper for the roundtable of the National Convention on the EU, presenting the questions to be discussed: how will the implementation of the Strategic Compass contribute to shaping the EU's defence capabilities and how can the EU Strategic Compass and the NATO Strategic Concept make the EU a stronger and more capable guarantor of security? How will the Strategic Compass address current and emerging security threats within the strategic areas of competence? What can CZ PRES achieve in the implementation of the Strategic Compass?

The national EuropaSecura competition for high school students on European defence and security, organised with Czech Army and the Ministry of Defence, has successfully completed its 15th year and selected winners who will travel to Brussels. Take a look at what the competition entails and what it looks like at the national final at the military base in Brdy. The students experienced how diplomatic negotiations within the EU and NATO take place and how crisis situations are handled within the EU.

Disinformation and misinformation have been amplified in the digital age. In order to combat their increasing presence in our everyday lives, we have to first educate ourselves on what disinformation is. In this post, Jakub Ferencik looks at this question in some detail, primarily by analyzing Vladimir Putin’s usage of disinformation in politics.

Czechia will enter its second round of the EU Presidency on the 1st of July. Despite the ongoing major shift toward e-mobility across the EU, no strong commitments are coming from the Czech government. The widely accepted milestone of 2035 for phasing-out the sales of new non-zero-emission cars is still perceived by many local policy-makers as unrealistic. Michal Hrubý, a research fellow at the Institute for European Policy, writes in his EU Monitor.

Summaries and recommendations arising from the roundtable discussion of the National Convention on the EU held on 3 June 2022. Here is a summary of the main points discussed at the Convention. The recommendations have been prepared by the head of our Brussels office, Žiga Faktor.

Our senior research fellow Vít Havelka has written an OUTLOOK entitled "2022 Czech Presidency of the Council of the EU", where he analyses the future course of the Czech Presidency and the biggest challenges. In his paper, he focuses on two levels of the Presidency's work, namely the political and legislative agenda.

Jakub Ferenčík wrote a blog on the current topic: The Sixth Sanctions Package & the Visegrad Group’s Reliance on Putin’s Gas. Russia's aggression in Ukraine has necessitated another package of sanctions, this time in the energy sector. Due to the lack of alternatives for gas supplies, the Visegrad Four countries had a problem with the implementation of the latest sanctions package. In the end, the EU found a consensus and introduced exemptions for the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary.