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  • Hungarian theater in Ukraine celebrates 25th anniversary

    The III. “Stalker” Festival (named after the cult movie written by the Russian Strugacky brothers) of the Transcarpathian Hungarian Drama Theater consists of ten performances of the host theater, the National Theater of Budapest, and theaters from Ungvár (Uzhhorod, Ukraine), Kiev and Debrecen.

    Fesztivál

    The auditorium of the Beregszász theater

    Attila Vidnyánszky, director of the National Theater of Budapest said at the opening of the festival that in its 25 years of existence the Beregszász Theater has raised a generation of theater-lovers and has become an important element of the national culture of the Hungarian ethnic minority in the Ukraine.

    The opening performance featured Zsolt Trill, an actor who is a member of both the Budapest and the Beregszász ensemble.

    Ukraine has an ethnic Hungarian minority of some 150,000.

    Images: National Theater of Budapest

  • PM Orbán and ethnic Hungarian leader Kelemen call for strong EPP

    The focus of the discussions – held in the Hungarian Parliament – between Orbán and Kelemen was the preparation for the EPP’s upcoming congress in Helsinki, the Prime Minister’s Press Office said in a statement.

    The two agreed that there is a need for a strong EPP and the best way to jointly promote the interests of Hungarians was to help establish a strong EPP group after the May 2019 European elections.

    The statement also said the two announced they will support German politician Manfred Weber (CSU) in his candidacy to be the lead candidate of the EPP at the elections.

    Orbán and Kelemen also discussed the Transylvanian development projects co-financed by the Hungarian budget, with special emphasis on investments in educational, cultural and economic development projects.

    Title image: Hunor Kelemen, leader of the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania (L) and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán meet in Budapest on October 29 (Photo: Prime Minister’s Press Office/MTI – Balázs Szecsődi)

  • Macron’s fatal waltz

    It was one and a half years ago that the current President of France won the election with an exceptionally aggressive campaign. Television channels supporting him never even asked the question where did this so-called “expert” without any party affiliation get his campaign money from?

    It is a dark and rarely spoken about secret that the candidate who was magically pulled out of a hat was already a member of the General Financial Inspectorate at the tender age of 27 and a banker with Rothschild & Cie afterwards.

    Sociologist Monique Pinçon-Charlot in her book “Predators at power” says the general public has no idea how many banks dug in their pockets to help such an “expert” to gain power – one of the darkest secrets of French politics.

    A small elite of the influential press and a group of lawyers has removed the obstacle represented by the much more suitable François Fillon, reducing French politics to the level of a banana republic. The rapid formation of Macron’s government after the elections is only surprising at first glance, as its members were school buddies at the French public administration ( École normale supérieure). They are pragmatic power players, who only use ideology as a Trojan horse into power.

    In one of his simplistic slogans Macron claims he is the spearhead of advancement fighting against the leper of nationalism and populism spreading across Europe. He seems to pay no attention to the uncomfortable truth that two of his ministers have already abandoned ship – one of them without even first notifying his boss about his resignation.

    He doesn’t much care about the criticism coming from French intellectuals – what’s more, he wants to establish surveillance over the Internet, the last refuge of dissidents. Meanwhile, he keeps issuing orders left and right and is tuning his violin for the winter ball season.

    But the truth is that the orchestra also played a waltz on the sinking Titanic.

  • Romania expels French writer sympathetic to ethnic Hungarians

    Weiss, a PhD student at the Babeș Bolyai University in Cluj (Kolozsvár), was handed the Romanian Ministry of Interior’s decision to ban him from the country for five years after landing at Cluj airport. He is currently in Hungary.

    “I am sorry to say that all my current appointments in Romania will have to be postponed, having been forbidden entry until September 11th, 2023. It seems that i “pose a threat to the national security” of said country,” Weiss wrote in French, English and Romanian on his Facebook page.

    Weiss, a linguist, writer and poet has occassionaly written commentaries about Romania under the pseudonym Modeste Schwartz. He was also an active supporter of the ethnic Hungarian folk dance movement “táncház” in Romania.

    Weiss

    The decision of the Romanian Ministry of Interior

    In an interview with Hungarian news agency MTI Weiss asked: “How could I have threatened the national security of Romania? With poems?  With grammatical analyses?”.

    Romanian writer Alexandru Petria wrote that Weiss is the type of “uncomfortable, non-partisan intellectual whose texts sting like inadvertently touching a nettle.”

     

  • Merkel’s silent revolution

    Last time the CDU suffered defeat in Hesse the party lost eleven percent of its voters. This is the largest decline among the traditional political forces. Despite the recent developments Merkel’s plans to step back cannot be explained purely with election results. The Chancellor was able to influence the politics of conservatives for nearly 30 days. Lately she became the symbol of political mistakes culminating in the grand coalition.

    CDU had five presidents in roughly fifty years. Merkel’s predecessors resigned because of an election failure or choosing the leadership temporarily. Merkel was learning from these mistakes – she is giving up her positions while the CDU is getting weaker, but the party’s situation is not abysmal, like the SPD.

    The Chancellor characterized her steps as doing politics without an alternative. This created an illusion that she has no motivation to raise a new generation of politicians, which is not true: the youngest MP in the German parliament is a conservative and the party leadership is relatively young. While Merkel became the symbol of the grand coalition, her absence could even help the CDU and create an opportunity for the new faces. This is however just the first step and most things depend on the vision and the unity of newly formed coalitions.

  • Fico and Blaha unexpectedly visits Cuba

    According to Blaha the visit is an important gesture of Robert Fico towards economic cooperation. “This is not a parliamentary, but a party visit,” emphasized Blaha, who believes that Slovakia and Cuba have friendly relations and the island country, which currently signed a trade treaty with the European Union is an important business partner. During the visit Blaha and Fico officially met with President Diaz Canel. “I am happy that Slovakia always voted in the UN against the evilish American blockade,” Blaha said, according to hlavnespravy.sk. He also believes that Cuba, while is not comparable with Sweden or Germany is able to guarantee “high standards of schooling system and healthcare, social security and provide a safe life.”

    Robert Fico also emphasized that he came to endorse business relations between the two countries and pointed out that Cuba has traditional connections to Slovakia, which can be used for cooperation.

    The Ministry of Foreign Affairs claims that it had no information about the planned trip to the Caribbean country. Boris Gandel, the spokesman of the ministry said, arranging a similar work-related visit is in the competence of the Slovak Parliament.

  • Enemies of the Visegrad Group are both in Paris and Prague

    We should keep in mind that Macron has visited two not-so-active members of Visegrad. It is no coincidence that he did not visit old-fashioned conservative Poland or Hungary. The cause of his journey is certainly not about the worry about liberal democracy in the Eastern parts of the EU.

    Drawing attention to the latest statement of the new Foreign Minister to Visegrad, Kaiser favored the approach of Prime Minister Babis, who realizes that solidarity with the others in the Visegrad Group is better for him than a friendship with Merkel or Macron.

    New foreign minister Petříček´s attitude to the Visegrad Four is not so friendly which can be evidenced by his first foreign trip to Germany, instead of Slovakia. He sees the Czech Republic as a peaceful force in Central Europe, whose role is to “talk to Hungary and Poland about our problems and what is wrong”.

    Petříček then further developed his distance from Visegrad a few days later when he, in front of the diplomatic corps, said the V4 is only one of several formats from the Czech point of view and it depends on its added value.

    Although Kaiser acknowledged his words as more or less right, he also admitted that when taking over an office, one can either point out that the V4 is important to us, or to relativize it so that the Poles and the Hungarians know how it is with the Czechs.

  • Salvini in clash with the Czech Commissioner over the Roma community

    Jourova said on Friday that Italy is playing with fire. The head of the anti-immigration party Lega Nord described her words as “another nonsense from Brussels” and called her to visit the camps in his country where the Roma community live and where they violate the law.

    “Why doesn’t the lady come and visit a Roma camp in Rome or Milan and see the weapons, the illegality, the exploited children and the stolen goods?,” Salvini said in Rome, adding that “then she might wake up and change her mind.”

    Salvini faces criticism from human rights organizations for his approach to the Roma minority and immigrants. Earlier this year, he sparked outrage by announcing Italy planned to kick out Roma people from abroad.

  • Klaus: Macron and Merkel are afraid of the V4

    “The European Union is in the state of decomposition, and Merkel with Macron, dominant leaders of the European Union, are afraid that the countries of the Visegrad Four will somehow move away from the core of the EU,“ Klaus said in a widely watched TV interview. According to Klaus, the visit was nothing but self-promotion and PR.

    Klaus also commented on an interview Macron gave to various European newspapers. His statements about the need for greater integration have been described by the former Czech president as the classical brass arrogance of the French.

    Klaus sees the emergence of Czechoslovakia as a positive despite the difficulties faced by states during their history. However, according to Klaus, the Czech Republic insufficiently used the 100th anniversary of Czechoslovakia to reflect its current situation, its position within the European Union.

    Václav Klaus also spoke about Czech independence and compared the current situation to Austria-Hungary. “Our people did not want to live in Austria-Hungary, they did not want to live in a multinational monarchy, in a strange grouping where they did not decide by themselves but decisions were made in distant Vienna,” Klaus said, fearing that today we underestimate the threat of once again becoming part of another multinational group, the European Union.

    “The degree of autonomy and sovereignty of our country is already very limited and reduced today. And not realizing it would be closing our eyes and I would never want to do that, “Klaus said.

  • Zeman and Babiš: Hungary and Poland are our allies

    Considering Poland and Hungary are democratic countries, both the President and the Prime Minister shared their doubts about the EU’s actions towards Hungary and Poland. “I am convinced that both Fidesz and PiS are democratic political parties, with sort of different opinions than the European Commission,“ Zeman said, adding that it is rude that the EU interferes in the internal affairs of sovereign countries such as Poland and Hungary.

    Prime Minister Babiš replied to the same question stressing the importance of V4 group. “We are pushing issues together at the European Council. Things that some countries may not like, such as the attitude to illegal migration or budget issues. I think it’s good,“ Babiš said.

    The future of European integration was also discussed. Although the Czech president is one of the supporters of a stronger connection within the EU, he stressed that unification must take place only in areas where the EU is stronger than nation states. Instead, we get ridiculous regulations from Brussels such as the one reducing power and noise requirements of vacuum cleaners.

    Babis did not hesitate to answer, and if he had to choose, he would definitely vote for independence. Mentioning Brexit as well as the threat of a trade war or sanctions, Europe is at a crossroad, according to the Czech prime minister, and he would prefer to return to its very essence which is represented by four freedoms.

    “The Jacques Delors project is not working. We still have a lot of limits for our businesses, entrepreneurs, drivers or our transport companies. We have to fight for our interests in Europe, and I am very actively doing it all the time,” Babis said, agreeing with Zeman that he wants less of Europe because of a large number of unnecessary directives.

    On the other hand, the Czech Republic should, according to Babis, come up with its own initiative. As an example, he mentioned the so-called reverse charge, the only proposal that the Czech Republic has enforced since joining the European Union. Also, he did not forget to mention an active approach to solving the migration crisis. Even though we are a small country, we are able to propose solutions, he said. 

     

  • Polish pilot among those killed at Leicester City helicopter crash

    The owner of Leicester City football club, Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha, Izabela Lechowicz’s husband and pilot Eric Swaffer and two co-workers; Nursara Suknamai i Kaveporn Punparewere, were also among the casualties.

    In an official statement, Leicester City said that the club’s thoughts were with “the Srivaddhanaprabha family and the families of all those on-board at this time of unspeakable loss”.

    The Polish embassy in the UK released a statement in which they said that “with great sadness, we received the news about the death of Izabela Lechowicz in the Leicester catastrophe. She was a great pilot, winner of the #Polka100 contest. It contributed to the creation of a positive image of Poland in the UK.”

    She was a great pilot, winner of the #Polka100 contest. It contributed to the creation of a positive image of Poland in the UK

    Lechowicz arrived in the UK in 1997. After meeting her husband, Eric Swaffer, she started a piloting class and became a pilot. She was one of the 18 Polish women to be nominated for the #Polka100 organized by the Polish embassy on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of Polish women gaining voting rights.

    Lechowicz also promoted the heroic actions of Polish pilots in the 1940 Battle of Britain. “I sometimes remind people of Squadron 303 and how Poles defended the skies above England,” she is cited in the embassy’s statement.

  • A pop-culture feast in Warsaw

    Conventions have been a hit in Poland. They are no longer just an opportunity to meet fellow fans, but also a way of interacting with the stars of their favorite tv-shows and authors of bestselling novels.

    Among the most famous guests this year were Andrew Scott (Moriarty from BBC’s “Sherlock”), Paul Wesley (Stefan Salvatore from “The Vampire Diaries”), Crystal Reed (Allison Argent from “Teen Wolf”), John Rhys Davies (Sallah from “Indiana Jones” and Gimli from “The Lord of the Rings), Clive Staden (Rollo from “Vikings”) and Jimmy Vee, the legendary Star Wars R2-D2:

    fb

    Comic Con is not just about actors, however. Among invited authors were household Polish names such as Andrzej Pilipiuk, Michał Gołkowski and Rafał Dębski.

    The convention was also host to several e-sport events as well as panels dedicated to gaming releases. Attendees had the opportunity to admire famous cosplayers such as Margaret Cosplay&Art, Carlos Blanchard and Dan Ballestro. 

  • Duda’s “cute” tweet on Istanbul’s summit photo sparks outrage

    In the photo, one can see Vladimir Putin, Angela Merkel, Tayyip Erdogan and Emmanuel Macron holding hands. Polish president Andrzej Duda shared the picture and tweeted just a single word: “Cute…”.

    Former ambassador to Canada  (under PO government) Marcin Bosacki, voiced his dissatisfaction with the President’s actions, by saying that: “The role of the President is not to criticize the photos of other country’s leaders, but to influence their decisions so that they benefit Polish interests. When he can’t do that, it’s best to stay silent.” The deputy chairman of PO Tomasz Siemoniak claimed that: “Unfortunately, President Duda has no clue what is unbecoming of his position. This presidency is a pathetic misunderstanding.” Jarosław Kurski, the deputy head editor of “Gazeta Wyborcza”, Poland’s largest liberal newspaper, urged Duda to “remove that stupid tweet for God’s sake!”.

    Meanwhile, the Right has found the whole situation amusing and voiced their support for the President by drawing attention to the opposition’s hypocrisy.

    Eryk Mistewicz subtitled the leaders’ photo: “Young democrats.”

