Slovakia

In Slovakia, Robert Fico is preparing changes to criminal law that could seriously undermine the functioning of democracy and the rule of law. In particular, the planned abolition of the Office of the Special Prosecutor is a cause for concern. Our project manager Kristína Chlebáková assessed the situation for E15.

What could Robert Fico's return to the head of Slovakian government mean for the European Union? Žiga Faktor, director of our office in Brussels, commented on the topic on Saturday for the Slovenian newspaper DELO.

Kristína 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.

A new international analysis points to the Czech Republic as a leader of liberal values in Central and Eastern Europe. Twice as many people trust the President than last year, when Miloš Zeman was still head of state. The analysis was prepared by Globsec, a prestigious think tank based in Bratislava. Our senior Research Fellow Klára Votavová also commented on the issue.

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 senior researcher Jana Juzová wrote an article for VISEGRAD/INSIGHT on "The Czech Republic and Slovakia in the lead". Since July, the Czech Republic has held the presidency of the EU Council and Slovakia the presidency of the Visegrad Four. Although the V4 is now in the shadow of Czech and Slovak foreign policy, this does not mean that it is less important or that it is falling apart. However, the V4 crisis triggered by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán may be an opportunity for the Czech Republic and Slovakia to determine the direction of the Visegrad Four.

We would like to invite you to a national workshop on CCS, where the national CCS roadmap will be publicly presented for the first time. On Thursday, June 23 between 2:00 and 3:30 p.m.

Talking Europe(um) is a podcast which comments on current issues in the European Union. List of episodes, as well as information about where you can listen to the podcast, is in the article.

We would like to invite you to a webinar on CO2 capture and storage (CCS) in the Slovak Republic organized within the project ,,Building momentum for the long-term CCS deployment in the CEE region''.

Our director Vladimír Bartovic commented for the Slovak daily Pravda on Slovakia's approach to the realization of the EU Recovery Plan.

Director of the EUROPEUM Institute for European Policy Vladimír Bartovic was a guest at today’s broadcast of Rádio Slovensko, where he commented on the decision made by the Slovak government led by Igor Matovič regarding the purchase of Russian vaccine Sputnik V. Vaccines, which are currently being used in the EU are properly registered, whereas the Russian one is not. Nevertheless, opinions on the vaccine differs broadly.

In his latest contribution, Márk Szabó deals with the issue of relations of the Visegrad Group, especially its internal coherence, but also the relationship with the EU.