VoiCEE - Podcast from Central and Eastern Europe

In this episode, Kafkadesk contributor Adrien Beauduin interviews political scientist Jiří Koubek of Charles University in Prague about the roots of nationwide social discontent in the Czech Republic.

They also speak about the successes and failures of the government; the reasons for the high popularity of ANO, the party of the former prime minister and billionaire Andrej Babiš; and the prospects for the next parliamentary elections scheduled for 2025.

Midway into the Czech Republic's five-party government's mandate, things are not looking bright for the prime minister, Petr Fiala, with record-breaking distrust among the population.

After a series of crises in the first two years in office - the war in Ukraine, the influx of refugees, the energy crisis, and soaring inflation - the current ruling parties have plummeted to an all-time low in opinion polls, while the former prime minister and his ANO party are back on top.

Our experts analyse the situation and attempt to determine if there will be a return of the populists in the Czech Republic, or if there is a chance for the government to regain citizens' confidence.

In this episode, Kafkadesk contributor Adrien Beauduin interviews political sociologist Michal Vašečka, president of the Bratislava Policy Institute, about the Slovak parliamentary elections taking place on 30 September.

They analyse the political turmoil of the last years; explain the success of nationalist and conservative parties; and sketch possible future coalitions, including the possible return to power of former prime minister Robert Fico, who might take Slovakia down the Hungarian road towards illiberal democracy. Finally, they reflect on the success of pro-Russian narratives and on the elections’ potential impact on EU and NATO help for Ukraine.

In this episode, we discuss a story that won the 2022 Czech Journalism Award in the solution journalism category.

In this episode, Alicja Ptak, senior editor at Notes from Poland, speaks with Pavel Latushka, a former Belarusian minister and ambassador to Poland but now a leading opposition figure in exile, who was recently sentenced in absentia to 18 years in prison.

They discuss the increasingly close cooperation between Belarus and Russia amid the war in Ukraine and its consequences for the region, including the deal signed last week to deploy Russian tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus. Latushka also outlines Minsk's role in Russia's forced displacement of Ukrainian children.

In this podcast series, we are looking at the region from different angles and perspectives, attempting to capture its diversity and understand emerging trends. Above all, we want to give a voice to a region that is often talked to rather than listened to.

The VoiCEE is brought to you by a network of independent English-language media in Central and Eastern Europe: Notes from Poland, Kafkadesk, Insight Hungary, Internews Ukraine, New Eastern Europe, Reporting Democracy, Transitions, Ukraine World, and VSquare.

In this episode - produced in partnership with Talk Eastern Europe, the official podcast of the New Eastern Europe magazine - Adam Reichardt, the editor-in-chief of NEE, speaks with Victoria Leukavets, a researcher at the Stockholm Centre for Eastern Europeans Studies and expert on Belarus and other Eastern Partnership countries.

They look at recent developments around Belarus, the probability of Belarus's entry into the war in Ukraine, the Kremlin pressure being exerted on Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, as well as the current situation facing the civil society in the country and in exile.

In this episode, Kafkadesk contributor Adrien Beauduin interviews political scientist Jiří Pehe, director of New York University Prague, about the recently concluded Czech presidential elections.

They analyse the long campaign and its stormy finish; look back on departing president Miloš Zeman's legacy; and try to predict how his successor, former NATO general Petr Pavel, will govern, especially when it comes to foreign policy: the war in Ukraine, regional cooperation in Central and Eastern Europe, and relations with China.

In this episode of The VoiCEE podcast, Agnieszka Wądołowska, deputy editor of Notes from Poland, speaks with Andrea Pető, professor in the department of Gender Studies at Central European University, Vienna, and a doctor of science of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.

They discuss support among the Polish public for allowing access to abortion up to the 12th week of pregnancy, with the near-total abortion ban still in place, and the symbolic importance and practical impact of the so-called heartbeat decree introduced by Viktor Orbán.

They also talk about the influence of American anti-choice groups on global trends in myreproductive rights laws - including those in Central and Eastern Europe and the trial of a pro-choice activist facing up to three years in prison for giving abortion pills to a pregnant woman.

In this podcast series we are looking at the region from different angles and perspectives, attempting to capture its diversity and understand emerging trends. Above all, we want to give voice to a region that is often talked to rather than listened to.