    “Democrats of all dictatorships come together!” writes user “Brat Wodza” and posted a photoshopped picture of Bono and Donald Tusk pointing at the controversial picture.

    tt

  • Babiš not sure about signing Marrakesh agreement

    Babiš’s main worry is that the GCM is meant to establish responsibilities for member states to accept migrants. “The definition of migration is also not what it should be,” he says and explains that the Czech minister of the interior is currently preparing an analysis of the document to see how it will affect the coutry’s interior policies.

    The Czech PM says that although he “did not like the GCM agreement”, he believes that it is necessary to analyze and discuss it among the Czech government. As to whether the Czech Republic will not sign the document, Babiš says, “I don’t know. But I cannot rule that out.”

    Bulgaria, Croatia and Romania should be a part of Schengen and we should stand guard at the sea and protect Europe from an influx of immigrants

    Andrej Babiš argues that the EU’s Southern borders should be better protected. “Bulgaria, Croatia and Romania should be a part of Schengen and we should stand guard at the sea and protect Europe from an influx of immigrants.”

    Although Babiš supports the EU, he is critical of the European Commission. As an example of EC authority over his country, he faced the European Social Fund and its lightly imposed social programs. Whereas the Czechs needed additional funds for investments and received less than in previous years. “It turns out that we can’t decide,” argues Babiš and claims that “reform is necessary. Brexit is proof of that.”

  • Hungarian opposition MP in alleged organized crime links

    According to the information of conservative Hungarian portal Pesti Srácok, the Polish anti-mafia unit questioned the former ring member for two days related to VAT fraud running into several billion forints. In a previous testimony the unnamed witness also spoke about the involvement of two former high-ranking officers of the National Investigative Office NNI (dubbed the “Hungarian FBI”).

    The witness was the one who in his testimony told Polish investigators that Jobbik MP Gábor Staudt (title image, MTI) was also a member of the crime ring. Pesti Srácok also writes that the witness handed over documents to Polish investigators proving the allegations.

    The witness first filed a complaint with Hungarian police, who said they weren’t entitled to investigate the case as there was no damage to the Hungarian state budget. Subsequently the witness filed the same complaint with the Polish authorities who have recently questioned him.

    Pesti Srácok only wrote that the crime group was probably involved in transactions of precious metals but did not provide further details. 

  • Budapest real estate prices jump 20% year-on-year

    Data from real estate agency Duna House show that in the third quarter flat prices in the central 5th, 6th and 7th districts on the left side of the Danube in Budapest (the Pest side) averaged HUF 705,000 per square metre, but in the best parts of these districts they were as high as HUF 900,000.

    But even though real estate prices have been on the rise for several years, they are still relatively affordable in a regional comparison. According to the user-submitted database of cost-of-living comparison website Numbeo,  flat prices per square meter average HUF 2.13 million in Vienna, 1.43 million in Prague and 1.07 million in the Slovenian capital Ljubljana.

    Downtown flat prices in the Slovak capital, Bratislava are slightly above Budapest at HUF 913,000, Warsaw is at roughly the same level as Budapest with HUF 865,000 but are cheaper in the Croatian capital Zagreb (760,000), in Belgrade (728,000) and Bucharest (518,000).  

  • The sky above Berlin

    Schleswig-Holstein: -3.8, Bavaria: -10.5, Hessen: -11.3. These are not degrees Celsius, but the percentage losses of the Christian Union parties at the latest municipal and regional elections. 

    And the CDU/CSU coalition is not the only one that has suffered such heavy losses, their partners in the grand coalition, the Social Democrats are also in a nosedive, with double-digit losses in many parts of the country. The country’s major political parties are faltering, there losses are becoming permanent and if elections were to be held now they would not garner a majority.

    The sky above Berlin is cloudy, political winter has set on and visibility in the corridors of the Bundestag is limited. Hessen – which is not quite the smallest German region – has confirmed the trend and the results there are again raising the question: how long can this go on? How long can Angela Merkel – now serving her 13th year – remain at the helm?

    Hessen’s most popular politician happens to be the half-Yemeni Tarek Al-Wazir, whose Green Party yesterday almost doubled its votes. The party is being considered progressive, although the definition of progressive in their case is questionable.

    Wings of Desire

    German poster for Wings of Desire

    “Tell me of the men, women, and children who will look for me, because they need me more than anything in the world” – the famous quote of the Wim Wenders movie (international title: Wings of Desire) states. But Madam Merkel is extending her protective arms in vain as there are less and less people who want that help. Neither does Hessen, nor Germany, nor the CDU or Europe, for that matter.

    This December the CDU will hold its congress and there are growing calls for Merkel’s resignation. I myself wouldn’t bet that by next year’s European elections she will still be in power. 2019, the year of reckoning is coming.

  • Migration pressure persists, says Chief Security Advisor

    Bakondi said migrants are still actively seeking passage along Hungary’s borders with Serbia and Croatia. “The liberal, Socialist allegation that migration is over is obviously false,” he said. 

    He said legislative plans such as the United Nations’ migration pact and the European Union’s border protection initiative are dangerous because massive crowds of migrants would jump at the opportunity to cross the borders.

    It is also obvious that migration waves are being financed: this is proven by the fact that every single person in the Honduras migrant caravan was being handed out money on departure.

    Bakondi said Hungary will continue to defend its borders at a higher readiness, the government and the authorities will do everything to protect the Hungarian people. “Authorities are continuously monitoring migrant movements and the activities of the groups organizing it.”

    He said the Hungarian government implemented preventative measures that would guarantee the safety of the country’s borders regardless of how migration or its financial support changes. He said that the Croatian borders national guards and even hunting associations assist the police and armed forces in their work.

  • Gajdoš meets with Mattis in Prague

    The meeting was held on the occassion of the 100th anniversary of the independent Czechoslovak state.

    “The United States are our strategic partner. Our decision to modernize our tactical air force with American F-16 fighters just strenghtened our bond. We still need to continue the negotiations about the conditions and then finalize the agreement,” Gajdoš said.

    The Slovak army also has other plans regarding the expansion of the army, up to 2030 the systems for 3D radars and ground army techniques will be modernized.

    Mattis was also interested in the final stage of the agreement regarding the jet fighters. The US representative confirmed that the country is prepared for securing the training of the pilots and provide technical background training for the Slovak army. Mattis also discussed Slovakia’s contribution to defense, which would reach 1.73 percent of the total GDP next year. “This is evidence that a small country could bring big news,” claimed Mattis.

  • Pellegrini: I could imagine a Czech as Slovak Prime Minister

    Andrej Babiš is the first Prime Minister of the Czech Republic with Slovak origin. “The people perceive politicans how they fulfill their promises. I was born in Slovakia but now I am the Prime Minister of the Czech Republic and I fight for Czech interests,” Babiš said. 

    The two politicians also talked about the similarities and the differences between the two nations. One of the biggest differences is the stance towards the national currency: in Slovakia nearly 75 percent of the population is pleased with the Euro, in the Czech Republic the koruna has the support of the majority of the population. While Pellegrini said Slovakia respects a similar stance, Babiš confirmed that the Czech Republic is not planning a change to the Eurozone. “I remember as Minister of Finance, the biggest problems are facing the Greeks and the Italians. The Eurozone needs reform, because many states are irresponsible regarding their budgets,” said the Czech politician.

    Pellegrini claimed that celebrating the anniversary of forming the Czechoslovak state is a one-time event and the 30th of October was specially declared as an extraordinary National Holiday due to the 100th anniversary of the Martin declaration, which was formulated by Slovak politicians.

  • Slovakia breaks world records in the car industry

    According to predictions, 99.9 million cars will be produced globally in 2018, while nearly 1.3 billion cars are already running on the streets.

    In Slovakia, 1,025 million cars were made during 2017, 5,000 less than the previous year due to renovation works taking place at the factories.

    Today, two car factories based in Slovakia are producing vehicles for all of Europe, PSA Peugeot Citroën Slovakia and Kia Motors.

    Bratislava-based Volkswagen Slovakia is also specialising in SUV’s for the world market and a similar approach was taken by Jaguar, which opened its Nitra department in October. This is also the only location where the Land Rover Discovery is being produced.

    The number of cars being produced in Slovakia will increase in 2019 and beyond. 

  • Foreign Minister Petříček: The V4 has something to offer Europe

    According to Slovak Foreign Minister Miroslav Lajčák, the V4 isn’t an anti-European group and it’s unfortunate that it has a negative image in Europe. He added that it now requires a lot of work to prove the V4 isn’t just an anti-immigration grouping of countries but can also be a part of European solutions.

    Petříček believes that under the current Slovak V4 presidency it has already started to change, as it is trying come up with constructive ideas and thoughts on improving and helping the EU. Visegrad had been missing a more positive agenda until now, Petříček added.

    The V4 should get back to the values it was founded upon back in the 1990s, said the Czech Foreign Minister. According to Petříček, the Visegrad Group wasn’t just meant for its members to quickly return to Europe, but there was also an intention to consolidate democracy in the four countries and anchor human rights in them.

    Both ministers agreed that the V4 offers a great foundation for cooperation of the Central European countries and its existence within the EU is just as legitimate as the existence of Benelux for example. The parties mentioned other formats of cooperation as well, like the Slavkov Declaration.

  • Italy defends EU budget proposal

    The European Commission has disapproved of Italy’s planned deficit of 2.4 percent of GDP, giving the Italian government three weeks to find a solution. Interior Minister Matteo Salvini reacted that such expenses are crucial to set Italy’s slow economy in motion and ultimately lower public debt.

    Brussels, on the other hand, argues that an increase in spending could make investors nervous and shake the eurozone. Even though there were budget deviations in the past from other ‘big players’ like France and Germany, the Commission never took such harsh action.

    Salvini claims that Italy won’t rewrite the draft budget no matter how many warnings Brussels sends. When people work more, they spend more and can pay higher taxes, explained Salvini. Brussels claims that the Italian government is openly violating the agreed-on eurozone rules, Salvini thinks the criticism stems from an unfamiliarity with the Italian environment. As he puts it, it may even be an attempted attack on the Italian economy in order to help foreign investors.

    Italy is the third largest economy in the eurozone, and at the same time has the second highest public debt after Greece. Thus, the Commission is further afraid of an enormous debt burden, which in total is now exceeding 131 percent of Italian GDP.

    The current Italian government has been in dispute with the EU ever since it took office. Illegal migration continues to be the main bone of contention between Rome and Brussels. The two are also divided over the sanctions against Russia.

    The latest dispute over the draft budget may theoretically result in sanctions of billions of euros imposed on Italy. Yet Italy has no intention to give up because it would mean a return of technocrats who promote absurd cuts, said Five Star Movement leader Luis Di Maio.

  • Leading book exhibition kicks off in Kraków

    The International Kraków Book Fair is a true celebration for readers. Out of the 781 exhibitors, 102 will be foreign publishers. The motto of this year’s edition are the words of Arturo Perez-Reverte: “Books are a gateway through which you walk out into the street.”

    Since 2014, the organizers have invited a representative of a foreign country as a special guest. This year it is Sweden. Thanks to the literary saloon organized by the guest, it will be possible to establish cooperation between Polish and foreign publishers and cultural institutions.

    This year, readers will be able to meet Swedish creators such as the granddaughter of Astrid Lindgren, Annika Lindgren

    This year, readers will be able to meet Swedish creators such as the granddaughter of Astrid Lindgren, Annika Lindgren, as well as Elisabeth Asbrink, Thomas Erikson, Mons Kallentoft and Martin Widmark.

    Among the guests of the Fair, attendees will be able to meet Polish authors, publicists and celebrities such as Olga Tokarczuk, Wojciech Cejrowski, Szczepan Twardoch and Katarzyna Bonda.

    In addition to the events directed at readers, the Expo is also a place for business meetings between publishers, booksellers, librarians and wholesalers.

    The 22nd International Kraków Book Fair will conclude on the 28th of October.

  • Macron’s homage to Napoleon?

    Macron was one of the few who was able to gain the sympathy of Trump and there was no need to be a dictator in doing so. He invited him for dinner at the Eiffel Tower and emphasized the importance of French-American relationships based on First World War examples. It is doubtful if he was able to convince Trump about the value of an alliance, but, at least he tried.

    Macron continues his rhetoric while visiting European cities and explaining his views on the European Union. This kind of discussion usually does not extend beyond the borders of nation states. This is a novum, even if a symbolic one.

    Considering Macron’s connection to symbology the location of his visit is arrogant – in the Primate Palace where Napoleon signed a treaty which symbolized his triumph in the region.

  • Hundreds of thousands of foreigners receive Polish residence permits

    Last year, Poland issued 683,228 residence permits. Second is Germany (535,400), then Great Britain (517,000) and France (250,200). In 2017, 3.1 million permits had been issued in the whole of the EU, reports Eurostat.

    The majority of people receiving residency in Poland were Ukrainians. In 2017, they took up 85.7 percent (585, 439 people) of all the approved applications. Second were Belarusians (42, 756) and third were Moldavians (7,803).

    The majority of people receiving residency in Poland were Ukrainians

    Poland is third when it comes to permits issued per 1,000 citizens – 18.

    In comparison, the only countries to have given out more are Malta (23) and Cyprus (22). Both of those countries, however, find themselves directly on migration routes from North Africa and the Middle East.

    The most common reason for a permit to be given out in Poland is for work – 87 percent (59 percent of all the approved  permits in the EU are intended for that purpose). Italy, Spain and Belgium issue the majority of their permits due to family reasons – uniting couples and families, for example.

  • Rebuild the confederation of free citizens!

    Although the local elections turned out to be a victory for the Right, one must take into account a worrying trend. One of the phenomena of the previous elections (parliamentary and presidential) were the victories of the patriotic election campaigns, and the involvement of thousands of citizens. Like election ants, they did all they could to support the main narrative.

    Some hung out homemade banners and posters, others created memes and internet videos and everyone was crossing their fingers and sending millions of likes on social media.

    Today, this levy en masse unbeknownst to anyone has retreated to their homes

    One cannot forget to mention the unity and the storm of prayers, which hopefully, were a deciding factor in the electoral victory against the forces of darkness. Today, this levy en masse unbeknownst to anyone has retreated to their homes.

    On one hand, some people believe that only the government should meddle with politics. On the other, there is no sign of politicians fighting for this citizen activity and upkeeping the characteristic confederation of free citizens. The time has come to change that! 

