The Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Hungary decided that good relations with Israel would bring them more benefits than solidarity with Poland. Not only did their representatives fly to Israel, but they seemed to be really satisfied with the meeting.
Swedish think-tank Timbro presented the subsequent edition of the Authoritarian Populism Index. The aim of the index is chiefly to determine to what extent populist parties can pose a real threat to liberal democracy in the European Union and five other countries on the continent.
In January–March 2019, pro-Russian media in Slovakia continued to spread their typical narratives concerning the European Union and Slovakia’s membership as well as Russia, Ukraine, and the military conflict between them.
In 2017, the Cambridge Dictionary proclaimed “populism” the word of the year. There are many definitions of the term, still, it always evokes strong emotions. One of the definitions of populism in politics was proposed by the Swedish think tank Timbro.
A study by McKinsey & Company showed that 49% of the working hours in Hungary can be automated with the already existing technologies. This does not necessarily mean that these jobs will be lost forever, but they are going to be transformed.
Zuzana Čaputová, the Vice Chairman of Progresivne Slovensko, a Slovak liberal party, is very likely to become the first female president in the history of the country. Her success is one of many signs that liberals in Slovakia are growing stronger again.
The conflict of interest of individual parties in Hungary proved to be the opposition’s great weakness, the 2018 election results illustrate this perfectly: The national electoral system was shaped by the 2010 Fidesz government to favor large parties, including winner compensation and different types of gerrymandering.
Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš has returned from his three-day visit to the USA. Given the similarities between the Czech and American leaders, the negotiations went, allegedly, better than well. As Babiš is often nicknamed “the Czech Trump”, it is actually surprising that the visit did not happen sooner.
Estonia has stood up to its reputation of the liberal Musterland in the region. The opposition center-right Reform Party secured a convincing victory over the currently governing center-left Center Party.
713 articles shared on Facebook sites belonging to government-controlled media outlets and pro-Kremlin outlets indicate that the governing party’s EP campaign messages mainly attack the EU elite and the bloc’s institutional system through the dissemination of manipulative information concerning migration.
