As far as power goes, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán cannot complain. His party, Fidesz recently won its 4th consecutive elections, with a supermajority no less. He had ample time to exercise power since 2010, as since then all of his government enjoyed a two third majority support in the parliament.

Every two years the European Central Bank and the European Commission publish its so-called convergence reports. They follow the development of the EU countries that have not yet adopted the Euro and evaluate the meeting of the convergence criteria, known also as the Maastricht criteria. The reports cover seven member states – Bulgaria, Czechia, Croatia, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and Sweden. Denmark is excluded due to its special derogation on the matter of joining the Eurozone.

During this year’s Atlas Network Europe Liberty Forum, the Liberté! Foundation received the Europe Liberty Award for one of its flagship projects – the Freedom Games forum. The event has been organized since 2014.

History repeats itself. Unfortunately, 2022 is no exception. The pandemic and the ensuing war have raised fears about food sufficiency, which politicians around the world have turned into old-fashioned solutions. What people do not like to hear is that many measures not only do not address food security but may make it even worse.

Sejm has approved removing the Disciplinary Chamber of the Supreme Court, a body used by the PiS government to sanction outspoken independent judges, and which has drawn condemnation from the European institution. Last year the European Court of Justice (ECJ) found the Disciplinary Chamber to be in violation of the EU’s rule of law principles, urged Poland to remove it and fined Poland EUR 1 million a day as long as the body continues.

In this episode of the Liberal Europe Podcast, Leszek Jażdżewski (Fundacja Liberté!) welcomes Alberto Alemanno, Jean Monnet Professor in European Union Law & Policy at HEC Paris and one of the leading voices on the democratization of the European Union. They talk about business in light of the war in Ukraine, the World Economic Forum in Davos, Conference on the Future of Europe, and lobbying.