  • Hungarian researchers discover key to stress and insomnia

    Hungarian researchers discovered a neural network in the human brain that regulates alertness levels, the academy’s press release said. The research was conducted by the Institute of Experimental Medicine and the Research Centre for Natural Sciences of the Academy, the two groups led by László Acsády and Ferenc Mátyás.

    So how does it work? Everyone has experienced a sudden increase in alertness – for example, when walking in a forest in the dark, the slightest unusual noise can sharpen our senses in an instant. The human brain has various states of alertness – from excited to bored – and the researchers worked on the premise that there is a distinct system within the brain regulating these states.

    This neuron network is found in the thalamus (a structure of the forebrain) and it receives sensory input from the entire body and reacts to even the slightest change. The researchers say that this network is only a warning system, saying “something out of the ordinary is coming”. It acts as a switch regulating alertness level. As such, it is both very sensitive to input and ultimately responsible for our reactions to the unexpected, good or bad. Those reactions to the unexpected are – in a broader biological interpretation – the factors of stress.

    The network discovered by the Hungarian teams is, however, only responsible for issuing the alert – interpretation and response are decided elsewhere in the brain. They also say that this network is the triggering mechanism of stress-induced insomnia. The hope is that a better understanding of how this system works can lead to the development of more effective sleep medication.

    The research team’s paper was published in Nature Neuroscience.

     

  • Kaczyński calls for unity and says PiS victory will lead to serious change in Poland

    During his speech in support of a PiS candidate in the second election round in Siedlce, East Poland, Kaczyński emphasized his party’s successes. “We can be happy, that we have six voivodeships in whose sejmiks our representatives are the majority. We have a chance to form coalitions in one, two, three or maybe more.”

    Kaczyński called for unity and declared readiness to form coalitions with the opposition in local bodies. “We need unity and cooperation but not a total war declared by the opposition,” the chairman of PiS said. 

    We need unity and cooperation but not a total war declared by the opposition

    Kaczyński is convinced that PiS’ election result will lead to serious changes in Poland. This is due to the powers and rights held by voivodeship authorities.

    Kaczyński also stressed that Poland needs to finally catch up with the West. “This is nothing more than demanding that Poland’s GDP grows more rapidly than ever before. So that the wage gap, which has been narrowing for years, will narrow even faster,” he said.

    PiS’ main goal is to quickly narrow the gap and then eliminate it entirely. “If we ever want to earn as much as Germans, our GDP must be close to or equal to theirs. Otherwise, miracles won’t happen, we won’t earn as much,” Kaczyński warned.

  • Hungary signs tax agreement with US

    The agreement was signed in Budapest by Finance Minister Mihály Varga and US ambassador David B. Cornstein. The statement of the ministry said that the agreement will enable more effective measures against international tax evasion and also ensures that multinational companies pay their taxes according to local legislation.

    Hungarian-US relations are based on mutual respect, dialogue and cooperation, Varga said at the signing. He also said the two sides were in agreement that more effective measures are needed to combat international tax evasion and the financing of terrorism.

    The United States is Hungary’s largest export partner outside of Europe while the US is one of the biggest foreign investors in Hungary, with over 1,700 companies providing jobs for some 105,000 Hungarians.

    Hungary also wants the United States to grant trade and investment visas to Hungarian businesses who wish to establish a foothold in America, Varga said.

  • Merkel’s endgame

    Janus was a god in ancient Roman mythology – he was usually depicted as having two distinctly different faces. In current vernacular, it is applied to persons whose intentions and deeds are ambiguous or difficult to fathom. But public opinion does not tolerate Janus-faces indefinitely: sooner or later they have to come down on a side.

    Up until the 2015 migration crisis, the two-faced nature of Merkel remained hidden and she seemed to govern Germany in the grand tradition of her predecessor and mentor, Helmuth Kohl. But since that crisis, she is more and more difficult to figure out, saying one thing on any given day and the exact opposite the next day.

    Just before the crisis erupted, Merkel was of the opinion that multiculturalism has failed, as did the integration of immigrants from outside Europe. But with the onset of the crisis she announced her Willkommenskultur (German for “welcoming culture”) and magically transformed all migrants – legal or otherwise – into refugees who were entitled to shelter.

    Nowadays even she recognizes the need for effective controls of the European Union’s external borders, but at the same time also wants to force countries that protected those borders from the very beginning to take in refugees invited by her.

    Merkel’s meteoric rise within the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) began in 1998 when she became secretary general of the party, then president in 2000. In 2005 she was elected Chancellor. But the CDU/CSU coalition is now in disarray and failure is imminent.

    Germany is now barely governable and the erstwhile backers of Merkel seem to have different plans. So when will she lose her position? That is a difficult question and the only certain answer is: not before the European election, as those who back her and (French President Emmanuel) Macron want to see a new Brussels leadership accomodating to their goals. But after that, anything goes.

     

  • EU court rules against Hungary in textbook case

    The ECHR (“the court” hereafter) ruled against Hungary saying that the state violated three publishing companies’ property rights as they lost all their clients.

    But how can the court rule that public schools as clients can be the “property” of any one company? And if legal and/or market conditions are altered, how long can any company claim the right to its clients? The verdict says nothing about that. But interestingly, it was not the publishers – who actually printed the books – who went to court, but the distributors, the middle men who make a pretty penny from their intermediary position between publishers and schools.

    The Hungarian government argued that by regulating the textbook market, the state was only making better use of the state budget. But the court said companies were only given an 18-month period to prepare for the changes and the time was too short for them to switch to other publications. The court, however, did not explain how this can be blamed on the government.

    The court also found that the change had no apparent benefits to parents or students. But let us look at the prices: last year, the average price of a textbook printed by the state was HUF 670 ($2.35) while the average price of textbooks published by private companies was HUF 1,476 ($5.17). Currently in Hungary all students in the first nine grades get their textbooks for free. It is thus quite understandable that the state regulates the market.

    In developed countries, judges’ activism is one of the greatest threats against democracy. The separation of powers, the system of checks and balances also means that the justice system has to be kept in check, it cannot take over from the legislators. But it is doing exactly that: in 2015, it was the U.S. Supreme Court that legalized gay marriage, not the legislation. In Germany, it was the Constitutional Court (not the legislation) that imposed on the state to offer the choice of a third gender in identification documents.

    But back to the topic at hand: the court wishes to interfere with the Hungarian school book market, an intervention that would lead to chaos and more expensive books, that will ultimately be a disservice to both parents and children. 

  • MEP Zdechovský: Istanbul Convention doesn’t fight discrimination but imposes it

    For example, Zdechovský recalls sociological research showing that when it comes to domestic violence, women are just as violent as men, and they only tend to use psychological terror instead of physical. Also, policemen say that one third of all cases are made-up by women to ensure they’ll get sole custody.

    He believes that the only solution would be to make so-called Cochem practice mandatory on every courts’ level. The Istanbul Convention on the contrary, is banning any alternative dispute resolution. And as told by an expert of domestic violence and violence against women, when it comes to violence involved in a divorce proceeding, Cochem couldn’t be applied, continues Zdechovský.

    Another serious problem of the Istanbul Convention lies in the fact that the entire divorce process will be affected by the certainty of woman’s innocence and also by the presumption of a man´s guilt. 

    There is a possibility that children will therefore lose their father for several years because the courts will be able to recommend only assisted contact to keep children out of the presence of an alleged violent person and thus not to emulate patterns of his behavior.

    Claiming that almost a third of all accusations are false, Zdechovský sees very dangerous consequences in such a practice. Overall, it is extremely likely that an atmosphere similar to the American movement #metoo will emerge in the Czech environment.

    At the end of his article, Zdechovsky argues that Czechia needs more money to tackle domestic violence. But not for a variety of feminist NGO´s that only misuse this topic to fight against men.

  • V4, Croatia and Bulgaria want looser rules for EU funds

    Our joint statement should serve as a base for negotiation with the European Commission about the future rules for drawing EU funds, it demonstrates our unity and strength, Slovakian Vice-premier for Investments and Informatization Richard Raši said recently.

    Even though Romania and Slovenia were represented in Bratislava, they didn’t join the joint statement. As highlighted by Raši, Romania didn’t participate due to its upcoming European Council presidency while Slovenia omitted because its representative lacked the respective mandate. The Czech Republic was represented by Regional Development Minister Klára Dostálová.

    Representatives of the six agreed they would welcome a recent timetable for utilizing EU funds to be preserved. Therefore, it would be possible to draw from EU funds for an additional three years once the programming period ends. Signatory countries also rejected a proposed shortening of this period to two years and a proposal for an increase of member states’ co-funding.

    Commissioner Cretu didn’t exclude the possibility of adjusting the multiannual financial framework proposal. However, simplified conditions for drawing EU funds are already included in it, she added.

  • Babiš and May discuss Brexit

    “I still believe that an [Brexit] agreement is possible, 95 percent has already been negotiated,” Babiš said following his meeting with May. I’m glad that I had a chance to sit down with the prime minister, especially in a time like this, when we need to finish Brexit talks, hopefully with a positive outcome, he added.

    Babiš expressed his hope that there will be a mutually acceptable agreement by the end of November, because everybody is a little bit nervous and it’s in the best interest of all involved to maintain cooperation with the UK.

    Babiš highlighted the more than a hundred years of partnership between the UK and the Czech Republic, calling Great Britain an important ally.

    The prime ministers also discussed illegal migration, the situation in Syria and recent developments regarding Saudi Arabia. Babiš said they share similar views on migration and a critical stance on the EU draft budget.

    On the occasion of the hundredth anniversary of the foundation of Czechoslovakia, the prime minister took part in the so-called Czech week organized by the Czech Embassy in London, including a concert held by Czech philharmonics. Babiš also gave mention to the last surviving Czech pilot from the Battle of Britain Emil Boček, who turned 95 this year.

  • Genderists’ fight against male dominance relies on pseudoscience

    The West is slowly starting to resemble China’s credit system and its punishments for not having the right worldview. In the West, many faculties of humanities don’t tolerate freedom of speech as it’s a bourgeois relict undermining progress.

    A sermon of Petr Piťha wouldn’t resonate as much, if it wasn’t for the so-called Czech women lobby and its lawsuit against the priest. Many Christians already called for preserving the freedom of speech, even cardinal Dominik Duka supported Piťha’s right to preach freely. On the other hand, Tomáš Halík condemned Piťha’s words, saying he might be sued for spreading a hoax.

    The lawsuit of the Women lobby itself is harmless, Czech justice is reasonable and won’t be wasted words on some hyperbole. Serious political problems lie elsewhere though, it’s the effort to intimidate and silence an opponent. Abolition of the patriarchate won’t be enough for feminists.

    Czechs used to laugh at silly feminists, but not anymore. Women activists are pushing for a ratification of the Istanbul Convention, which forces states to fight against gender stereotypes under the pretext of a protection against domestic violence. It demands training, awareness-rising campaigns and school lessons on gender issues and such like. It all sounds very much like a reeducation effort. 

    A feudal non-democratic society that has been swept away by emancipation, was built on privileges and inequalities between men and women. Women can inherit, study, vote, choose a partner or a job where they get paid equally. Feminists want to free women mainly from the family. Their hallucination of an absolute equalitarianism is rejecting a freedom of choice based on a gender difference. Men should hunt and do politics, women should look after their children and household.

    Should we reject biological differences because of natural exemptions and hormone oscillations? It has nothing to do with human or citizens’ rights. The fight of genderism against an alleged male dominance completely relies on pseudoscience. 

  • Parents can block “Rainbow Friday” planned for schools

    As part of the “Rainbow Friday” initiative, there are to be seminars promoting LGBTQ+ ideology organized by non-government organizations in 211 high schools.

    Many parents do not want their children to take part in seminars promoting LGBTQ+ ideology. Dariusz Piontkowski, Law and Justice MP and deputy chairman of the parliamentary commission of education told DoRzeczy.pl that organizing such events is up to the headmasters of each school. Parents do not have to accept them, however. What’s more, the parent’s council or the school council must approve of the seminars first.

    “If certain seminars are not compulsory and organized by external, non-government organizations, then parents can decide for their children not to take part if they so wish. They can also block the whole event through the parent’s council,” explains Piontkowski.

    The MP also added that an event such as “Rainbow Friday” has not been written in the school calendar. “School superintends will take a closer look at this.”

    “Rainbow Friday” is to take place on October 26th. The organizer of Campaign Against Homophobia explains that this is meant to help young lesbians, gays, bisexuals, transsexuals and queer people feel that there is a place for them at school.

  • History still wins votes in Poland

    Throughout the country, in the elections into the regional councils (“sejmiks”) Law and Justice (PiS) received 254 mandates, Civic Coalition (KO) – 194, the peasant party (PSL) – 70, Independents – 15 and the Together Party – 11.

    The turnout was 54.64 percent, 94.64 percent of votes were valid and 5.36 percent invalid. Earlier the PKW released the results for the elections of voivodes, mayors and presidents of towns. In the first round, 1,826 of them had been chosen. In 649 municipalities and towns there will be a second round.

    Historical lines

    The results of the municipal elections have shown that once again Polish society is divided. The East regions voted mostly for PiS and the West voted for KO. Tomasz Sakiewicz, the editor-in-chief of “Gazeta Polska Codziennie” argues that this phenomenon has been caused by a kind of “sociological-demographical experiment.” Part of which are the changes to Poland’s borders in the past as well as changes to the demographical structure in parts of the country.

    Sakiewicz explained in TVP Info that “where the Second Polish Republic had existed, people vote for PiS,” whereas the opposition is ahead in the former German territories – the so-called “reclaimed territories”.

    The journalist drew attention to not only the changes to borders following the Second World War, but also the changes to Poland’s demographical structure. He gave Warsaw as an example, which had been “shot and terminated” twice: first on Adolf Hitler’s orders after the 1944 Warsaw Uprising and then again during a “specific reconstruction” during the communist era.

  • Sentenced by the courts but chosen by the people

    The case of Hanna Zdanowska, the mayor of Łódź, Poland’s third largest city is perhaps the most well-known. Despite having been sentenced for fraud, Zdanowska of the Civic Coalition (KO) is up for re-election after receiving over 70 percent of the votes.

    According to the law, Zdanowska’s mandate should be invalid as she had been sentenced. Zdanowska defends herself, however, by claiming that these are all Law and Justice’s (PiS) dirty political tricks. She also accused her opponents of being impolite for attacking a woman.

    Zdanowska threatened that if Łódź’s voivode activates procedures to invalidate her next term, she will turn to the European Union for help.

