Poland – PiS leading in opinion polls despite “scandals”

Poland – PiS leading in opinion polls despite “scandals”

Olivier Bault September 30, 2019

By Olivier Bault. Poland - Although opposition media have been trying very hard to expose scandals linked to the current ruling party in Poland, the electorate is unimpressed. Jarosław Kaczyński’s social-conservative Law and Justice party (PiS) seems to be on track to…

Interviews

Norbert van Handel: “The M7, gathering the V4 and Austria, Slovenia and Croatia, must speak with one voice”

The Editorial Board September 25, 2019

Austria - Interview with Baron Norbert van Handel: "The M7 (i.e., Mitteleuropa 7), these countries of Christian and conservative essence, must move closer within the EU to correct the course, otherwise they will sink into a multicultural European whirlwind. The M7 must…

Politics

Obstacles left by the outgoing Juncker Commission to improved relations with Warsaw and Budapest

Olivier Bault September 14, 2019

By Olivier Bault. This article was originally publishedon Kurier.plusby the Felczak Institute of Polish–Hungarian Cooperation European Union - While Poland and Hungary can hardly count on the new European Parliament constituted after the May 23–26 elections to take a less offensive…

Politics

A common Polish-Hungarian School of Leaders to foster a better future for Europe

Olivier Bault September 7, 2019

By Olivier Bault. Poland - Krasiczyn Castle in southeast Poland, near the city of Przemyśl, hosted some 350 young Hungarians and Poles from 26-30 August for the second edition of a new annual event: the Polish-Hungarian School of Leaders,organised in the form…

Culture

Hungarians and the Warsaw Uprising

The Editorial Board September 3, 2019

By Marcin Bąk. Originally published on Kurier.plus. Poland - Of the many brotherly pages in Polish-Hungarian relations, one of the brightest is the attitude of the Hungarian army during the heroic 63 days of fighting in Warsaw in 1944. Warsaw and Poles…

Society

Central Europe a much better place for Jews than Western Europe

Olivier Bault August 27, 2019

By Olivier Bault. This article was originally published in March on Kurier.plus by the Felczak Institute of Polish–Hungarian Cooperation. Central Europe - A popular view in Western Europe is that anti-Semitism is still rife in Central European countries, and that Poland and…

Politics

Engaged in a bitter dispute with France and Germany over illegal immigration, Italy sides with the Visegrád Group

Olivier Bault August 8, 2019

By Olivier Bault. This article was originally published on Kurier.plus. European Union - On July 22, French President Emmanuel Macron announced at a press conference in Paris that an agreement had been reached by 14 countries of the European Union on a temporary…

Politics

Brussels will remain in conflict with Poland even with a new European Commission

Olivier Bault August 5, 2019

By Olivier Bault. Poland - Together with its fellow Visegrád Group countries, Poland has managed to veto the bid of Dutch socialist Frans Timmermans to become the next President of the European Commission. Although Timmermans is expected to retain a vice-presidency of…

Politics

Poland and Hungary outperforming most other EU economies, at least partly through not adopting the euro

Olivier Bault August 1, 2019

By Olivier Bault. This article was originally published on Kurier.plus. Central Europe - According to the European Commission’s forecasts, Poland and Hungary will be the joint second fastest growing economies in the EU this year, after Malta. The EC has raised its…

Politics

Orbán’s full speech at Tusványos: political philosophy, upcoming crisis and projects for the next 15 years

The Editorial Board July 29, 2019

By the editorial board. Hungary - Each year, Viktor Orbán holds a speech of political philosophy at the summer camp of Bálványos in Transylvania - a region formerly Hungarian, of which many parts are still inhabited by a majority of Hungarians, and…

Politics

Three months before parliamentary elections, the Polish opposition is divided and lacks credibility

Olivier Bault July 27, 2019

By Olivier Bault. Poland - A constitutional majority no longer seems to be completely out of reach for the Law and Justice party (PiS). Is it possible, though, under Poland’s proportional representation system? The D’Hondt method, used to calculate seats allocated in the…

Society

The international LGBT offensive in Catholic Poland

Olivier Bault July 1, 2019

By Olivier Bault. Poland - In Poland, as elsewhere, the months of May and June are the season of “Equality Parades”, as they are still called in the homeland of Saint John Paul II. These marches are free of the obscene behaviour…