When the European Commission proposed legislation to accelerate gender balance on company boards last year, it seemed that in the Czech Republic the end of the world had truly come.
Vassilis Petsinis
23. 4. 2013
There has much talk about the link between the economic crisis and the popularity of the far right in Europe. Most articles that deal with this topic revolve around such keywords as ‘party-systems’, ‘EU austerity measures’, ‘institutions’ and ‘protest voting’.
Elsa Tulmets
16. 4. 2013
Although the V4 never included other aspirants to its group, it has opened the doors for association via the Visegrad Plus format. Recently, the Weimar Triangle (Germany, France and Poland) started applying a similar model.
Zoltán Pogátsa
27. 3. 2013
In spite of all the talk about human development and happiness indices, for most people the single most important determinant of their standard of living is their income. More than two decades after the fall of the Iron Curtain, Eastern Europeans still earn much less than their Western counterparts.
Marta Jaroszewicz
8. 3. 2013
Visa and mobility issues are the EU’s most tangible incentive for its Eastern neighbors. Yet the EU conditions the loosening of restrictions on free travel by in-depth reforms in the partner countries. This has to change and the V4 could play a stronger role in the process.
Adam Balcer
28. 2. 2013
Despite certain undeniable achievements, regional cooperation in the Visegrad Group is definitely below its potential. The hard security sphere represents the most striking example of underperformance of the V4. Unfortunately, the likelihood of reinvigoration of cooperation in the security dimension is near zero because of a huge and ever-deepening gap in military capabilities and defense spending between Poland and other Visegrad states.
Pavol Szalai
25. 2. 2013
Defending nuclear energy in Western Europe is almost a faux pas. Even France, the most pronuclear country, has committed itself to reduce the nuclear portion of its electricity mix. Against the odds, the Visegrad countries remain faithful to the atom. If the Czechs, Hungarians, Poles, and Slovaks want to develop their nuclear industries, they should cooperate.
Monika Martišková
15. 2. 2013
On December 5, the European Commission proposed a package of measures to help deal with youth unemployment. However, concerns persist about the effectiveness of the package. Slovakia has one of the highest youth unemployment rates in the EU. It serves as an example of a country where half-hearted measures have failed in the absence of a proper active labour market strategy to channel the young into meaningful jobs.
Craig J. Willy
8. 2. 2013
Milos Zeman, a strong supporter of European integration, will be the next president of the Czech Republic: an opportunity to examine the relations between his country and Western Europe. Does the Iron Curtain still exist?
Pelin Ayan Musil
6. 2. 2013
I remember my first days in Prague, full of curiosity and passion for trying to understand how the social aspect of human existence is characterized in the Czech Republic. After all, I was coming from a city—Istanbul—with a population of more than 15 million people, and it contained every extreme of Eastern and Western culture (along with many fusions between the two). I knew that it would be nothing like that. On the other hand, I was expecting to find another type of fusion in Prague: a blend of post-communism and Westernization. I was interested in how such a blend would find its reflections in identities and shape individual behavior.
Juraj Draxler
29. 1. 2013
In the Czech Republic, the transformation of the 1990s resulted in a radically restructured society where the newly privatized economy was complemented by weakened state structures. A weak commitment to the rule of law, inefficient bureaucracy and badly organized public services are often grouped under all-encompassing signifiers. “Corruption” is one of the most frequently used words in public discourse. It is often used as a term of resignation (“well, there is corruption everywhere”), but in some contexts it also mobilises reformers. The question is, in what direction?