    There have been voices for President Andrzej Duda to pardon Zdanowska to solve the conflict surrounding her

    There have been voices for President Andrzej Duda to pardon Zdanowska to solve the conflict surrounding her. One of the strongest supporters of this cause is former Prime Minister Leszek Miller. The main issue with such an idea is that as a result, one could demand of the President to pardon every election winner who has been in conflict with the law or has been sentenced.

    Not only Zdanowska

    Other cases include the candidate for mayor of Olsztyn Czesław Małkowski, who has been accused of sexual harassment and rape of a pregnant clerk. Although he is to take part in the second round of elections, he is awaiting revalidation of his prison sentence, which could end his potential term.

    In Radom, the incumbent could participate in the elections only because the sentence of the voivodeship administrative court had yet to be validated. Another bizarre situation occurred in the Debrzno municipality in Pomorze. Here, voters had to decide whether their mayor will be a candidate sentenced by a legally invalid decree, or a candidate who has pending charges.

  • What the hell do you want, Germans?!?

    Marcin Kędzierski of the Jagiellonian Club, who was present at the debate, reports that it all started with questions to the co-host by “Deutsche Welle” journalist Rosalia Romaniec, concerning the judiciary reform in Poland. The main issue was last week’s decree from the European Court of Justice (ECJ) to reinstate the retired judges back into the Polish Supreme Court.

    Although Duda managed to diplomatically answer the question, instead of passing the question over to co-host of the debate Polish journalist Roman Legutko, Romaniec decided to pressure Duda. The President repeated his claim about Poles being very sensitive to outside directives and gave the example of non-energy saving lightbulbs which cannot be bought in Poland because of the EU. Not a very smart thing to say in the country of Energiewende.

    Germans! Why did you want to make the President of one of the few countries that like you grovel?

    Romaniec did not relent. This time, Duda responded with whether Britain was solely to blame for Brexit. He argued that European institutions are equally responsible. The audience reacted by booing. That’s right. Distinguished guests, members of the German Foreign Ministry, during the celebrations of the 100-year anniversary of Polish independence booed the Polish President.

    When given the opportunity by Romaniec, a Tagesspiegel journalist asked why Polish Radio and other Polish media did not report on the ECJ’s decree. Duda couldn’t take it and responded by saying that he didn’t spend all day listening to Polish Radio, but at least Polish media wouldn’t be silent if someone was raping women on the streets.

    My dear Germans – what is this all about?

    Duda shouldn’t have burst out like that. But let me ask: my dear Germans – what is this all about? Why was this “birthday” farce necessary? And why did President Steinmeier say at the very end, that we should all be happy that Germany doesn’t want to revise the borders near Wrocław?

    Germans! Why did you want to make the President of one of the few countries that like you grovel? Do you really believe that the Britons are solely responsible for Brexit? That Trump and PiS are the EU’s biggest issues? Will you really cancel Nord Stream 2 if Poland relents on its judiciary?

    Each time I come back from Germany I ask myself the question why is it worth still liking you? The Spanish, Italians and Greeks have long stopped doing so.

  • Croatia begins joint trial of Sanader and MOL chief

    The Croatian prosecution said they will bring “material and testimonial evidence” supporting the guilt of the accused. Hernádi’s lawyer Laura Valkovic did not give an opening statement saying she would only do so after the evidence has been presented.

    This July, the Budapest Court denied Croatia’s request to extradite Hernádi, on grounds that “the conditions of a fair trial cannot be guaranteed”.

    On Monday the Croatian court sentenced Sanader to two and a half years in prison for war profiteering and ordered him to repay the state US$500,000 he took in bribes from Austria’s Hypo Group Alpe Adria bank. He will not have to go to jail, having served the time in a previous sentence and detention period.

    Croatia is accusing Hernádi of bribing then-Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader with EUR 10 million in 2008, when MOL was negotiating with the Croatian state to increase its stake in Croatian oil and gas company INA to 49 percent.

    Sanader

    Ivo Sanader in a Croatian court

    At the time, MOL and INA, the flagship companies of Hungary and Croatia, respectively, were valued at US$7 billion each. MOL eventually got the desired stake in INA. Hernádi has always denied any wrongdoing during the negotiations with Croatia.

    Sanader was prime minister of Croatia between 2003-2009 and during his tenure he was accused by the opposition of taking bribes, war profiteering and selling state assets, with damage to the Croatian budget estimated at HRK 207 million (US$32 million).

     

  • The Slovak Christian democracy dilemma

    Hlina visited churches, pubs, and cultural centers, shaked hands with people who were forgotten and brought a new fire to the party. A fire, one that consumes everything, because Hlina is an activist after all. He is fighting with his potential partners and talks to them only if it is really necessary. This disturbs his voters, who want to see cooperation in opposition. They don’t want their leader to be a man, who is writing controversial messages on Facebook, rather as someone who is building, uniting and has a clear political vision.

    Hlina is in a demanding position. He has no personnel and experts, he cannot rely on his own men within the party structures. This became evident when the KDH was unsuccessfull in trying to find a suitable presidential candidate. While he claims the need for new faces, the voters want to see proven politicians. That caused conflicts before the nominations to the European eletions, when Anna Záborská, the current MEP of the party was forced out of the competition.

    Hlina has to struggle with the conflict of ideological orientation as well. He wants to build a party which resembles the German CDU, but this is being seen by many supporters as “liberalization” and he is forced to compete with alternatives like the far-right. On the other hand, Andrej Kiska can gain another proportion of more liberally oriented Christian voters – and the return of the Christian Democrats to parliament could be delayed even further.

  • Spitzencandidate Šefčovič

    Initially there was supposed to be bigger competition for the position. The Austrian Christian Kerne left politics and Pierre Moscovici from France gave up his ambitions to run – that leaves two candidates to choose from in December.

    Šefčovič has the support of the Central European and Baltic countries besides Cyprus and Malta, but the evident favorite will be his Dutch opponent, who is probably backed by Western European states and the German SPD. Even if Šefčovič was named in Lisboa as the leading candidate of the socialists, there is a very small chance of replacing Juncker due to the predictably weak election results of the faction. However that doesn’t mean the Slovak politician’s ambitions are a waste of time and energy. Being visible and gaining political weight could result in a lucrative position in Brussels.

    Šefčovič, also called a “fast-track Slovak” by European Voice, always cared about international success. He had a prosperous career in diplomacy and it was unclear whether he is more ideologically attached to the Slovak right or left. In the end he was betting on the left,  Fico and Smer. His competence is unquestionable in the field of negotiations and energy policy.

    However, he never acted as a politician or as a leader, he’s someone who believes in something presenting a political vision. The social democrats are struggling to mobilize the masses, they are viewed as technocrats with marginal issues for the elites, like the gender agenda. Šefčovič as a flexible technocrat without ideas is the embodiment of the problems facing socialists.

  • Former MP and ambassador on Romania’s ethnic insensibility

    I recently attended the Bucharest Security Conference (BSC), held at the Athénée Palace Hilton, the Romanian capital’s most prestigious hotel, Csóti writes. The hotel is indeed impeccable: clean, comfortable, practical and with a very attentive staff. Upon entering my room, I was greeted by a personalized welcoming screen on the television.

    What was a nasty surprise: there were 14 language choice icons at the bottom of the screen, representing the flags of so many nations, beginning with those of Great Britain, Denmark and somewhere in the middle Slovenia. There was, however, no Hungarian flag to be seen! Romania alone has about as many ethnic Hungarians as the total population of Slovenia. The population of Hungary is larger than those of Denmark and Slovenia put together. This was humiliating.

    I did not, however, let the issue go. Upon my return home, I wrote a very polite letter to the hotel manager who processed my booking. In the letter I asked him to include Hungarian into the languages of the hotel’s information system. A few days later the manager of the front office replied that IT staff will include Hungarian into the language menu. Four days later, the same manager wrote in a much colder tone that they have no plans to include additional languages to the menu.

    Still politely, I replied that their action – or rather inaction – is tantamount to chauvinism and I will do my best to dissuade any Hungarians from ever setting foot in said hotel. I didn’t exactly expect any reply or action on their part. But a few days later the director of the hotel wrote me a letter apologizing profusely saying they will add Hungarian to the language choices.

    At the conference itself, one of the handout booklets detailed in full color and many maps Romania’s claims to territories from the Tisza river (in Eastern Hungary) to the Dniester river (in the Republic of Moldova). I don’t know whether anyone else even noticed the booklet, but when I mentioned it during the conference, I was met with disbelief.

    I believe Hungarian foreign policy should pay attention to and keep track of such incidents and, if needed, even bring them up.

  • Hungary denies “sabotage” of V4-Japan summit

    The opposition news portal 444.hu alleged in an article that the insistence of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán to remove remarks critical to China from a joint V4-Japan declaration was the reason for the “failure” of the mini-summit. The meeting happened on the fringes of last week’s annual Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) in Brussels.

    The ministry said the 444.hu article was a “typical piece of misinformation, fake news”. While the ministry did not comment on the closed session of the meeting, it did say that prior to the V4-Japan meeting Babiš asked Japanese Prime Minister Abe Shinzo not to issue a joint statement, on the grounds that the V4 as a group had no competence in matters of global policy.

    According to Magyar Hírlap, Orbán arrived late to the meeting due to a previous presidency meeting of the European People’s Party. Other sources also said that the meeting was successful in economic terms and the Japanese Prime Minister also commended the V4 states for their migration policies.

    Title image: V4-Japan meeting in Brussels. From left to right: Viktor Orbán, Andrej Babiš, Abe Shinzo, Peter Pellegrini and Mateusz Morawiecki. (Prime Minister’s Press Office).

  • Juncker’s controversial remark on Romanian unification

    Speaking at the latest instalment of debates about the future of the European Union, this time with Romanian President Klaus Iohannis as the main guest, Juncker said “the centenary of Romania is also a celebration for the EU and we will celebrate together this great Romanian and European moment”.

    100 years ago on December 1st the assembly of Romanians in Transylvania decreed by unanimous vote “the unification of those Romanians and of all the territories inhabited by them with Romania.” This was later also recognized in the so-called Trianon Treaty between the allies of WWI and the Kingdom of Hungary.

    Trianon

    The Hungarian delegation led by Ágost Benárd and Alfréd Drasche-Lázár arrives to the Grand Trianon Palace in Versailles to sign the peace treaty on June 4th, 1920. Image: Wikisource

    In this treaty, Hungary lost 72 percent of its territory and 64 percent of its population, most of it divided between the Kingdom of Romania, the Czech Republic and the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. To this day, it remains the gravest historic trauma Hungary has suffered during its more than 1,000 years of statehood.

    In his speech, however, Iohaniss – himself an ethnic German – made no mention of the ethnic minorities in Romania, speaking mainly about the need to avoid a two-speed Europe, preserving the unity of the EU and reinforcing its credibility in the world.

    He also said the EU should devise viable migration policies as soon as possible or face severe problems. On January 1st, 2019 Romania takes over the revolving presidency of the European Council from Austria.

     

  • Babiš cancels European Parliament address

    It was expected that Prime Minister Babiš would present his vision of the future of the EU, with a focus on the upcoming European elections in Jaunary. Sources claim he would have most likely built his speech on migration. However, some MEPs expressed their expectation to hear a more complex and long-term vision.

    Over the past weeks, Babiš profiled himself as one of main proponents of a zero-tolerance policy. He has been emphasizing the migration topic and refusing to accept any migrants. Many believe that the upcoming elections will be all about migration and will reshape Europe’s political future.

    There is no official statement from the government as to why the event was canceled.

  • Are there any parallels between Austria-Hungary and the EU?

    If just 20 percent of Czechs see the collapse of Austria-Hungary in a negative light, we should ask ‘what Austria-Hungary?’. However, it’s not only a historical question. According to the Eurobarometer polls, roughly the same percentage of people think that Czech membership in the EU is warranted. Then again, what EU? Are Czechs really against any form of establishment or are they only being cautious?

    An Empire that the question is referring to should be specified. Is it Austria-Hungary in the years 1914-1918, hectored by Wilhelm’s Germany, which dragged Europe into the Great war and couldn’t be saved? Or Austria-Hungary that secured stability in ethnically shattered Central Europe between Germany and Russia?

    Even T. G. Masaryk had been a loyal citizen to the Empire until 1914, and back then it was a more liberal state compared to Wilhelm’s Germany. But he also recognized when the situation in Austria-Hungary went beyond breaking point. 

    The same applies to the Czech relationship with the EU. Despite overwhelming skepticism, no one is questioning the ideas of a connected Europe without borders and a peace among its countries. The skepticism is rather reflecting a fear that the EU is scoring an own goal, just like the Empire did a hundred years ago – that’s why its citizens find it pointless to save it.

  • Piťha’s sermon, the catalyst of our time

    This year’s Prof. Piťha´s Saint Wenceslas sermon caused some sharp reactions, which did not come from the top of the Catholic hierarchy, nor from regular Catholics. Prof. Piťha has since been aggressively attacked by activists from the progressive group of liberal democrats headed by Tomáš Halík.

    Halík’s critical text contains absurd statements that require a response. It is not a gentle theological polemic that can only be discussed by the chosen ones. It is a fundamental controversy over the character of our time, our place in it and our future.

    Tomáš Halík considers Petra Piťha’s sermon to be “really scandalous” and says that (of course, unnamed) “legal experts believe that the fact of the crime of spreading alarming messages has been fulfilled.” But was it not a rather courageous polemic with propagators of destructive gender theory and deniers of a classical family?

    It is remarkable that Halík thinks that without “Francis´s reform the Church would become a marginal embittered sect”. This is an argument of a political and extremely leftist activist, not a factual analysis of the present world and the position of the churches in it.

    Halik’s thesis states that “during the Second Czechoslovak Republic the resistance of the part of Catholics to liberal democracy … has brought them near fascism”, which is an insult to the Catholic Church and is not based on any serious historical facts. Liberal democracy did not even exist before World War II, it is just a fashionable ideology of militant ecologism, genderism, feminism, and homosexualism. It is neither liberal nor democratic.

    Halík calls “invariable human nature” as an “unsustainable ahistoric conception.” By questioning the immutability of human nature, Halík supports a radically feminist program of destructing the world of normal men and women and of destroying the natural relationships between them.

    Leftist progressivism of Halík´s type is a danger to an entire society, especially to the Catholic Church. An attack on the most intimate human sphere – on sexual identity, on relations between a man and woman, on the family as a bond of man and woman – denies the essence of the Church’s teachings. To retreat its pressure, or even to accept its attitudes and opinions does not result in (perhaps necessary) modernization of the Church, but destruction of Christianity as such.

