parliamentary elections

Hopefully, PiS will moderate its economic programme after the election and renounce some of its harmful pre-election promises. If the new government decides to choose the “Orbánisation” path it will be harmful for Poland, the region and the EU

Despite the likely win of the PiS, the Polish election is going to open large space of uncertainty. Minority government of the Law and Justice might be the outcome. However, such government would not be able to rule the country for long and the next early elections could be expected as early as in 2016.

Welcome to Poland, where special higher taxes are imposed on the rich, where the welfare money is sloshed around, where convenient privileges are granted to anyone supporting PiS, where only national and Catholic media rule, where uniformed services are given special treatment, and where the spirit of People’s Republic of Poland (PRL) is resuscitated!

One thing is certain: Polish politics will change radically after the October elections. At the moment, a conservative and populist government seems likely. The strategy to secure the postulates of leftist and liberal movements can no longer rely on the “lesser evil” argument. It’s high time for new initiatives.

European politics will surely highlight one of the days in their calendar the next week, to check the results of the elections and eventually relax again. Up to this, the EU has to, as every five years, await the sleeping volcano, which in event of its explosion, may cover the EU with darkness.

The Western and pro-European Reform Party reached 30 out of total 101 seats and re-affirmed its position as the strongest political force in the parliament. Social Democrats, the current coalition partner of the Reform Party, gained 15 seats. Both ruling parties suffered minor losses in the number of seats compared to the year 2011.

The new left-wing SYRIZA government, which sees public expenditure as a means to counterbalance the lack of competitiveness, is all but a solution to the Greek problem. If anything, the pro-European and cosmopolitan young Greek generation – which is fed up with the “Greek way” of policy-making of the past – can make a difference.

The renowned constitutional scholar Miro Cerar and his party (Stranka Mira Cerarja – SMC) founded only at the beginning of June won the snap parliamentary elections in Slovenia on Sunday, July 13, 2014. The green-liberal SMC came immediately to 34.6 percent of the vote securing 36 out of 90 seats in the Slovenian parliament.

‘Hungary and the European Union after the European parliamentary elections’, a conference organized by Republikon Foundation with the support of Friedrich Naumann Foundation, was held on June 11, 2014 in Budapest. The event was part of the Foundation’s project ‘Lessons learned from EP elections 2014’.

Never before have had Lithuanians reelected their President for the second term. And even though, some suspense over the outcome remained until the first polls released their preliminary results, President Dalia Grybauskaite proved that she still has support of the majority of Lithuanians.