This Week in Central Europe
By Reporting Democracy
This Week in Central EuropeMay 10, 2024
10 May 2024 | Two Weeks in Central Europe
In this edition, the TWiCE team talks to Tara Petrović who leads research on Europe and Central Asia for the CIVICUS Monitor. She discusses how the European Commission is pressing ahead with what critics have dubbed an “EU foreign agent law”, referencing other such laws in Russia, despite strong opposition from European civil society since its unveiling in 2023.
19 April 2024 | Two Weeks in Central Europe
This week, the TWiCE team talks to Edit Inotai, BIRN's Budapest correspondent, who discusses how an attempt to cancel a national conservative conference in Brussels handed Hungarian PM Viktor Orban a PR gift.
5 April 2023 | Two Weeks in Central Europe
This week the TWiCE team talks to Jules Eisenchteter, BIRN’s Prague correspondent, who discusses the latest revelations from a recently exposed Russian influence peddling and bribery network operating out of the Czech Republic, the existence of which is sending shockwaves out across Europe.
22 March 2024 | Two Weeks in Central Europe
Joining the TWiCE team this week is Miroslava Sirotnikova, a former Slovak correspondent and now contributor for BIRN in Bratislava, who discusses the first round of Slovakia’s presidential election on Saturday and the two likeliest candidates that will go through to a second round.
7 March 2024 | Two Weeks in Central Europe
In this edition, the TWiCE team talks to Marta Prochwicz-Jazowska, a foreign and security policy expert at the German Marshall Fund, who discusses her op-ed for BIRN this week on how the new Polish government under Donald Tusk and his foreign minister Radoslaw Sikorski are reframing the narrative on the war in Ukraine away from the ‘doom and gloom’, towards highlighting the successes and charting a new common European strategy for Ukraine.
23 February 2024 | Two Weeks in Central Europe
In this edition of the podcast, the TWiCE team talks to BIRN's Budapest correspondent, Edit Inotai, about the resignations of the president and the former justice minister over a child abuse scandal that shook Hungary.
9 February 2023 | Two Weeks in Central Europe
In this edition of the podcast, the TWiCE team talks to BIRN's Prague correspondent, Jules Eisenchteter, about recent votes in the Czech parliament on gay rights and women’s rights.
26 January 2024 | This Week in Central Europe
In this edition of the podcast, the TWiCE team talks to Edit Inotai, BIRN's Budapest correspondent, about why Hungary is the last country to ratify Sweden's bid to join NATO.
12 January 2024 | Two Weeks in Central Europe
In this edition, the TWiCE team talks to BIRN’s Warsaw correspondent, Claudia Ciobanu, about a rising standoff between Poland’s new liberal-democratic government and the now-in opposition PiS party, which involves hunger strikes, occupations in TV buildings, arrests in the presidential palace and large street protests.
22 December 2023 | Two Weeks in Central Europe
In this edition, the TWiCE team talks to BIRN’s editor in Prague, Nicholas Watson, about the mass shooting in the Czech capital. The team also discusses Hungarian PM Viktor Orban’s relationship with the EU with Bea Bakó, a Hungarian lawyer specified in constitutional and EU law.
08 December 2023 | Two Weeks in Central Europe
In this week's edition, the TWiCE team discusses the blockade on the border of Ukraine by Polish truckers angry at seeing their business being taken away by Ukrainian haulage companies, as well as the expected appointment of a new government headed by Donald Tusk next week.
24 November 2023 | Two Weeks in Central Europe
In this week's episode, the TWiCE team talk to Gyula Csak, BIRN’s editor for investigative international projects, who discusses a busy two weeks for Hungary’s nationalist-populist 'ninja' government.
10 November 2023 | Two Weeks in Central Europe
In this edition of the podcast, the TWiCE team talks to BIRN’s editor, Nicholas Watson, who discusses Czech academia’s funding and legitimacy crisis and tells the story of a self-styled patriot and a few gold bars.
27 October 2023 | Two Weeks in Central Europe
In this edition of the podcast, the TWiCE team talks to BIRN’s correspondent in Budapest, Edit Inotai, who discusses a busy two weeks for Hungary in the international arena as the Prime Minister Orban gets a new ally in Slovakia in the form of Robert Fico, but his ally in Turkey, President Erdogan, screws him again.