  • Czech Republic may not ratify the Istanbul Convention

    The Czech Republic is among ten countries that have still not ratified the Istanbul Convention. As it is an international treaty, both chambers of the Parliament must agree before completing the ratification process.

    Following the October elections, conservatives held a majority in the Czech Senate. And while the Civic Democrats and the Mayors and Independents are rather reluctant regarding the Convention, Christian Democrats are strongly against it.

    The ultimate aim of the Istanbul Convention is to eradicate violence and discrimination against women for being women. It demands an effective promotion of an equal approach to women and men. There are no mentions of a sexual orientation or the changing face of a family.

    The Istanbul Convention hasn’t been an issue in the Czech Republic, only until catholic priest Petr Piťha condemned it during his sermon. Piťha warned against ‘twisted laws’ threatening ‘traditional families’ and against a future where ‘homosexuals will be the superior class’.

  • How Merkel faced the migrant crisis

    In an interview for Rzeczpospolita, “Die Welt” journalist Robin Alexander and author of “Angela Merkel and the Migration Crisis. Day by day” looks behind the scenes of the dramatic events of spring and summer of 2015.

    When the German Foreign Minister Thomas de Maiziere prepared a plan for the migration crisis Merkel “did not respond with a “yes” or a “no”,” says Alexander. Instead, Merkel asked him two questions:

    “Can he guarantee that compromising images of German police struggling with immigrants will not appear on television?” and “Will the German Constitutional Tribunal not declare the Chancellor’s decision illegal in a few months?” Maiziere was unable to answer either, therefore Merkel did not make a decision.

    Because Maiziere could not answer either [of her questions], Merkel did not make a decision

    The whole migration crisis was a developing issue which first involved Viktor Orban communicating with Austrian chancellor Werner Faymann. The latter decided to call Merkel to let the wave of immigrants flow into Germany. Merkel then agreed and called the chief of her cabinet, Peter Altmaier to prepare Germany to accept the immigrants.

    “Merkel was motivated by strategic factors,” argues the journalist. Fearing that if she closes German borders, then Austria would do the same. This would be catastrophic for the stability of the Balkans. “She needed time to come up with a European solution for the migration crisis.”

    As a result, the feeling of a country losing control over migration to some degree led to Brexit and even Donald Trump’s election

    Alexander claims that Merkel’s biggest mistake was not consulting any of her EU partners before making this decision. Time was running out and in an act of desperation, Merkel reach for the solution of the compulsory system of deployment of refugees. Ironically, if Merkel hadn’t opened the borders and the images of thousands of migrants forcing the German border hadn’t appeared on television, “this mechanism would still be working today.”

    “As a result, the feeling of a country losing control over migration to some degree led to Brexit and even Donald Trump’s election,” explains Alexander.

  • A sickness called gender

    Orbán’s government justifies its decision to scrap gender studies by stating the low interest in the course, which will only affect twenty students. The move created an issue: the two universities protested, and the liberal media labeled the act as another step in Orbán’s ideological war against George Soros.

    However, gender interferes in both the scientific community and society, as seen in physician Alessandro Strumia’s case. The expert was extremely vocal about the representation of women in the workshop of CERN. He claimed in a controversial speech that in physics there is no discrimination, but the requirements and expectations for women are lower. CERN in response dissociated itself from Strumia by terminating their cooperation.

    The world was similarly shocked in 2005, when Larry Summers as the president of Harvard explained that women are underrepresented in top scientific positions because of biological reasons. Summers became the embodiment of machoism, had to apologize and created a fund for gender equality in Harvard. Despite all of that he still had to leave.

    This is not about glorifying Orbán’s position against gender studies or a rant of a conservative against the tyranny, which demolishes traditional values. The key claims of gender studies were questioned by scientists and journalists from the liberal world.

    Harald Martenstein met with criticism after his essay in Die Zeit pointed out that gender studies are rapidly gaining in popularity in German universities, while their works openly question natural sciences. His opponents were not familiar with the work of psychologist Susan Pinker, who is the author of possibly the most important book about the differences between men and women, titled Sexual paradox. She also claims the idea of equality does not work and talented women tend to choose different paths in life than men.

  • Was Maria Theresa the greatest Slovak?

    Maria Theresa, the enlightened empress did a lot for the development of the Habsburg monarchy and Pressburg, the city she visited very frequently. Still, her case is fundamentally different from the winner in the Czech Republic, Charles IV, the Holy Roman Emperor, who is personally responsible for uplifting Prague but also spoke Czech fluently.

    On the other hand, Jozef Tiso knew the Slovak language. But here ends the list of arguments, why should the politician with Nazi Germany be considered as the greatest Slovak?

    The project managers claim they want to create discussion about controversies. But if they want the highest ratings, why wasn’t Irena Čubírková chosen under the slogan “serial killer or victim of the judicial system”?

    RTVS is not a commercial channel. As such, it should have the highest ambitions: not just to entertain but also introduce popular and unjustly forgotten personalities who contributed to cultural and economical development of Slovakia. They should find hundreds of them and similar projects shouldn’t rely on personalities who were not Slovaks or committed war crimes.

  • Was Maria Theresa the greatest Slovak?

    Maria Theresa, the enlightened empress did a lot for the development of the Habsburg monarchy and Pressburg, the city she visited very frequently. Still, her case is fundamentally different from the winner in the Czech Republic, Charles IV, the Holy Roman Emperor, who is personally responsible for uplifting Prague but also spoke Czech fluently.

    On the other hand, Jozef Tiso knew the Slovak language. But here ends the list of arguments, why should the politician with Nazi Germany be considered as the greatest Slovak?

    The project managers claim they want to create discussion about controversies. But if they want the highest ratings, why wasn’t Irena Čubírková chosen under the slogan “serial killer or victim of the judicial system”?

    RTVS is not a commercial channel. As such, it should have the highest ambitions: not just to entertain but also introduce popular and unjustly forgotten personalities who contributed to cultural and economical development of Slovakia. They should find hundreds of them and similar projects shouldn’t rely on personalities who were not Slovaks or committed war crimes.

  • Hungarian Revolution of 1956 from the Polish perspective

    “Hungarians, when they reached for their weapons, had hoped that the West, Western democracies, or at least the United Nations will arrive with help,” explains Szymanowski in an interview for Do Rzeczy. The Hungarians had waited for the so-called blue helmets and American military. They never came, despite assurances from Radio Free Europe.

    The Revolution had started as a gesture of solidarity with Poland. “In Poland, national communist Władysław Gomułka came to power. Wanting the same thing, Hungary demanded that national communist Imre Nagy became PM,” Szymanowski says.

    Hungarians, when they reached for their weapons, had hoped that the West, Western democracies, or at least the United Nations would arrive with help

    Poland was the country which for the last months of 1956 sent aid to Hungary. This support was “fourteen planes with blood. One hundred railway wagons with medicine and food. Dozens of trucks and about two million American dollars,” he said.

    The professor underlined, that although Poland was very poor, all that money came from the pockets of Poles. This money was freely and willingly given. The US and the Red Cross arrived with help much later.  

    The first commemoration of Imre Nagy

    Another gesture of solidarity happened on the 18th of June 1958 during a football match in Chorzów between Polish Ruch Chorzów and Hungarian Honved. To commemorate the memory of Imre Nagy, 15,000 football fans had risen and stood in a minute of silence. “This was the first commemoration of Nagy,” claims Szymanowski.

  • Duda urged Germans to abandon NS2

    The Polish President said that the Nord Stream 2 pipeline “should not exist” as an investment.

    Duda argued that NS2 will lead to the domination of one gas provider on the European market. “Most of all, it puts several Central European countries in a difficult position when it comes to energy security,” Duda explained.

    He added that Poland will maintain its negative stance toward the NS2 project. He also expressed surprise at the lack of unanimity in the European Union’s approach to the issue. “We are surprised to see European institutions, such as the European Commission, not taking a unanimous negative position, as well as there not being a change in the energy directive,” he said.

    It is absolutely political and strategic and not a business endeavor. This is difficult for us to understand

    Duda argued that NS2 is a project, which is “absolutely political and strategic and not a business endeavor. This is difficult for us to understand.” He also criticized the lack of European unity. “We do not see the kind of solidarity, which is necessary in this case,” he added.

    During his official visit to Berlin, Andrzej Duda also met with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. The politicians discussed the elections in both countries, the future of the European Union, Ukraine and climate change. Poland’s current relationship with the United States was also a topic of interest during the conversation.

  • Poland’s top cat

    Rysy is the highest peak of Poland and one of the most popular trekker destination in all of the Tatras. As it turns out, it draws not only humans. Wojciech Jabczyński shared a photo and video of a cat on the top of Rysy:

    https://twitter.com/batmar14/status/1054773420389482496 (video link)

    tt

    The heroic feline decided to take a trip into the mountains. It is hard to say from where it came. “I feel like the most likely scenario is that it followed tourists from the Slovakian side,” writes Jabczyński.

    The cat’s bravery has also been met with fears for the animal’s well-being:

    “A cat can climb up but might not get down. Just like with a tree. Someone should put it into their backpack and take it down with them,” writes one user. “Poor cat. It might not survive this. If someone sees him, please take him down,” pleads another.

    The chairman’s cat?

    There were also suggestions that this was “the chairman’s cat” who celebrated PiS’ victory in the local elections. In Poland, the expression “the chairman’s cat” refers to Jarosław Kaczyński’s cat, the hero of one of the most popular comedy shows. 

  • Poles recite poem in Hungarian remembering 1956

    The poem, “To Hungarians” was written by Zbigniew Herbert, one of the best-known and most translated post-war Polish poets and essayists.

    The short poem is essentially a cry of solidarity of the Poles with the Hungarian freedom fighters, also encompassing rage and frustration over not being able to help them.

    “We look form here upon the flames/We look at death itself.”

    Üzenet

  • Hungarian companies second largest in Central Europe

    Coface released its annual ranking of 12 regional countries, this time based on 2017 sales figures. The largest regional company is Polish petrochemicals firm PKN Orlen with sales of EUR 22 billion in 2017, followed by the Czech Republic’s Skoda Auto with EUR 16 billion and Hungarian oil and gas group MOL with EUR 13.3 billion.

    Coface said in its survey that the region’s countries were able to benefit from the favorable economic environment as the region’s GDP rose by 4.5 percent in 2017 – the highest growth rate in the past eight years and well above the 3.1 percent growth of 2016. The growth was mainly fueled by export demand (the region’s countries conduct 80 percent of their business within the European Union), domestic consumption but also a recovery in exports to Russia.

    The 500 largest companies of Central and Eastern Europe had combined sales of EUR 652 billion last year, a 11 percent growth compared with 2016 and 80 percent of the companies featured in the top 500 were able to increase sales revenues.

    Among the Hungarian companies in Coface’s top 500 oil and gas group MOL is the largest, followed by the Hungarian subsidiary of German carmaker Audi AG and national electricity company MVM third. The other companies in the Hungarian top 10 are the Hungarian subsidiary of Germany’s Daimler AG, Suzuki Hungary, followed by the Hungarian subsidiaries of Bosch, Flextronics, Samsung, General Electrics and Tesco Plc.

     

  • Salvini: 1956 remembers the past but is about the future

    Attending a reception in Rome commemorating the 1956 revolution, Salvini said October 23rd (the day when the revolution began in Budapest) was “a symbol of the friendship of the Hungarian and Italian nations, countries and governments but also a symbol of European freedom,” Magyar Hírlap reports.

    The Hungarian national day remembers the past, but it is about the future

    He said the current Hungarian and Italian governments have common goals and determinations against a Europe that often stomps out the demands of nations, national parliaments and governments.

    He said he wanted his children to live in a Europe that is free and respects its nations and citizens. “I want to (see) a Europe much less prone to the influence of financial powers, multinationals, bureaucrats and speculators such as (George) Soros, but instead considers the interests of its nations.”

    Asked why he considers Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán his political ally, Salvini said they both fought the same battles even before they knew each other. “We fought similar battles both in Brussels and Strasbourg. We both have our policies centered on job creation, people, families, the right to life and health. We both vindicate our countries the right to control its own economy and thus its future.”

    I am very glad that a new Europe is emerging, entirely different than the Europe of Jean-Claude Juncker, Emmanuel Macron and Angela Merkel, because I think their Europe does not have the answers to our problems

  • Let’s talk about foreigners, not just illegal migrants

    The case of Ayan Jamaal Ahmednuur who sued the headmaster of a Secondary Medical School for not being allowed to wear a headscarf, could be an example. She served as a puppet for left-wing extremists such as the ombudsman Anna Šabatová, non-profit organizations and extremists. It is these extremists who have made the whole case a big political issue  

    Ahmednuur arrived in the Czech Republic in 2011 and immediately after arriving at the Ruzyně airport, destroyed all personal documents. She then applied for asylum and was sent to the receiving center. She received her 10-year residence permit (until 2021) in the name of Ayan Jamaal Ahmednuur, which was based solely on her declaration.

    A number of non-profit organizations immediately took care of Ahmednuur, thanks to which she received a certificate of graduation at the elementary school where she was rated “good” in the Czech language. However, this lady only speaks English very well.

    Although she was thrown out of the secondary school after only one day of study because she did not have any identity papers for.a second time, she at least managed to sue the school for not being allowed to wear a burqa. Finally, Ahmednuur passed the final state examination thanks to a retraining course, but three years later she only passed a part of the exam for a Czech driving licence with an English interpreter.

    “This case shows a strange system of inconsistency, active scams, and help from taxpayer-funded organizations,” concluded Klaus.

  • Another fallen soldier in Afghanistan

    According to The New York Times, the Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack which left one soldier dead and two injured. However, two Afghan officials, who did not want to share their identity because of the sensitivity of the information, said the “shooting was the result of a quarrel” and it probably was not about the infiltration of a Taliban fighter.

    The attack came only a week after the previous incident near Bagram military base in which five Czech soldiers were injured. In August, three soldiers were killed in a suicide bombing, one of the deadliest assaults on NATO soldiers in many months.

    Many politicians expressed their condolences to the family of the fallen soldier. Minister of Defence Lubomir Metnar described soldiers as heroes, saying that they fight against terrorism and ensure peace and security at home. “We are not leaving Afghanistan,” Metnar said at a press conference.

    PM Andrej Babiš wrote on Twtitter that he was struck by another loss of life in Afghanistan and that he wants to talk with Metnar on whether it is possible to take measures to eliminate these attacks.

