politics

For a long time under Orbán’s illiberal regime, the common sentiment on the street was that the EU should intervene to help Hungarians. This was, of course, unrealistic, and should the EU have intervened more, Orbán would have used it to get Hungary out of the Union. The EU, however, is still in the focus of sentiments on the streets.

How has the recent election transformed the Bulgarian political scene? What will be the European priorities of the newly formed government? What is Rumen Radev\'s main message? And what was his secret that helped him ensure a win? Leszek Jazdzewski (Fundacja Liberte!) talks with Maria Simeonova, the Head of the Sofia office at the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR).

Over the past 100 years, the region of Central-Eastern Europe (CEE) has always faced distinct kinds of uncertainty; political instability, armed conflicts, geopolitical problems and corruption. The constant fluctuation of the value of money, the frequent changes in constitutional law, economic instability, and inflation have also been leading factors in this continuous uncertainty.

After 16 years, illiberalism fell in Hungary. The markets predicted it while Fidesz pollsters and politicians were blindsided, proving yet again that free markets are better than government control.

How has the relationship between the two countries evolved since Donald Tusk\'s recent election? To answer the question, it is essential to explore the origins of the Polish-Hungarian relationship.

Following Google (Alphabet), the tech giant Meta has also decided to simply ban political, electoral, and social issue advertisements in the EU due to the \"unenforceability\" and excessive complexity of the new EU transparency rules (TTPA). Consequently, as of October 6, it is no longer possible to run such advertisements on Facebook.

How does the war in Iran affect Europeans? What is the impact of the Greenland issue on the Danish view of NATO and the transatlantic alliance? Should the Nordic countries acquire nuclear weapons? And what does Europe\'s path to competitiveness look like? Leszek Jazdzewski talks with Jacob Funk Kirkegaard, a Senior Fellow at Bruegel in Brussels.

The government’s acceptance of more than 190 deregulation proposals was good news. Yet, the overall balance of this “year of deregulation” shows that Poland still lacks a coherent philosophy of lawmaking. Deregulation should not consist of isolated corrections implemented while new, unstable, and excessive regulations are produced at the same time.

Right-wing populism has been on the rise in Europe, and despite some exceptions, it doesn’t seem to be backing out. The group of people that seems to be most convinced by radical right-wing ideas is the youth - people aged 18 to 29. In the US, however, an unexpected change in this regard was initiated by Zohran Mamdani, currently mayor-elect of NYC. In the recent mayoral election 78% of people aged 18-29 voted for Mamdani, a democratic socialist.  

Are we witnessing the weakening of political parties? If that is the case, what are the effects of this phenomenon on democracy? Is there a market for centrist politics? Has the US turned populist? And what is the future for Argentina under President Javier Milei? Leszek Jazdzewski talks with Samuel Issacharoff, the Bonnie and Richard Reiss Professor of Constitutional Law at the NYU School of Law.