The Czech car industry is lagging behind the rest of Europe and the world. It may not be able to pick what to produce, but it has the opportunity to strengthen its competitiveness and resilience. However, it needs trained and educated employees, which are hard to find on the local labour market. So are we going to train the automotive workforce, strengthen the position of our strategic sector and promote a just transformation? Or are we going to continue to say that the transition to electric mobility does not concern us and that the Green Deal for Europe is to blame for increased unemployment? How to produce electric cars and remain competitive? Rebeka Hengalová, a researcher at EUROPEUM Institute, discusses this topic in her article for economic daily Hospodářské noviny.
Show moreFrench President Emmanuel Macron is talking about sending troops to Ukraine, but his country has already sent 600 million euros to Russia for liquefied gas this year. And the country is not alone in this. What do Martin Vokálek and Vít Havelka from the EUROPEUM Institute for European Policy say about this?
Show moreOn 10 and 11 April 2024, Prague will host a two-day conference entitled "20 Years of Reuniting Europe's East and West", organised by EUROPEUM Institute for European Policy in cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as part of the Think Visegrad platform and the project (Re)uniting the East and West: Reflections on the 2004 EU enlargement (REWEU) supported by the International Visegrad Fund and the European Commission. The programme will also include the second edition of the EU Enlargement Forum.
Show moreThe EU's proactive stance, introduced in the Critical Raw Material Strategy and later Critical Raw Materials Act (CRMA), drives the EU approach to secure the supply of European/domestic critical raw materials for EV battery production. The Cinovec project has a large economic potential as it enhances the ability to secure domestic and regional supply of lithium, which is otherwise very geographically concentrated outside of Europe. Europe relies on a handful of countries, particularly China, for the import of lithium for the production of EV batteries.
Show moreThe information about an EU-wide ban on gas and coal boilers, that has been recently circulating on social media, is not true. The aim of the new European directive is not to ban them, but to promote the phasing out of these boilers in line with the 2050 carbon neutrality targets. Viktor Daněk, deputy director of the EUROPEUM Institute, described the nature of the directive to the iROZHLAS.cz project Ověřovna.
Show moreThe Schengen area of free movement of goods and persons will was extended to Romania and Bulgaria from Sunday 31 March. The two countries have been waiting seventeen years for this moment, since they joined the European Union. For now, only the maritime and air borders are removed, but land borders should follow in the next few months. Viktor Daněk, deputy director of the EUROPEUM Institute, commented on both the economic benefits and possible risks of partial enlargement for the daily e15.
Show moreThe end of Charles Michel's mandate as president of the European Council this year comes at a time of seismic — and consequential — geopolitical shifts. Hugo Blewett-Mundy, a non-resident associate research fellow from the EUROPEUM Institute for European Policy, explains why he views the current Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen as the best fit for the position soon to be vacant.
Show moreAccording to a new survey by the Ipsos agency for Euronews, ANO party has the highest support leading up to the June elections, followed by the SPOLU coalition, with Mayors and independents (STAN) holding third place. ANO party could potentially gain up to nine seats, while STAN also show increased support. On the other hand, the SPOLU coalition is not expected to achieve the anticipated level of support. The decision to participate in the elections as part of this coalition could benefit Christian and Democratic Union - Czechoslovak People's Party (KDU-ČSL), but it may harm TOP 09. Deputy director of EUROPEUM Institute Viktor Daněk commented on the survey for iDnes.cz.
Show moreIn December 2023, the Hungarian Parliament passed a law establishing the Office for the Protection of the Sovereign, a state agency that now has unlimited access to personal data to search for and prosecute alleged foreign agents among the Hungarian population. Our researcher Henry Barrett, a Fulbright-Schuman Grantee, writes about this topic in his blog.
Show moreThe populist camps in the Visegrad Four countries have used the farmers' protests in their populist campaigns for the European Parliament elections in June. A fundamental change to the last EU elections in 2019 is visible in the politicians' messages towards the people, with social media taking over the classic platforms such as television, press or radio. Project Manager of Global Europe programme at EUROPEUM Institute, Oszkár Roginer-Hofmeister, wrote an article on this topic for Visegrad/Insight.
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