    “I admire the bravery of our soldiers in Afghanistan. Their work is very important for the international community and deserves our respect and full support,” Petr Fiala, chairman of the Civic Democratic Party, said. 

  • Weigl: Will nation states survive?

    Western countries gained their “level” only because they were nation states and could economically grow thanks to capitalism. Pointing to the history of Austria-Hungary as well as the Ottoman empire, Weigl claims that the failure of these empires was due to their multicultural character. The same can be said about Czechoslovakia in times when it was led by President Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk.

    Among other things, wars and disputes between countries tend to be used as an argument against nation states. That wars in Europe were caused by nationalism and that the EU united all European countries to help prevent another war. Weigl considers it a lie. Wars took place in Europe even before the concept of a nation or nationalism were established. The idea of nation states is natural and the European Union is trying to destroy it. That would be a disaster for the entire continent, Weigl said. 

    The first target of the European Union was to be united against the Soviet Union and to help Germany with economic growth. The concept of multinational Europe came with Jacques Delors and Maastricht. While people ignored it, the Schengen Agreement as well as the Lisbon Treaty were just another step toward destroying the concept of nation states. That´s why we have to deal with all the guidelines and propaganda served by the European Union today. 

    The idea of equal states in the EU is false, Weigl said, adding that European Union is ruled by Germany. Germans tried to rule Europe twice and they were unsuccessful. But now, they are a hegemon of a whole continent, unfortunately leaded by liberal leftists.

    According to Weigl, Brexit was a big blow for the European Union. Great Britain surely will not be a fan of German centralized hegemony and it will have its own geopolitical interests just like Russia does. So, the concept of a nation state is vivid, because the European Union is still having problems and cannot concentrate on demolishing this idea. And that’s why we should celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Czech Republic.

  • America interested in Czech nuclear power plants

    The Czech Republic will soon host two important representatives of the US government. Secretary of Defense James Mattis will visit Prague on the centennial anniversary of Czechoslovakia. Minister of Energy, Republican politician Rick Perry, will visit shortly afterwards, in mid-November. Both trips will follow a visit of the President of the House of Representatives Paul Ryan.

    Both Mattis and Perry’s visits are not just ceremonial visits that demonstrate that the US continues to regard the Czech Republic as an ally. Mattis and especially Perry will head to Prague for the Dukovany power plant completion. The Americans are interested in securing the job, just like other countries.

    Andrej Babiš’ Cabinet has not yet decided how the tender will be “made”. Some politicians, led by President Miloš Zeman, are pushing for an intergovernmental agreement with Russia, others for a public contract. Both Mattis and Perry will lobby to open a tender. Perry is allegedly open to discussing the issue on multiple occasions during his visit.

    At the same time, Prime Minister Andrej Babiš’ possible visit to the United States will be discussed. There is no date fixed, but it should be next year, and the topic of power plants will surely be on the agenda. 

  • Kočner ordered the monitoring of at least five journalists

    Tóth is cooperating with police and claims he has no knowledge about a planned murder on Kuciak. The former journalist was paid by Marian Kočner, an entrepreneur, who is currently in police custody. According to dennikn, Tóth made a confession three weeks ago, shortly after three suspects were also taken to custody in connection with Kuciak’s murder. He could be the second person involved in the incident who is cooperating with the authorities, after Zoltán Andruskó.

    Tóth supposedly claims he was following not just Kuciak, who was working for actuality.sk as an investigative journalist, but also other reporters including, Marek Vagovič, Adam Valček (SME), Štefan Hríb, the editor in chief at .týždeň and Monika Tódová from dennikn. The former intelligence officer and reporter prepared photos, videos and analyses for a monthly wage of 1,000 euros. Tóth, who himself was working for the SME before 2002 denies dennikn’s claims. 

  • Europeans reached semis in League of Legends World Championship

    Polish fans of LoL have even more reasons to be proud – Polish Marcin “Jankos” Jankowski finds himself in the elite group of players to reach the semi-finals. Alongside his team, Jankowski had dismantled tournament favorite RNG in the quarterfinal. In what was arguably the biggest upset in LoL E-sport history, G2 Esports advanced by winning 3-2 in games.

    Alongside Jankowski fought Croat Luka “Perkz” Perković, Dane Martin “Wunder” Hansen, Swede Petter “Hjarnan” Freyschuss and Korean Kim “Wadid” Bae-in.

    G2 Esports will now have to face the third and last Chinese team, Invictus Gaming. If they succeed, they will be the first Western team in the grand finals since 2011 and Jankowski will be the second Polish player ever, to play in the finals.

    Meanwhile, the other European team Fnatic beat another Chinese powerhouse, Edward Gaming 3-1. Fnatic will face American Cloud 9 in the semi-finals.

    Only four teams remain in the tournament: European G2 Esports, Fnatic, American Cloud 9 and Chinese Invictus Gaming. This is the first time since 2011 when more Western than Asian teams have reached the semi-finals. It is also the first time that a Korean team has not made it beyond the Round of Eight.

    The semi-finals will take place on October 27th and 28th. The grand final will be held on November 3rd in Incheon, South Korea. All of the matches are played in a best-of-five format. The prize pool exceeds USD 2 million. 

  • LOT fires staff for illegal strike

    “Today, we have disciplinarily dismissed sixty-seven people who had refused to come into work due to participation in an illegal strike which has been ongoing at LOT since Thursday,” explained Milczarski. He hopes that these dismissals will be the last and has underlined that the company has lost several million PLN due to the strikes.

    Reports suggest LOT management has already met with members of the trade union to resolve any issues remaining. 

    Due to the strike, the airlines had to cancel seven flights, including one from Warsaw to Toronto. Company spokesmen have explained that it was impossible to assemble crews, therefore, the flights had to be cancelled. On Monday all of the planned flights were on schedule. To fulfil their network of connections, LOT had borrowed aircraft from other carriers.

    The trade unionists had demanded the reappointment of Monika Żelazik, the former chairman of the on-board professional staff association. Reports state that this was the direct cause of the recent protests. There are also demands for reinstating payroll regulations from 2010, as well as the dismissal of LOT chairman Rafał Milczarski. According to union members, he runs the company poorly, utilizes mobbing and tolerates unjust employment techniques used against unionists.

  • Czaputowicz informs NATO on Tump military plans

    Czaputowicz has given NATO General Secretary Jens Stoltenberg all the necessary information concerning the planned increase of American military presence in Poland. The minister has also assured that Poland will be informing its NATO partners about the entire process.

    The minister’s visit to the NATO headquarters in Brussels is a result of the Declaration of Strategic Partnership signed by Presidents Donald Trump and Andrzej Duda in September. This agreement foresees a potential increase of American military presence in Poland.

    Concerns in Europe

    The so called “Fort Trump” plans have provoked unease in European capitals such as Paris, Rome and Berlin. They do not want to provoke Moscow, whereas the Baltic States fear the negative consequences from Russia’s side in response to the strengthening of US military presence in Poland.

    Czaputowicz argued, that: “American soldiers are already stationed in Poland. We would like for there to be more of them in the future. We are discussing the topic and the idea for that presence to be stronger.”

    During the debate on the deployment of NATO forces on the Eastern flank of the Alliance, there have been doubts concerning the NATO-Russian declaration of 1997. Back then, NATO agreed not to deploy allied forces in the territory of new member-states. In the wake of Crimea annexation Czaputowicz explained that one cannot break an agreement that has already been broken.

  • Ukraine’s Orthodox Church breaks ties with Moscow

    The direct result of the decision of the Patriarchate in Istanbul on Ukraine’s Church was the breaking of ties between the Russian Orthodox Church and Constantinople, which went unnoticed by the world and Poland. The Russian Orthodox Church lamented that this is the biggest split in Christianity in a thousand years.

    This religious struggle is an ideological defeat for Putin. When Russia annexed Crimea in 2014, Putin used the argument of Russia’s old rights to the peninsula and Eastern Ukraine based on the Christianization of the region in 988.

    We don’t see the connection between religion and politics and therefore cannot see the importance of this conflict. After all, it is a part of Poland’s history and geopolitics

    However, the Ukrainian Orthodoxy fell under Moscow’s influence only in the 17th century, when the Cossack Uprising succeeded in defeating Poland. As a consequence, Poland was unable to make the Russian minority their citizens, which decided the country’s future fate, and the Eastern Orthodoxy became separated from the patriarchy in Constantinople.

    Constantinople annulling the subjection of the Ukrainian Orthodoxy to Russia shows, that despite Putin and Orban’s claims, Ukraine is not a failed state. Moreover, it is a state becoming increasingly more independent of Russia and a part of our Europe. Many Polish right-wing experts underestimate or ignore Ukraine when it comes to geopolitics. They focus on China, Russia or even Belarus.

    We don’t see the connection between religion and politics and therefore cannot see the importance of this conflict. After all, it is a part of Poland’s history and geopolitics.

    As it turns out, Ukraine is Poland’s biggest, undiagnosed future challenge.

  • Ukraine’s Orthodox Church breaks ties with Moscow

    The direct result of the decision of the Patriarchate in Istanbul on Ukraine’s Church was the breaking of ties between the Russian Orthodox Church and Constantinople, which went unnoticed by the world and Poland. The Russian Orthodox Church lamented that this is the biggest split in Christianity in a thousand years.

    This religious struggle is an ideological defeat for Putin. When Russia annexed Crimea in 2014, Putin used the argument of Russia’s old rights to the peninsula and Eastern Ukraine based on the Christianization of the region in 988.

    We don’t see the connection between religion and politics and therefore cannot see the importance of this conflict. After all, it is a part of Poland’s history and geopolitics

    However, the Ukrainian Orthodoxy fell under Moscow’s influence only in the 17th century, when the Cossack Uprising succeeded in defeating Poland. As a consequence, Poland was unable to make the Russian minority their citizens, which decided the country’s future fate, and the Eastern Orthodoxy became separated from the patriarchy in Constantinople.

    Constantinople annulling the subjection of the Ukrainian Orthodoxy to Russia shows, that despite Putin and Orban’s claims, Ukraine is not a failed state. Moreover, it is a state becoming increasingly more independent of Russia and a part of our Europe. Many Polish right-wing experts underestimate or ignore Ukraine when it comes to geopolitics. They focus on China, Russia or even Belarus.

    We don’t see the connection between religion and politics and therefore cannot see the importance of this conflict. After all, it is a part of Poland’s history and geopolitics.

    As it turns out, Ukraine is Poland’s biggest, undiagnosed future challenge.

  • What does the future hold for the social democrats?

    Even in countries with a strong social democratic history like Germany and Austria, it doesn’t seem to be just a momentary blip but rather an end of the movement as the leading political force in Europe. Social democrats have a hard time competing with new parties and movements fighting migration and corruption. They are lacking a vision for the 21st century.

    Sunday’s regional elections in Bavaria can be provided as proof of this fact. In Munich, where the Social Democrats have their mayor and where they won 40 percent of votes five years ago, gained only 13.6 percent of the votes this year. And the German SPD fell behind the winning Greens and CSU in second place. 

    But that is not the only example. In France, one of the bastions of social democracy, the traditional socialist party ended fourth in the last parliamentary elections, with only 31 of the original 280 mandates. A similar situation is evident in Greece and the Netherlands where the socialist “Armageddon” continues.

    The reform of social democracy, however, will be much more complicated than it was for the right-wing parties. It gets into the unfavorable position of someone who changes his basic principles according to how the current mood changes in society, even in terms of migration. However, the social democrats can certainly change, find new challenges, new passwords, and new policies. But the question remains as to whether they will still be Social Democrats after all  

  • German FM: Czech Republic is our key partner

    Maas appreciated that Petříček picked Germany for his first foreign visit as Foreign Minister. Regarding the EU, Maas noted that member states don’t have to be united on every issue, but they cannot allow the EU to be paralyzed by disagreements.

    According to Maas, there are some differences between the North and the South and between the West and the East. The German Minister said that we should “build bridges” and in the region of Central Europe Czech Republic plays a key role.

    Both ministers discussed the migrant crisis. Petříček said that Prague and Berlin are sharing similar opinions right now. He also added that “the migrant situation” is getting better these days.

    Both states agreed to cooperate on development projects, for example in Africa. The Czech Republic itself wants to significantly increase the funds it provides for development aid. Now it is circa 0.11 percent of Gross National Product (GNP); they would like to reach 0.33 percent of GNP in the future.

  • Majority of Czechs regret Czechoslovakia break up

    Over 70 percent of Czechs believe the foundation of Czechoslovakia after the collapse of the Austrian-Hungarian empire was the right approach. 

    According to a public opinion poll conducted by the Median agency, the survey found that only 22 percent approve of the Munich agreement forcing Czechoslovakia to surrender its border regions to Germany in 1938. And an even lower share of respondents agree with the post-Second World War direction of the country and its alignment with the Soviet Union.

    However, Czechs are divided when it comes to the question of the dissolution of Czechoslovakia in 1993. A majority of respondents disapproved of the dissolution, while 40 percent of them agreed.

    In general, Czech citizens favored accession to the EU in 2004 and to NATO in 1999, both receiving around two-thirds support, with a slightly better result for the latter.

  • Babiš: I can think of a dozen better ways to spend EU money than on Frontex

    I was the first European Prime Minister who ever visited the headquarters of Frontex, after former Polish PM Szydlo, and I have to stress its extreme importance, because the whole strategy towards illegal migration is connected with it. Therefore, I went to Warsaw to familiarize myself with experts’ views and broaden my horizons for my diplomatic crusade against migration.

    Frontex aim not only to protect borders against smugglers, but also to return illegal migrants. They showed me how they operate, how they can detect suspects both on the ground and at sea. I witnessed their ability to track down and stop a truck filled with migrants before it enters the Schengen area.

    At the same time, they do a great job regarding illegal migrants’ returns. In the last year alone, they’ve dispatched 430 flights for them. We agreed that Frontex’s goal should be to deal with the countries of migrants’ origin on behalf of the European states. It would make our negotiating position stronger.

    Finally, I have to appreciate a plan for ETIAS, a European equivalent of the US ESTA visa. All above mentioned is great and much needed.

    However, as a businessman, I must address two issues – a plan to spend an extra 25 billion on Frontex and a plan to increase its staff by 8,500 and budget by 10 billion.

    Wouldn’t it be much better to negotiate a deal with the United States, Canada and Turkey, so we could use NATO forces to tackle smugglers in the Mediterranean? I think that European resources should be spent on investments. Just recently, we’ve announced a funding program for kindergartens and it had been exhausted in 16 seconds, with dissatisfied applications amounting to 2.5 billion.

