Czechia

Czechs celebrated the 106th anniversary of the founding of Czechoslovakia in a nationwide state holiday. But despite the historically close links between Czechs and Slovaks, since Robert Fico's return as Slovakia's prime minister in 2023, there has been a distinct cooling in relations between the former sister states. Kristína Chlebáková, Project Manager of EUROPEUM Institute, spoke about Czech-Slovak relations for Prague Radio International.

According to the European Commission, the Czech Republic is not complying with EU legislation on combating racial and ethnic discrimination. Brussels has therefore initiated infringement proceedings. It claims that the Czech Republic is not effectively addressing the problem of segregation of Roma children in schools. Deputy director at EUROPEUM Institute Viktor Daněk commented for Český rozhlas.

CEE allies are key to building the capabilities-based, European Pillar NATO needs to enact genuine burden shifting and secure the alliance’s future. Dr Benjamin Tallis shows how Czechia can build on recent progress in defense procurement and increase its influence by prioritising the six elements Euro-NATO needs: core national war-fighting capabilities, logistics, military mobility, strategic enablers, air defence and long-range strategic strike.

For the fifth time Czech voters choose their representatives to the European Parliament. Almost 700 candidates competed for 21 seats. What did they offer and what was the campaign like? Viktor Daněk, deputy director of EUROPEUM Institute for European Policy, comments for Czech Television's investigative programme 168 hodin.

Due to the pro-Russian positions of Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, the Czech cabinet suspended the intergovernmental consultations. Does this turn the former brothers into enemies? Nonetheless, this is not the first time that relations between these two nations, that used to share a common state once, have frozen. Viktor Daněk, deputy director of the EUROPEUM Institute, commented on the topic in an investigative piece for 168 hodin broadcast by Czech Television.

The Czech Republic abstained in the vote on the EU migration pact, despite having promoted it so far and participated in its preparation. In addition to criticism of the bureaucratic burden, it may also be a strategic move ahead of the upcoming European Parliament elections. Our deputy director Viktor Daněk commented on the Czech Republic's position for the MF Dnes daily.

EU Member States reached agreement on a migration pact to improve migration control and speed up the return of failed asylum seekers. The Czech Republic abstained in the vote and Prime Minister Petr Fiala has expressed concern about the proposed changes, which he says increase the administrative burden on states. Senior researcher Vít Havelka spoke to TN.cz about the issue.

Faced with multiple domestic and geopolitical challenges and a population vocally demanding change, Czechia’s unpopular government will urgently need to find new impetus if it is to stand a chance against resurgent right-wing populists. Our researcher Klára Votavová provided her expert commentary for Balkan Insight.

What were the trends in the views of the Czech population towards the European Union in 2023? Read the analysis by EUROPEUM Institute Senior Research Fellow Vít Havelka.

One of the biggest obstacles to solving the climate crisis is fossil fuel subsidies. However, they have not received much attention in the Czech Republic. Our senior researcher Kateřina Davidová wrote an article on this topic.

One of the biggest obstacles to solving the climate crisis is fossil fuel subsidies. However, they have not received much attention in the Czech Republic. An Op-Ed on this topic was written by our Senior Research Fellow Kateřina Davidová.

Climate change is an important topic that is increasingly appearing in various narratives in Czech political discourse. Our researcher Klára Votavová writes about environmental issues and the subsequent political response in her new commentary for Deník N, where she presents findings from the RevivEU project.