13 October 2023 | Two Weeks in Central Europe
In this edition, the TWiCE team talks to BIRN’s correspondent in Poland, Claudia Ciobanu, who discusses the upcoming Polish elections. Are emotions reaching fever pitch in the country, and what are the possible scenarios?
29 Sep 2023 | Two Weeks in Central Europe
In this edition, the TWiCE team talks to Peter Dlhopolec, the editor-in-chief of the Slovak Spectator, who discusses the upcoming Slovak election. Are these elections one of the most important in the country’s history, and what do the polls suggest before people vote on Saturday?
15 Sep 2023 | Two Weeks in Central Europe
In this edition, the TWiCE team talks to Edit Inotai, BIRN’s Budapest correspondent, who discusses this week’s Demographic Summit, a pet project of the Hungarian PM to gather conservative and hard-right politicians from across the world to discuss issues surrounding falling birth rates and family policies to reverse that trend.
30 June 2023 | This Week in Central Europe
In this week’s podcast, the TWiCE team talks about Poland's plans to strengthen border security as Wagner fighters are seen relocating to Belarus following a deal negotiated by Belarus leader Aleksandr Lukashenko, which included the welcoming of Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin to Minsk on Tuesday.
In other news, in a surprise move, Hungary’s Justice Minister Judit Varga announced on Wednesday that she was resigning; Czech energy giant made to pay out profits made on back of the energy crisis; and pro-family Slovak speaker under pressure over once slapping girlfriend.
To read more about these and other stories from the region this week, go to http://www.balkaninsight.com/reporting-democracy and click on the weekly Democracy Digest.
23 June 2023 | This Week in Central Europe
In this week’s podcast, the TWiCE team talks to is Peter Dlhopelec, editor in chief of the Slovak Spectator, who discusses the surprise announcement this week that the country's popular president, Zuzana Caputova, has decided not to run for a second term in office next year.
16 June 2023 | This Week in Central Europe
In this week’s podcast, the TWiCE team talks to Tim Gosling, BIRN’s Prague correspondent, who discusses about how life is becoming awfully confusing for your average Czech anti-system conspiracy theorist and bigot, as the aftermath of a murder in Brno last weekend illustrates.
09 June 2023 | This Week in Central Europe
In this week’s podcast, the TWiCE team talks to Gyula Csak, BIRN’s editor for investigative international projects, about Hungary beating Italy into 2nd place in most investigations carried out by OLAF in 2022 over possible corruption and the possibility of it losing its turn at the rotating EU presidency in 2024.
2 June 2023 | This Week in Central Europe
In this week’s podcast, the TWiCE team talks to Claudia Ciobanu, BIRN's Warsaw correspondent, about the new law that Poland's ruling PiS party pushed through, which is causing concern over its potential to be misused to interfere in free and fair elections.
26 May 2023 | This Week in Central Europe
In this week’s podcast, the TWiCE team talks to Miroslava Sirotnikova, BIRN's former Slovak correspondent, about the fallout from the acquittal, for a second time, of businessman Marian Kocner in the murder of investigative journalist Jan Kuciak and his fiancée.
19 May 2023 | This Week in Central Europe
In this week’s podcast, the TWiCE team talks to Edit Inotai, BIRN's Budapest correspondent, about the unsuccessful fact-finding visit by the European Parliament’s Budgetary Control Committee, which left Hungary still concerned about the government's anti-corruption efforts.
In other news, Polish parties try to outdo each other over child handouts; the media is in the headlines in Czechia; and Slovakia’s new technocratic government gets to work.
To read more about these and other stories from the region this week, go to www.balkaninsight.com/reporting-democracy and click on the weekly Democracy Digest.
12 May 2023 | This Week in Central Europe
In this week’s podcast, the TWiCE team talk to Peter Dlhopelec, editor-in-chief of the Slovak Spectator, about last week’s collapse of the coalition government of Eduard Heger, the appointment by the president of an interim ‘government of experts’, and the upcoming September 30 general election.