    Europe is no longer facing an extreme influx of immigrants like it used to. Actually, it had dropped by 90 percent compared to 2015. Each coastal country has its own coast guard, there are 7,000 policemen from the EU28 ready to be deployed anywhere in a case of a crisis. So instead of boosting the Frontex budget, let’s allocate those funds for North African countries.

    Overall, my experience and knowledge gained in Warsaw has been really useful throughout the week, be it at the ALDE coordination meeting, V4 coordination meeting or a work dinner with Prime Minister Theresa May.

  • Analysis: PiS is still doing well, but the opposition is on their heels

    “We may talk about the great success of Law and Justice, because they overtook their opponents. We must remember, however, that it isn’t important who wins the elections, but who will govern the regional councils,” Trzeciak explains.

    He underlined, that “with these results, PiS will have the minority of regional councils. I believe that with KO’s ability to form coalitions with the peasant party (PSL), those groups will have majorities.”

    “Local elections have shown that PiS still has high support in society. It is evident, however, that the remaining parties are >>on their heels<<”. If one were to look at the distribution of votes, the trend of KO’s candidates having an advantage in large towns remains. PiS is winning in areas up to 20,000 inhabitants and the city electorate is still a challenge for the party,” Trzeciak notices.

    With these results, PiS will have the minority of regional councils. I believe that with KO’s ability to form coalitions with the peasant party (PSL), those groups will have majorities

    “A big surprise is the entry results showing Rafał Trzaskowski’s first round victory in Warsaw. Even the expected KO victory in Łódź is impressive, because 70 percent is not something to take lightly. I have no doubts, that these differences are huge,” Trzeciak admitted.

    “It’s hard to tell, whether this year’s municipal elections can be a test-run of next year’s parliamentary elections. Let’s remember, that the unofficial 7 percent advantage next year may be completely different. This may be a warning for the government, that PiS’s double digit poll advantage over Civic Platform may have vanished,” the expert underlines.

    “We’ve now had a very intensive campaign, in which PM Mateusz Morawiecki and his ministers have taken part in. Another surprise could be PSL’s result, who was polled to have a significantly lower result,” Trzeciak claims.

  • Ministry of Foreign Affairs will discuss Hungarian solidarity declaration

    According to the Slovak ministry the body is prepared to lead discussions about any proposal which is helping dialogue between member states and European institutions, while providing a solution acceptable for both parties. Boris Gandel, the spokesperson of the ministry believes that a constructive dialogue could provide guarantee for further cooperation.

    Peter Pellegrini also highlighted respecting Danko’s plans about a public supporting act for Hungary and Poland. The Slovak Prime Minister last week in Brussels pointed out that a similar step was made by the Czech parliament and if Slovak MP’s decide the same, the government will respect the decision.

    “We were clearly expressing the preference of dialogue. It seems that in case of Poland certain compromises were being made and I firmly believe that Hungary should be treated similarly, not by threatening with the most radical solution which is not contributing to the unity within the European Union,” Danko said. 

  • The fall of German socialists

    The evaluations of the Bavarian elections were rather focused on the fate of CSU. The party produced its worst results in history and can probably only keep its positions due to a coalition with centristic parties. But the fall is not surprising, CSU’s failure could be explained by higher voter turnout and the popularity of new parties.

    In comparison, the results provide no excuse for the Social Democrats. They were always the weaker side in Bavaria, but up to the last elections were regarded as the strongest party in the opposition. They dropped 9.7 percent behind the Greens, the Afd and the FDP which means the worst result for the SPD in the post-war period.

    The worst thing is that the result is not just affecting Bavaria and it is not an anomaly. The popularity of the SPD is in a long-term decline. Creating the grand coalition forced by the leaders harmed the image of the party and while centrists nowadays are supporting CDU/CSU, the position of the left was secured by the Greens and Die Linke. Last year the SPD was still thinking about how to restore its former glory. Now they are talking about political survival. Especially due to the fact that more than half of the sympathizers are more than 60 years old.

    The problems of the social democrats cannot be solved by finding a new narrative or with better communication. The SPD lost its credibility, it took part in creating many problems for contemporary Germany. Leaving the grand coalition is not enough for gaining back the trust, but it is inevitable. Otherwise the party will reprise the fate of progressive Central European parties.

  • Wałęsa voted in a “Constitution” shirt

    Wałęsa posted photos of his visit to the polling station on Facebook. The former President had gone not only to vote, but also to manifest his political views. The “KONSTYTUCJA” t-shirt is a well-known symbol of anti-government protests. Such an action is a violation of Poland’s “election silence” – the law which bans any political agitation for 30 hours before voting starts on election day, especially at the polling stations:

    fb

    Publicist Rafał Ziemkiewicz commented, that Wałęsa should be fined, as the word “constitution” in that typography is a “symbol associated with a certain political group.”:

    https://twitter.com/R_A_Ziemkiewicz/status/1054030748515217413

    Just before the weekend in an interview with “Wirtualna Polska”, Wałęsa claimed that it is necessary to keep an eye on local elections, as “Poland is ruled by very dishonest people.” He then went on, that “these people are such liars, so treacherous, that they are ready to do anything. This is worse than Stalinism, worse than Hitlerism. In the case of PiS, nothing is holy.”

    Everyone who is breaking the constitution should be trialed. They will be trialed after a civil war. (…) A few army colonels would do the job

    Wałęsa also alluded to civil war, by saying that “everyone who is breaking the constitution should be trialed. They will be trialed after a civil war.” He added that “a few army colonels would do the job.”

  • Opposition takes Warsaw in Round One

    According to exit polls by Ipsos for TVP, TVN and Polsat, the opposition KO’s (Civic Platform and modern party) candidate Rafał Trzaskowski won in Warsaw by a landslide – 54.1 percent to PiS’ Patryk Jaki’s 30.9 percent.

    In his post-election speech, the candidate of the Civic Coalition (KO) Rafał Trzaskowski, thanked the citizens of Warsaw, as well as Civic Platform chairman Grzegorz Schetyna and former Mayor of Warsaw Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz. 

    “Warsaw, thank you!” Trzaskowski wrote on Twitter.

    tt

    Patryk Jaki congratulated his opponent and thanked his supporters:

    “Congratulations, Rafał Trzaskowski. I’m keeping my fingers crossed and hope for the best. I’d like to say that I could’ve done more. That would be a lie. I did all I physically could in this campaign. Thank you for your support.”

    tt

    Law and Justice MP Krystyna Pawłowicz expressed her sorrow at the result of the elections in Warsaw:

    “I feel pity for the Warsaw of my ancestors. At the end of the 19th century, when my grandparents were born, Warsaw was ruled by Russians. Today, those opposed to Warsaw’s patriotic traditions, unfortunately, have strengthened their position. I feel pity for my Warsaw, for the Warsaw of my ancestors.”

    https://twitter.com/KrystPawlowicz/status/1054105061310296065

  • PiS won, but not in the big cities

    In the Monday morning late exit polls by IPSOS, PiS won, taking 33 percent of the total votes. Second was KO, with 26.7 and third was the peasant party PSL with 13.6 percent.  SLD – United Left Alliance (postcommunists) 6.6 percent, Kukiz’15 took 5.9 percent of votes and independent candidates 5.8 percent. 

    tt

     

    PiS leader Jarosław Kaczyński claimed election victory and declared that “this is a time for celebration”. He added that if the exit poll results were confirmed, the party was in a strong position to take power in local assemblies. “I would very much like that the upcoming election in Poland takes place in a better atmosphere,” adding that he hoped for “less fake news” in Polish politics. 

    I would very much like that the upcoming election in Poland takes place in a better atmosphere

    PiS won in 9 out 16 regions but commentators say it is unclear yet in how many of them will actually be able to govern as a coalition of opposition parties may block the ruling party in Sejmiks and form the alliances. 

    Mayoral races won mostly by the opposition 

    PiS took losses mainly in large cities. In Warsaw, KO’s candidate Rafał Trzaskowski won by a landslide – 54.1 percent to PiS’ Patryk Jaki’s 30.9 percent. 

    According to exit polls by Ipsos for TVP, TVN and Polsat, PiS also lost in the first round in Łódź, Poznań, Białystok, Lublin and probably Wrocław, Opole and Katowice. Play-offs will be needed in two weeks in Gdańsk, Kraków, Kielce and others.

    The final and official results will be announced on Tuesday or Wednesday.

    According to the latest poll by Ipsos published on Monday morning the turnout for the elections was 53.35 percent which would make it the highest for this kind of elections since 1989.

  • Polish municipal elections in the Hungarian media

    Origo – the portal leads its coverage of the Polish municipal elections with a report that the ruling Law and Justice Party’s (PiS) latest campaign video also features Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, meeting Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki. Origo points out that since the party’s electoral victory in 2015 its popularity remains high due to the country’s strong economic performance and the fact that Polish voters appreciate the government’s anti-migration stance. It also says the municipal elections are the beginning of a long series, as these will be followed next year by European and legislative elections and a presidential election in 2010.

    Magyar Idők – the print and online conservative media leads its coverage with an exit poll showing that turnout was 51.3 percent, the highest since the regime change in 1990. It also reports that preliminary results show PiS is leading with 32.3 percent, followed by the opposition Civic Platform (PO). It says in Warsaw the mayoral candidate of the Civic Coalition, former foreign minister  Rafal Trzaskowski is in the lead.

    Magyar Hírlap – also leads with PiS being in the lead, voting sections kept open beyond the deadline in Warsaw due to long queues and quotes PiS president Jaroslaw Kaczynski that the preliminary result of the elections is promising for his party with regard to next year’s elections.

    Index – the opposition portal leads with the victory of PiS but points out that the Civic Coalition has received 24.7 percent of the votes compared with 16 percent measured by the latest opinion polls and has thus closed the gap separating it from PiS. It also says that even if political processes are not exactly the same in Poland, trends there may contain important learnings for Hungarian politics as well.

     

  • Bavaria voted against Berlin

    Bavarian voters had a large selection of 18 parties to choose from. Six of them made it to Parliament. With a relatively high voter turnout, almost 72 percent, CSU won but received about 10 percent fewer votes than in 2013.

    Horst Seehofer is undoubtedly to blame for CSU’s bad result. But the former CSU voters, who have now chosen AfD, are not against Seehofer´s recent policy, despite the mainstream media repeatedly indicating so. The media are simply trying to discourage as many voters from CSU as possible, but their arguments lack logic.

    If voters really questioned Seehofer’s attempt for a tougher anti-immigration policy after he became Interior Minister in Berlin, they would not opt for an even more anti-immigrant AfD but rather SPD. The Social Democrats were Seehofer´s counterpart in the Berlin government and could not stand his party, the SPD in Bavaria failed.

    Horst Seehofer has repeatedly criticized the Chancellor’s migration policy since the fateful opening of the borders in 2015. However, he retreated every time. A satirist called him “Bayer ohne Eier” (Bavarian without balls). It is a cruel but accurate characterization of his policy.

    This year’s CSU result is one of the worst in history. Still, CSU’s policy is preferred by an absolute majority. From the youngest to the oldest, in all age groups, people have often voted for it. 

    However, the true winner of the election is the Greens. In 2013, they had 8.6 percent which doubled to 17.5 percent this year. It is no secret that they would like to govern after 32 years in opposition, but that will certainly not work out. The Bavarian CSU, unlike CDU, is still a truly conservative party. CDU could create a coalition with the Greens and Free Democrats (FDP), however it will do its best to avoid this coalition.

    The main topic of the Bavarian election was the criticism of Merkel’s migration policy. This is why AfD made it to Parliament with the result of ten percent and completely defeated the Social Democrats. SPD was the second strongest party in 2013 with 20.6 percent, but this year gained only a single digit result.

  • Babiš and Gates discuss development aid

    Gates himself showed an interest in meeting Babiš among other leaders of the EU and EU28. Babiš wrote on Twitter that they discussed politics and funding of science and development aid. For instance, what can be done for the victims of the war in Syria. 

    After the meeting, Babiš invited Gates to Prague in May next year, when a Rotary International conference is being held. Gates is a member of Rotary International, an organization bringing together entrepreneurs and charities. “I will contact Mr. Gates somehow and let’s see if he accepts my invitation,” Babiš said. 

    Gates also plans to meet EU Development Commissioner Neven Mimica to sign ‘a significant financial contribution’ from his foundation to the EU’s External investment plan. The Foundation’s contribution is meant to support a development of diagnostic health services in sub-Saharan Africa.

     

  • Salvini may run for European Commission presidency

    Salvini said that the preparation of the Italian draft budget and the EU’s migration policy are keeping him busy, therefore no final decision has been made on his European Commission presidency candidacy. He revealed he has been actively discussing the latter with his Polish and Hungarian friends.

    However, as with the Spitzenkandidaten principle, Salvini has little chance of winning. After the last elections in 2014, representatives of the major European political groups made it clear that only a nominee of the winning party gets their support for the president’s seat.

    Earlier this month, Lega Nord leader announced a coalition with Marine Le Pen’s National Rally for the 2019 elections and named it Freedom Front. Salvini claimed he is expecting the EU to change significantly. In many recent elections across Europe, nationalist parties succeed with their criticism towards the EU, including Salvini’s Lega, AfD in Germany, FPÖ in Austria, Sweden Democrats and Orbán’s Fidesz.

  • Another attack on Czech soldiers in Afghanistan

    According to the AP news agency, a bomb attack against an armored vehicle a group of Czech soldiers were travelling in was carried out near their Bagram base, which is approximately 40 kilometers away from the Afghan capital, Kábul.

    Reports state that a suicide bomber sat in a car fully loaded with explosives and rammed into the NATO convoy. The Islamist movement The Taliban has already claimed responsibility for the attack.

  • Babis got Conte and Borisov on board for his Frontex proposal

    Austrian Chancellor Kurz said before the summit that the number of immigrants coming to Europe had dropped by 95 percent compared to October 2015. So, if less and less immigrants come to Europe, the funds should be invested elsewhere, Babiš said. He suggested focusing on cooperation with North African countries, which could stop the migrant flows.

    Babiš claims he convinced other leaders, namely the prime ministers of Bulgaria, Bojko Borisov and Italy, Giuseppe Conte, to discuss Frontex’s budget further. Babiš appreciated that both leaders declared they have capacities they can use to tackle migration from North African countries. Or in other words, both Bulgaria and Italy are capable of protecting the EU external border on their own and don’t need additional Frontex staff.

