Since the launch of the Belt and Road Initiative in 2013 by the Chinese leader Xi Jinping and the Eastern Opening by the Prime Minister of Hungary, Viktor Orbán, economic and diplomatic cooperation between China and Hungary has increased significantly. However, the lack of transparency and the politically infused nature of this cooperation makes Hungary’s relationship with the EU difficult.
In this episode, Leszek Jażdżewski talks with Gerald Knaus about the enlargement policy of the European Union, new potential EU members, the “New Cold War”, and the future of the European project.
On June 1, the European Commission approved Poland’s national recovery plan worth ca. EUR 35 billion. Ursula von der Leyen, has warned that money will be transferred only if Poland doesn’t fail to reach all “milestones” in granting judicial independence: abolishing the Disciplinary Chamber of the Supreme Court, rewriting its rules and allowing judges sanctioned or suspended by the chamber to have their cases reviewed.
The growing energy costs play an important role for the increase of the overall consumer price indices during the last couple months and threatens a maintenance of high inflation rates during the entire 2022.
In this episode, Leszek Jażdżewski and Paul Gradvohl talk about the presidential election in France and the possible outcomes in the current geopolitical situation – with a special focus on the war in Ukraine.
This week, Ukrainian President Zelensky signed an official application for membership of the European Union on behalf of his citizens. Commission President Von der Leyen stated that Ukraine’s place is in the EU and the European Parliament adopted a call for EU candidate status.
Gold-plating is a term used to characterize the process whereby the powers of an EU directive are extended when being transposed into the national laws of a member state. The Slovak republic is not an exception.
The economy has not yet recovered from the corona-crisis and is already threatened by another serious danger: green-flation. Based on the sound similarity of two words, inflation-greenflation, this new English phrase has only recently emerged.
Disinformation narratives concerning the energy crisis took a back seat; the go-to topics for disinformation actors over the past two weeks were NATO and Russia, Polexit, “traditional values”, and the ever-present COVID-19 pandemic.
The rapid fall of the Afghan government and the hasty evacuation of refugees from Kabul’s airport provided ample opportunity for disinformation actors and media to spread streams of anti-American, anti-NATO and anti-refugee narratives. Accordingly, disinformation proliferated in the Slovak information space regarding the recent events in Afghanistan.