05 May 2023 | This Week in Central Europe
In this week’s podcast, the TWiCE team discusses Viktor Orban describing Hungary as an “incubator” where future conservative politics is being tested and calling all progressive causes a “biological virus” that undermines the nation state and the West.
28 April 2023 | This Week in Central Europe
In this week’s podcast, the TWiCE team talks to Alexander Faludy, a writer on religious affairs in Hungary, about the Pope's three-day visit to Budapest, where some fear any strong peace message from Francis will be used by Orban’s government for propaganda purposes.
21 April 2023 | This Week in Central Europe
In this week’s podcast, the TWiCE team talk to Claudia Ciobanu about this week’s ructions between the EU’s eastern states, Ukraine and the EU over the issue of Ukrainian grain imports, which have – no doubt to Vladimir Putin’s delight – broken the hitherto strong solidarity between the various parties.
31 March 2023 | This Week in Central Europe
In this week’s podcast, the TWiCE team talk to Claudia Ciobanu about the arrest of an alleged Russian spy in Poland and the government’s decision to ban Russian and Belarusian athletes from competing at the European Games this summer in Krakow-Malopolska.
Read more on our website.
24 March 2023 | This Week in Central Europe
This week’s podcast focuses on the fallout from the ICC’s arrest warrant for Vladimir Putin, especially with regards to Hungary, while the TWiCE team talk to Petr Pojman, a renowned Czech criminologist who is helping investigate and catalogue war crimes in Ukraine.
Read more on our website and stay tuned for the new episode next Friday.
17 March 2023 | This Week in Central Europe
In this week’s podcast, the TWiCE team talks to Tom Junes, an historian at the Institute of Political Studies of the Polish Academy of Sciences, about the political fallout from allegations that Pope John Paul II protected pedophile priests while archbishop of Krakow during the 1970s.
To read more news and analysis from the region, check out our website and get in touch with us on Facebook or Twitter.
10 March 2023 | This Week in Central Europe
In this week’s podcast, the TWiCE team talk to Petr Cermak, a research fellow focusing on Western Balkan politics at the Prague-based Association for International Affairs, who discusses the inauguration of the new Czech president and what it means for Czech relations with its neighbours in Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe.
Read more on our website.
Central Europe in 2023 | Special TWiCE Episode
In this special episode of This Week in Central Europe, our team of correspondents from the V4 discuss the recently published “Trends Report 2023: War Focuses Minds”.
Spacing from energy to security, from democracy to media freedom, we cover the biggest challenges and trends that will play out next year in Central Europe. You can find our podcasts and read our analysis on Reporting Democracy.
Tune in next Friday for the new episode of TWiCE and get in touch with us on Twitter and Facebook.
24 February 2023 | This Week in Central Europe
In this week’s podcast, the TWiCE team talks to Adam Reichardt, editor-in-chief of New Eastern Europe magazine and host of the Talk Eastern Europe podcast, about how Poland has found itself on the world stage with the visit of the US president and its hosting of a meeting of eastern NATO members in the week of the one-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
We briefly connect with Edit Inotai, our Hungarian correspondent, to discuss yet another controversial Orban's claim before turning the attention to the rest of the region.
Follow our podcast and check out our website and social media channels for more articles and analysis from Central Europe.
17 February 2023 | This Week in Central Europe
In this week’s podcast, the TWiCE team talks to Peter Dlhopolec, the new editor-in-chief of the Slovak Spectator, about the continuing debate in Slovakia over the date of the early election and the chances of Mikulas Dzurinda making a political comeback with his Blue Coalition.
Read more about this week's events in Central Europe on our website and check out our weekly Democracy Digest.
10 February 2023 | This Week in Central Europe
In this week’s podcast, the TWiCE team talks to Claudia Ciobanu, BIRN’s Warsaw correspondent, about the latest scandal to engulf the governing PiS party, as well as the progress in the government’s effort to get billions out of the EU’s pandemic recovery fund.
3 February 2023 | This Week in Central Europe
In this week’s podcast, the TWiCE team talk to Rob Anderson, former FT correspondent in Prague, about what Petr Pavel’s first week as the Czech president-elect can tell us about what kind of president he will be when he takes office in March.
