Slovakia – Slovakia’s Prime Minister Eduard Heger announced on Sunday, 22 January, that the early parliamentary elections triggered by the motion of no confidence passed by the National Council last 15 December will be held on 30 September 2023. The National Council…
Slovakia/Hungary – In an interview with actuality.sk, Slovakia’s Foreign Minister, Rastislav Káčer renewed his attacks on his country’s southern neighbour and its Prime Minister, Viktor Orbán.
When asked whether Hungary is still a democracy, Káčer replied: “In light of my criteria,
Hungary is…
Austria – Almost a year after Austria’s parliament passed a law introducing a general requirement to get anti-Covid vaccinations, despite massive public opposition, the Austrian health minister, Johannes Rauch (Greens), announced on Saturday, 14 January, his intention to have all laws and…
Czechia – The second round of the Czech presidential elections will take place on 27–28 January with a run-off ballot between General Petr Pavel, who got 35.4% of the vote in the first round, and former Prime Minister Andrej Babiš, who came…
Czechia – Czech voters were called to the polls on 13 and 14 January to choose a successor to President Miloš Zeman. According to the results published by the Czech press, the two candidates qualifying for the second round of voting on…
Poland – At a time when Croatia has just switched to the euro – specifically, on 1 January 2023 – and with significant price increases being observed as retailers are taking the opportunity to “round up” their prices, a survey was conducted…
V4/Ukraine – The mayors of the Visegrád Four’s capital cities, who have formed a “Pact of Free Cities”, visited Kyiv on 11 January. Bratislava’s mayor Matúš Vallo, Budapest’s Gergely Karácsony, Prague’s Zdeněk Hřib, and Warsaw’s Rafał Trzaskowski came at the invitation of…
Poland/Ukraine – The presidents of Poland, Lithuania, and Ukraine – Andrzej Duda, Gitanas Nausėda, and Volodymyr Zelensky – met on Wednesday, 11 January, in the Ukrainian city of Lviv for a Lublin Triangle summit, where they signed a joint declaration of support…
European Union – The EU’s new ETIAS border control system is scheduled to begin operating in November 2023. Most citizens of the 60 countries currently exempted from visas for tourist travel will soon have to fill in an online form and pay…
Czechia – Former Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš was acquitted on Monday, 9 January, by a Prague court in the “Stork’s Nest” case. The news could not have come at a better time for Babiš, with the first round of the presidential…
Poland/Germany – On 3 October 2022, Poland’s Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau, in a diplomatic note sent to the German government, formalised the long-discussed Polish request to reopen the question of German reparations to Poland for the damage caused…
Originally published in French on the website of the Observatory of Journalism, 22 December 2022.
In Hungary, the fiasco of Péter Márki-Zay, an unsuccessful and extraordinarily clumsy candidate in the April 2022 parliamentary elections, is still unfolding. Last summer, Márki-Zay admitted that…