Next year, citizens in all EU countries will vote for a new Parliament. In the Czech Republic, turnout in European elections is usually low. Our Executive Director Martin Vokálek spoke to ČRo Plus about the Czech approach to the European Parliament elections and the key electoral topics.
Show moreKristína Chlebáková, our project manager, commented in an article for Deník N on the upcoming parliamentary elections in Slovakia. The elections will take place at the end of September and may change the foreign policy orientation of Slovakia. Some political parties, including the biggest favourite, former Prime Minister Robert Fico's Smer - Social Democracy party, are campaigning on refusing aid to Ukraine, being friendly to Russia and attacking the EU and the US.
Show moreOn Wednesday, June 7, a debate took place as part of the Café Evropa cycle, on the topic: "Turkey after the elections, which direction will it go?". The invitation to the debate was accepted by Lucia Najšlová, political scientist and author of the book Turkey and the EU: The Politics of Belonging, as well as by Deník N journalist Dominika Píhová and Břetislav Tureček, head of the Center for Middle East Studies at the Metropolitan University in Prague. The debate was moderated by Žiga Faktor, the head of the Brussels office of the EUROPEUM Institute for European Policy.
Show moreThe head of our Brussels office, Žiga Faktor, spoke to EURACTIV.cz about the departure of Dutchman Frans Timmermans from the European Commission. The influential vice-president of the European Commission was lured by the prospect of the prime minister's chair in the Netherlands, and his boss, Ursula von der Leyen, has to manage without him. But her difficulties do not end there, a year before the European elections.
Show moreIn the Bruselské chlebíčky podcast, the head of the Brussels office of the EUROPEUM think-tank comments on the situation with the upcoming European Presidency. The incoming Spanish presidency is currently open-ended, due to the upcoming Spanish elections, and the Hungarian presidency next year is one that MEPs would prefer to abolish altogether.
Show moreWe cordially invite you to the next debate in the Café Evropa online series, this time on the topic "Turkey after the elections - what direction will Turkey take?". The debate will take place on Wednesday 7 June.
Show moreHead of the Brussels office Žiga Faktor commented on the outcome of the presidential elections in Turkey on RTVS.
Show moreTurkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is currently leading the election over opposition candidate Kemal Kiliçdaroglu. But the voters will decide on the Turkish president in 14 days. Žiga Faktor, head of the Brussels office of the EUROPEUM Institute for European Politics, commented on the course of the elections for Český Rozhlas Plus.
Show moreDisinformation and foreign interference have been concerns in global politics for centuries, but social media algorithms have made the current threat more dire as they amplify content based on human frailties such as our obsession with negativity and outrage. Russian interference in the 2016 US federal election and other elections and referenda in at least twenty countries between November 2016 and April 2019, including the Brexit referendum, the French and German elections, and the Ukrainian power grid cyber-attacks, have highlighted the potential for foreign governments to alter the results of an election or undermine democracies using social media and other means. Writes Jakub Ferenčík in his last EU MONITOR.
Show more PDFThe head of our Brussels office, Žiga Faktor, commented for ČTK on Saturday's victory of Petr Pavel in the presidential elections on the relationship with the EU and NATO. He mentioned that Pavel's accession could bring about a unification of the foreign policy of the government and the Foreign Ministry. He also suggested that the newly elected president would have better relations with the United States
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