Check out our website and our weekly Democracy Digest for news and analysis on Central Europe.
This Week in Central Europe | 27 January 2023
A recent government decree allowed the Hungarian defence minister to dismiss high-ranking military officers after 25 years of service. This could affect much of the country's military leadership in a time of war in Hungary's immediate neighbourhood. The timing and the rushed implementation led to speculations in the Hungarian media.
To read more about these and other stories from the region this week, go to Reporting Democracy and check out the weekly Democracy Digest.
This Week in Central Europe | 20 January 2023
Slovakia will likely hold an early election in the autumn, after interim PM Eduard Heger admitted he has not managed to form a new government. On Saturday, citizens are expected to vote in a referendum on a constitutional change that would make it possible to shorten parliament’s term via referendum or a majority vote in parliament.
BIRN's Slovakia correspondent Tim Gosling is tuning in this week to give us more information on what will happen.
Check out our weekly Reporting Democracy to read more about last week in Central Europe.
This Week in Central Europe | 13 January 2023
The popular Erasmus program was in the headlines this week in Hungary. On Monday, it was revealed that the Hungarian government was informed by the Council of the EU on December 15 that the country’s universities, now operating as private foundations governed by a board of trustees, would not be eligible for the program funding any more.
Students risk losing a great opportunity for their education and academic career. How did the country take this news? Gyula Csák help TWiCE host Nick Watson unpack the news.
To read more about these and other stories from the region this week, check out our weekly Democracy Digest.
This Week in Central Europe | 16 December 2022
Slovakia's minority government finally breathed its last on Thursday as PM Eduard Heger narrowly lost a no-confidence vote in parliament. This meant the whole government had to resign, bringing an end to Heger’s year and a half in office.
So, what happens now, snap elections? We discuss about it with Michaela Terenzani, editor in chief of the Slovak Spectator.
Read more about what happened this week in Central Europe in our Friday morning publication, Democracy Digest.
We’re taking a break over the festive period, and we'll be back on January 6. Till then, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
This Week in Central Europe | 9 December 2022
Hungarian Finance Minister Mihaly Varga vetoed the 18-billion-euro EU loan to Ukraine on Tuesday, kiboshing what would’ve been a unanimous decision by the EU. The Hungarian government also suddenly scrapped the fuel cap that had kept petrol and diesel prices low for voters as fuel shortages raged across the country, while a close ally of PM Viktor Orban, the central bank governor Gyorgy Matolcsy, broke ranks to criticise the government’s handling of the economy, which has made it among the most vulnerable in the world.
What’s Hungary up to? Gyula Csak tunes in this week to discuss events with TWiCE host Nick Watson.
Read more about these and other stories from the region this week in our weekly Democracy Digest.
This Week in Central Europe | 2 December 2022
Hungary was very much in the news this week, much of it centred on an announcement by the European Commission it is recommending the withholding of billions of euros in funds. Once again, the reason for this recommendation are concerns that the government of Viktor Orban has been weakening the rule of law and not doing enough to stop corruption.
On this and other major events from the country, TWiCE host Nicholas Watson talks to BIRN’s Budapest correspondent Edit Inotai.
In other news, a high-profile judge critical of the Polish government returns to the bench after almost two years of suspension; Czechia finally makes some nuclear progress; and Slovakia’s chief prosecutor summarily closes case against former PM Robert Fico to consternation.
To read more about these and other stories from the region this week, go to our weekly Democracy Digest.
This Week in Central Europe | 25 November 2022
There doesn’t appear to have been any major breakthrough in talks between Brussels and Poland's new EU minister, Andrzej Szynkowski vel Sek, about the release of Poland’s 35-billion-euro slice of the EU’s coronavirus recovery fund. The money has been held up by the EU over concerns about the rule of law in Poland until now.
While the EU Commission has accepted as a positive step the dismantling of a Disciplinary Chamber at the Supreme Court used to punish critical judges, there are still pending issues Warsaw needs to solve before any money can be paid out. Our Polish correspondent Claudia Ciobanu tell us more about it together with TWiCE host Gyula Csak.