The VoiCEE is brought to you by The VoiCEE - a network of independent English-language media in Central and Eastern Europe: Notes from Poland, Kafkadesk, Insight Hungary, Internews Ukraine, New Eastern Europe, Reporting Democracy, Transitions, Ukraine World, VSquare.

In this episode of The VoiCEE podcast, Agnieszka Wądołowska, deputy
editor of Notes from Poland, speaks with Maciej Duszyczk, a professor at
the University of Warsaw's Centre of Migration Research.

They discuss the situation of Ukrainian refugees in Poland and how it
has changed in the last eight months - how some have found their place
on the job market and in the education system and how some still remain
off the grid. They analyse how much we know about Ukrainian migrants in
Poland, how Poles perceive them, and the support they have been
receiving.

They also talk about the challenges created by the Belarus-orchestrated
migration into Poland and how the "impenetrable wall" erected by the
Polish government on the border might not be a solution to all the
problems.

Last but not least, they look at the region, and compare the various
responses of Central and Eastern European countries to Russia's invasion
of Ukraine and the refugees seeking shelter, as well as if regional
solidarity concerning migration challenges is possible or even needed.

In this episode of the VoiCEE podcast, Marek Józefiak, media and policy officer for Greenpeace Poland, discusses with BIRN's Nicholas Watson the fate of the European Green Deal in the context of the war in Ukraine. At its most basic, the war highlights how countries that pursue net-zero strategies will have to continually contend with "greenwalls" - energy transition deterrents created by crises or geopolitical events

In this episode, Volodymyr Yermolenko - a Ukrainian philosopher and journalist, and chief editor of UkraineWorld.org - and Tetyana Ogarkova - a Ukrainian scholar and journalist in charge of international outreach at the Ukraine Crisis Media Centre - analyse the key features of Ukrainian civic and political identity.

They discuss the long history of fighting against tyranny, a culture of self-organisation, the dynamism of social change, and a bottom-up understanding of politics.

In this episode of The VoiCEE podcast, Jeremy Druker, executive director and editor-in-chief of Transitions, speaks with Marius Dragomir, director of the Center for Media, Data, & Society. They discuss the dire state of media independence in the region, but also some bright spots of hope and recommendations on how to turn things around.

In this episode, Reporting Democracy editor and host Nicholas Watson discusses the issue surrounding the deterioration of the rule of law in the region, the condition of which the European Union is becoming increasingly worried, especially in Poland and Hungary.

The rule of law is mentioned twice in the preamble to the Treaty on European Union. In Article 2, it stipulates that: “The Union is founded on the values of respect for human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law and respect for human rights…”

In this, the EU seeks to distinguish the rule of law — where the law applies equally and everyone is subject to it — with its antithesis the rule by law — where those in power can arbitrarily create and apply the law as they choose, with no accountability.

The EU Commission already had several arrows in its quiver to deal with rule of law infractions among member states, namely infringement procedures and – if there was no resolution – the triggering of Article 7 of the Treaty on European Union. But in the past couple of years, Brussels has been adding new arrows to its quiver as worries rise that the deterioration in the rule of law will spread to other member states.

How effective these new measures will be and what the future holds for those in the EU’s crosshairs ia discussed by guests: Piotr Buras – a journalist, author and expert on German and European politics who is the current head of the Warsaw office of the European Council on Foreign Relations; and Stanisław Burdziej, professor in the Department of Sociology at Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń, and co-founder and Member of the Board of Court Watch – a not-for-profit organization supporting positive changes in the Polish justice system through citizen court monitoring.

In this episode, Kafkadesk writer and host Karolína Boháčová will be discussing the trend of electoral coalitions in Central Europe and analyse whether they can prove a successful strategy against Central European strongmen and political heavyweights across the CEE region.

In the first half of this episode, we will look at the success story of the Czech electoral coalition in late 2021 and study the characteristics of electoral alliances with Petr Just, political scientist and head of the political science department at the Metropolitan University in Prague.

In the second part, we’ll move to Hungary, where the general election is just a few days away and for the first time in over a decade, Prime Minister Viktor Orban is facing a united opposition coalition. Ivan Laszlo Nagy, Hungarian political journalist from HVG, will give us his take on what to expect, and discuss the possible outcomes of the election.

In the very first episode of VoiCEE podcast Agnieszka Wądołowska,
managing editor of Notes from Poland, talks with Pawel Kaczmarczyk,
director of the Centre of migration research at the University of
Warsaw. They discuss one of the key issues reshaping the region - migration.