Prague
In 2004, the Central European and Baltic countries joined the European Union as new members. The Prague office seeks to strengthen liberal forces, both political and intellectual, in the region. Our project office particularly supports the 4liberty.eu network, which serves as a centre of competence and a platform for dialogue.
News
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Dirty election campaign with a good ending?
After ten years, the Czech Republic will have a new president: Retired General Petr Pavel clearly won the run-off election against former Prime Minister Andrej Babiš. His victory is good news for the country's pro-Western development. After years of dividing society under outgoing President Miloš Zeman, who was known for his love of Russia and China, the new president will have his hands full in bringing together the currently highly polarised society and charting a new course.
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The Czech Republic is looking for a president
Since 2012, the Czech president has been directly elected by citizens in two rounds of voting. Czechs enjoy this right to vote and the last presidential election in 2018 saw the highest turnout in a national election in 20 years. Thus, the presidential election has become a great show that people discuss for months and years ahead, arousing great emotions. The bookmakers are sure about the winner of the election, the polls are groping in the dark and a third of the voters are still undecided. So what can we expect in the first and second rounds of the presidential election?
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Countering Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine and its hybrid attacks on European societies
This strategy paper is the joint product of 14 liberal youth organizations from Eastern and Central-Eastern Europe elaborated at the second Eastern Europe Summit. The organizations met in November 2022 in Prague and are planning to hold another summit to expand deliberations and common demands.
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From Poland with Love - December
An explosion at the office of Poland's police chief, the visit of President Zelenskyy and the audition of the popular hip hop band Black Eyed Peas in Poland´s small town Zakopane with rainbow armbands sending message to the ruling PiS party are the highlights of December 2022 in Poland. LGBTQI+ community is still a big topic in Poland. Read more in our newsletter!
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False narratives about the European Union dominate Slovak information space, including allegations of widespread corruption in the EU institutions
In the past two weeks disinformers are spreading allegations of widespread corruption in the EU institutions. For this, they are massively utilising the recent “Qatargate” scandal. Additionally, dubious political actors focused their attention on the recent visit of the European Parliament delegation to Slovakia. And false narratives about the war in Ukraine re-appear among the topics, including blaming the West for intentionally prolonging the war.
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Slovakia in chaos before Christmas: the collapse of the government is only the beginning
In Slovakia, the conservative-populist minority government of Prime Minister Eduard Heger has been brought down by a vote of no confidence. President Zuzana Čaputová dismissed the government the following day. However, the political crisis in Slovakia is far from over. Apart from the fact that Slovakia does not yet have an approved budget for next year, early elections are now likely to be held, the outcome of which could change Slovakia's foreign policy direction from West to East.
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Final assessment of the Czech EU Presidency
The last EU meetings under the Czech Presidency are taking place this week. It became clear now that the Czech Republic is a credible and reliable partner for other members states. During its EU Presidency, the country had to deal mainly with the crisis agenda, focusing on energy issues and negotiating very complex packages such as the climate package and support for Ukraine. Especially in the energy sector, the Czechs proved to be good negotiators, focusing on pragmatic compromises.