To find out more about what happened this week in Central Europe, check out our weekly Democracy Digest and tune in next week for a new episode.
This Week in Central Europe | 17 November 2022
An ongoing investigation by the Polish authorities, with the help of the US, is looking into precisely what happened on Tuesday afternoon, when a missile hit farm infrastructure in southeast Poland, just 6 kilometres from the Ukrainian border, killing two workers.
“Nothing indicates that this was an attack directed intentionally against Poland,” said Duda. “This was most likely an accident. Russia yesterday attacked Ukraine, Ukrainian defence fired numerous missiles to neutralise the attack… It’s unfortunately very likely that one of the missiles fired by the Ukrainians fell on Polish territory.” In this context, Poland will not be asking to invoke Article 4 in the NATO Treaty.
What does this mean, precisely? Jonathan Terra, political scientist and former diplomat, explains it dialoguing with TWiCE's host Nick Watson.
To read more about what happened this week in Central Europe, here you'll find our weekly Democracy Digest. We'll be back next week with another episode of TWiCE.
This Week in Central Europe | 11 November 2022
In an internal document sent to Slovakia’s priests, Trnava Archbishop Jan Orosch wrote in early November that he considered the two queer victims of the October 12 terrorist attack outside a Bratislava gay bar were not innocent. He even questioned whether the police had ever bothered carrying out a drug search of the bar.
The leaked remarks prompted an immediate backlash from the police and public, including many Catholic believers and even some individual priests. Slovak Spectator correspondent Michaela Terenzani helps us unpack this news with TWiCE host Nick Watson.
Read more about Central Europe in this week's Democracy Digest.
This Week in Central Europe | 4 November 2022
The Polish government announced this week that it will construct a wall on its border with the Russian exclave Kaliningrad. Fearing what happened last year on the border with Belarus, Poland aims at preventing a new migration wave into the EU.
The announcement of the wall was met with a mixed response at home. While few in Poland doubt the need to take strong measures to stand up to Russia, which is waging war in next-door Ukraine, some doubt whether a few rows of barbed wire that the government plans to put up would actually prevent migrants sent over the border by Russia from getting across.
TWiCE host Nick Watson talks about this with Reporting Democracy correspondent Claudia Ciobanu. Claudia published earlier this year Polish Forest Full of Fear, a multimedia investigation casting new lights on what was happening at the time on the Belarusian-Polish border.
Read more about the week in Central Europe on our weekly Democracy Digest and tune in next week for another episode of This Week in Central Europe!
This Week in Central Europe | 28 October 2022
Protests demanding higher pay and better working conditions for teachers continued this week in Hungary. On Sunday, some 80,000 people, according to organisers, demonstrated in Budapest, calling for a better education system, less centralisation and more freedom for schools and teachers.
Our Budapest correspondent Edit Inotai speaks about the protests with TWiCE co-host Gyula Csak. To read more about this and other topics from Central Europe, check our weekly Democracy Digest.
Tune in next week for another episode of This Week in Central Europe!
This Week in Central Europe | 21 October 2022
The Czech government is mulling ways to get public media reforms past the opposition as part of a promised push to strengthen the independence of Czech Television (ČT).
The reform bill, which was finally put up for initial debate in parliament on October 13, is intended to prevent the ČT Council from being politicised by the ruling power of the day and limit the executive body’s power over the public broadcaster’s management.
However, there was no discussion last week, as the opposition, which accuses the government of seeking to control ČT for itself, filibustered the session. Tim Gosling, Reporting Democracy correspondent from Czechia, explore the topic in details with host Nick Watson.
Read more on our this week's edition of Democracy Digest.
This Week in Central Europe | 14 October 2022
Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto flew to Moscow on Wednesday to participate in an energy roundtable and sign a deal with Gazprom to defer payments for gas supplies. Szijjarto was in such a hurry to get to Moscow he left the EU energy ministers summit in Prague early, where they were discussing ways to cut gas prices in Europe.
Gyula Csák, co-host of this podcast, answer questions and explains what this mean for EU-Hungary relations.
Read more about this and all the major events of the week in Central Europe in our Friday morning publication Democracy Digest.