European Union

The past year was full of events related to the ongoing crisis of the rule of law in Poland. The last few months have been dominated mainly with the issue of the \"milestones\" attached to the National Reconstruction Plan and the disagreement within the ruling coalition as to how to achieve them. Among other things, for this purpose the infamous Disciplinary Chamber was abolished and replaced with Chamber of Professional Responsibility.

Europe. It is an area. It is an idea. It is a culture. It is a collection of diverse people and countries. It is a work in progress. It is ever-changing, ever-twisting, shaped by its people. Europe is a complex idea. The latest edition of Poems of Liberty, a publication by The Friedrich Naumann Foundation, European Dialogue and the Free Market Foundation aims to encapsulate it through poems.

Along with the increase of inflation in Poland and in the whole world, the discussion about its causes intensifies. There are many voices that the main reason is an external supply shock - the prices of energy and food. It is useful, in the analysis, to distinguish within CPI inflation, a core inflation and the rest of it. Core inflation is an inflation rate that is devoid of the most unstable components such as food and energy prices.

In this episode of the Liberal Europe Podcast, Leszek Jażdżewski (Fundacja Liberté!) welcomes Dr. Thomas Bagger, Germany’s Ambassador to the Republic of Poland. They talk about the EU Energy crisis, German eastern policy, EU response to the war in Ukraine, and Polish-German relations.

On paper, Hungarian abortion policies are much like those of most EU countries: women can terminate their pregnancy on request up until the 12th week and can do so through state-funded institutions. Yet, in reality, the accessibility of abortion in Hungary is only a façade.

The talks over the National Recovery Plan were to begin in February. Since then, the European Commission set particular conditions on which the assets would be transferred to Poland, mainly linked with the improvement of the deteriorating situation regarding rule of law in the country.

The Polish government, criticized for violating the rule of law, often refers to a sense of limited \'sovereignty\', which, according to the opposition and some commentators, may in the future lead to a so-called Polexit.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine has marked a critical turning point in world politics. In addition to the unfathomable human suffering on the ground, the war in Ukraine has also had a profound impact on people\'s lives in the rest of Europe and around the world: record high commodity prices, disrupted supply chains, and looming energy shortages.

A month ago, Ukraine and the EU signed a road agreement that simplified road freight requirements between the parties. The arrangement proved to be mutually beneficial – trade volumes increased, and the cost of transportation from Ukraine decreased.

After months of debate, in late 2022, the Lithuanian Parliament passed into law a package of legislative amendments that reforms Lithuania\'s migration system. The reform creates more favorable conditions for the recruitment of non-EU nationals.