  • Orban and the spirit of Helmut Kohl

    Membership in the EPP for Orbán is important ideologically and politically. The Hungarian Prime Minister knew Kohl personally and in the anniversary of Kohl’s death spoke about the importance of the former German chancellor. His perception of Kohl as a Christian politician and a unificator is false – the Christian topic was secondary and uniting Germany came in hand with dividing Europe through Maastricht and the Euro. But there is another interpretation of Kohl’s politics by Orbán. The Hungarian PM always considered it a mistake that his Polish partners were missing from the EPP and views the party as a formation not doing what it is meant to be for. Orbán says the place of Fidesz is with CSU and its task is the renewal of Christian roots. This Christianity is broader than the Slovak perception – the issue of abortion is missing, the definition of marriage, immigration and civilizational values are included.

    This conflict is further complicated with the state of democracy in Hungary, especially after the politicized resolution of the European Parliament and the possible sanctions against Orban. The real consequences, which are more important, were spotted by Austrian Sebastian Kurz. He mentioned to the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung he does not wish the emergence of a new political party “which would unite morally unequal, unwanted eastern-Europeans” (moralisch nicht ebenbürtige und eigentlich ungewollte Osteuropäer). Kurz senses that Orbán has the support of Kaczynski, Babiš and Fiala, and the Hungarian Prime Minister serves as an example for his own coalition partner, Heinz-Christian Strache and Matteo Salvini. Orbán became an issue for the European left and right. And he is disturbed by one thing: that he is not recognized by Slovak politicians in the European Parliament.

  • This revolution is not finished yet!

    Billions have been taken from the pockets of thieves and given to Polish families. The previously uncovered Eastern border is now protected by Polish and American armies. We’ve become less dependent on gas from Russia. We’ve retaken the banking sector. We’ve stopped being a pushover and a derisory country in international relations.

    This revolution is not finished yet, and many of the changes are superficial.

    The majority of people have to deal with local government clerks, and local governments are run by the Civic Platform. This won’t change immediately, but we can try. The largest cities don’t have to be choked by traffic and smog. The poor don’t have to be thrown out onto the streets by gangsters. Our children could be playing in civilized conditions and the municipal police needn’t be persecutors.

    Today’s Poland isn’t ideal. However, we have made a jump in living standards and live in a country where ordinary people have more to say

    Law and Justice’s (PiS) victory in local governments will mean Poles have accepted the “Good Change”. After three years we can say whether we want a Poland in which the judiciary is trying to be fixed, or one where they are at the behest of some local mandarins. Although local elections are about infrastructure and efficient offices, they will be a kind of referendum.

    Today’s Poland isn’t ideal. There are all sorts of people in the government. We have made a jump in living standards, however, and live in a country where ordinary people have more to say other than oligarchs and mafias.

    In spite of what the opposition claims, we are much more European than we have ever been since 1989

    In spite of what the opposition claims, we are much more European than we have ever been since 1989. In Europe, people defend their own interests and respect their individuality. Loyalty and submission are traits of the East and Germany can be furious at us, but we don’t have to care.

    I look at the road we’ve been through in the last quarter-century. There were hardships, but this road has led us to a Poland we could’ve only dreamed of. We owe this to our stubbornness. We owe this to you, Dear Readers, and know that you will not fail either us or Poland.

  • Pazura stands up for free Sundays

    “My entire generation fought for Saturdays and Sundays to be workfree, and now they’re fighting to be able to work during them? Isn’t this some kind of madness?,” Pazura asked, joining the debate concerning the Sunday trade ban.

    He posted a full speech in the form of seat-up show on YouTube, where he questions sarcastically “what have we come to? Sundays free? From trade? But that’s scandalous! Everyone wants to trade!”

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=3&v=ZNm0LPoXIkM

    Many viewers expressed their support for the actor in the comments under his YouTube video.

    Pazura says that we should spend our Sundays on something more productive than a trip to the supermarket.

    Out of the thirty-one days, you have stores open on twenty-nine and closed on two. For the love of God, let’s not make an issue out of this!

    “I remember when during the communist era, they came up with free Saturdays, as before that you had to work on Saturdays. Jesus, how we fought for Saturdays to be free; so that you could sit in front of the TV, go to the cinema, talk with your mother, ask her how she was,” Pazura reminisces.

    The actor underlines that he understands the interests of large corporations, but he can’t understand Poles who fight to abolish the Sunday trade ban which makes two Sundays in the month workfree.

    “Out of the thirty-one days, you have stores open on twenty-nine and closed on two. For the love of God, let’s not make an issue out of this!,” Pazura calls out.

  • Pazura stands up for free Sundays

    “My entire generation fought for Saturdays and Sundays to be workfree, and now they’re fighting to be able to work during them? Isn’t this some kind of madness?,” Pazura asked, joining the debate concerning the Sunday trade ban.

    He posted a full speech in the form of seat-up show on YouTube, where he questions sarcastically “what have we come to? Sundays free? From trade? But that’s scandalous! Everyone wants to trade!”

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=3&v=ZNm0LPoXIkM

    Many viewers expressed their support for the actor in the comments under his YouTube video.

    Pazura says that we should spend our Sundays on something more productive than a trip to the supermarket.

    Out of the thirty-one days, you have stores open on twenty-nine and closed on two. For the love of God, let’s not make an issue out of this!

    “I remember when during the communist era, they came up with free Saturdays, as before that you had to work on Saturdays. Jesus, how we fought for Saturdays to be free; so that you could sit in front of the TV, go to the cinema, talk with your mother, ask her how she was,” Pazura reminisces.

    The actor underlines that he understands the interests of large corporations, but he can’t understand Poles who fight to abolish the Sunday trade ban which makes two Sundays in the month workfree.

    “Out of the thirty-one days, you have stores open on twenty-nine and closed on two. For the love of God, let’s not make an issue out of this!,” Pazura calls out.

  • Russia ignores calls to return TU-154 wreckage

    “The principle stance of the Russian Federation is that we do not deem ourselves obliged by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe during the forced absence of the Russian delegation in the works of the Assembly,” the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs told the Polish Press Agency.

    The ministry reasserted that the wreckage of the Polish plane is material evidence in the investigation currently being carried out by the Investigative Committee of Russia. The remaining parts of the plane “should remain in Russia until the necessary procedures have been completed, which is in accordance with the norms of the country’s legislation.”

    The Resolution

    Last Friday, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe had accepted a resolution which called for Russia to return the wreckage of the Tu-154M plane which crashed in Smoleńsk in April 2010.

    41 countries voted in favor of the resolution. 6 abstained from voting and none voted against it.

    The resolution also emphasized that according to the Chicago convention, the country in which the catastrophe happened, has a duty to return the wreckage and other proof materials immediately when the investigation of the technical causes of the crash had been completed. The investigation was completed in January 2011.

    In the document, it was underlined that Russia’s refusal is an abuse of the law. It was noted that these refusals lend to speculation in Poland that Moscow has something to hide in this case.

    On April 10th, 2010, 96 Polish officials including President Lech Kaczyński and his wife Maria Kaczyńska died in the plane crash near Smoleńsk.

  • Morawiecki: We won’t take power away from local governments

    In an interview with Polska The Times, the PM explained that “economic development should translate into higher living standards.” So far, smaller towns had been neglected in favor of larger cities. The government’s new “local five points” are meant to Europize Poland’s villages and small towns.

    The prime minister also reassured voters that PiS is looking to cooperate with everyone in local authorities but underlined that it would be easier to cooperate with local governments. “During the campaign I’ve travelled all across Poland. On many occasions, people told me about villages and towns and counties controlled by cliques. It just makes you want to vent it all out,” the PM said.

    On many occasions, people told me about villages and towns and counties controlled by cliques. It just makes you want to vent it all out

    Mateusz Morawiecki added that PiS will be looking to talk about coalitions after the elections, despite the mud thrown at them by the opposition.

    Refugees

    The prime minister argued that issues such as accepting refugees “should be decided by the people and not by particular mayors“. The PM also criticized the previous Civic Platform government for hiring more people into local authority offices and tripling the debts of those governments.

    He was also asked about unity during the upcoming March of Independence 2018 and the tapes released by Onet.

    The tapes

    Apologizing for the tapes, Morawiecki explained that he regrets some words and “especially the cussing.” He does not see anything sensational in them, however, and reminded that some of them had already been discussed in “Newsweek”.

    The March of Independence

    I believe that we can all walk together, in one March of Independence. I am ready to stand side-by-side with anyone

    The PM restated his appeal for unity during the 100th anniversary of Polish independence on November 11th. “I believe that we can all walk together, in one March of Independence. I am ready to go side by side with anyone,” he said. 

    Morawiecki also declared readiness to take part in the event as an ordinary participant and expressed hope to cooperate with other groups when it comes to organizing the celebrations.

  • Opinion: A good leader must stand up for his country

    It seems that Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz took over the revolving presidency of the European Union at the most opportune moment, Őry writes in her column. He can thus give additional weight to what the Visegrád countries have been stating for years.

    In Kurz’s interpretation mandatory solidarity means that every EU member state has to contribute to the handling of migration, but not necessarily in the form of taking in migrants, as there is no consensus about this in the European Council.

    This is essentially the same as the “flexible solidarity” put forward earlier by the V4. It means that accepting migrant quotas is not the sole form and means of solidarity. Kurz is right in his assessment that the quota was a failure, the experiment did not succeed and not even those who agreed with it met their obligations.

    As long as the leaders of the EU keep arguing about the same and – even by bending their own rules – punish those who disagree, this will in the long term lead to the demise of the Union. The Hungarian position on quotas has been consistent, but with introducing Frontex (the EU’s border protection agency) into the mix a new element has been added to the discourse, that of border defense.

    Hungary is right in saying that Frontex should offer assistance where it can but the defense of national borders should not be taken out of the hands of countries able to do it, nor should their sovereignty be curtailed.

    Even more so, given that taking away national competences was proposed by Angela Merkel who is continuously promoting German dominance over Europe. (Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor) Orbán was sympathetic to Kurz’s idea, but, unsurprisingly, Merkel wasn’t.

    The idea of quotas should be rejected on the principles as every such proposal is an open invitation to an endless stream of immigrants, whereas the humane solution would be to keep them at home. In the wake of such summits any good leader should be able to say “we did what our homeland demanded”. Otherwise his country is not his homeland and Europe is most definitely not his home.

  • Wild boar becomes star of social media

    A photo of a wild boar that decided to visit a pizza parlor in the northeast Hungarian town of Salgótarján is making the rounds on social media. News portal Origo reported that the boar “added some excitement to the patrons’ afternoon” this Thursday.

    “Everybody was quite surprised, but with the help of a good friend we managed to remove him from the premises,” pizza parlor owner Magdolna Susán said.

    But almost as interesting as the visit itself is the identity of the “good friend”: they are the Ipoly Valley Special Rescue Team, a group of professionals who set up the team in 2015 in the tiny village of Csitár-Nógrádgárdony (population: 415) with the declared goal of “dedicating their free time to solving impossible challenges and selflessly helping our fellow humans in trouble”. The team consists of active and retired firefighters, policemen, swimmers, alpinists and scuba divers.

    Karancs

    The Ipoly Valley Special Rescue Team (image from the team’s website)

    The team captured the boar and released it in a nearby forest.

     

  • Wild boar becomes star of social media

    A photo of a wild boar that decided to visit a pizza parlor in the northeast Hungarian town of Salgótarján is making the rounds on social media. News portal Origo reported that the boar “added some excitement to the patrons’ afternoon” this Thursday.

    “Everybody was quite surprised, but with the help of a good friend we managed to remove him from the premises,” pizza parlor owner Magdolna Susán said.

    But almost as interesting as the visit itself is the identity of the “good friend”: they are the Ipoly Valley Special Rescue Team, a group of professionals who set up the team in 2015 in the tiny village of Csitár-Nógrádgárdony (population: 415) with the declared goal of “dedicating their free time to solving impossible challenges and selflessly helping our fellow humans in trouble”. The team consists of active and retired firefighters, policemen, swimmers, alpinists and scuba divers.

    Karancs

    The Ipoly Valley Special Rescue Team (image from the team’s website)

    The team captured the boar and released it in a nearby forest.

     

  • Pellegrini agrees with voluntary forms of solidarity

    During the recent European Union summit in Brussels, the President of the European Parliament suggested that member states who oppose the mandatory quotas for immigrants should pay more for development and immigration-related projects in Africa.

    According to Pellegrini this is a very direct and different approach to previous suggestions, which included threatening countries with taking away funding for not accepting immigrants. “This is basically what the Slovak Republic already did. On the one hand we reject mandatory quotas but in line with the other countries of the Visegrad Four we are willing to provide more funding for Africa,” clarified the Prime Minister.

    Pellegrini believes Tajani’s comments have logic, because a country should help the migration issue by providing some kind of assistance. “If we, as Slovakia, could do that with raising our contribution to Africa, I believe, we wouldn’t have any problem with it,” the politician said.

  • Director Svoboda: The EU aims to destroy nation states

    Svoboda attended a seminar at the Chamber of Deputies of the Parliament organized by Jan Skopeček from the Civic Democratic Party.

    As a director of the movie Rašín, Svoboda thinks that Alois Rašín, if he were alive today, wouldn’t fall into the trap set by the unifying and centralist EU for the nation states.

    The seminar named ‘Will the nation states survive attempts for the European super state?’ was joined by vice-dean of the Faculty of economics Miroslav Ševčík, executive director of the Václav Klaus’ Institute Jiří Weigl and analyst Ondřej Krutílek from the think-tank Pravý břeh.

    Jiří Svoboda first spoke about Rašín himself, who was Minister of Finance during the First Republic. “I am convinced that in his temper, Alois Rašín, unlike Mr Masaryk or Benes, would have a much more radical opposition to the unifying and centralizing European Union that seeks not only to destroy the national states from which to create an “eintopf”, but also to destroy the democracy project. A smart person cannot see the European Parliament as a body in which the interests of smaller national states can be promoted. What interests can be enforced by 21 Czech MEPs in a body with 751 members,” said Jiri Svoboda.

    Svoboda further criticized the current direction of the EU, which is going to unify and deny the principle of the nation.

    The well-known Czech director then talked about the problems of today’s Europe, including denying the Christian-Jewish roots of Europe as well as breaking the traditional family institution which ceases to be made up of men, women and their children. According to Svoboda, it deserves extraordinary protection in terms of national survival and privileges. The Christian feasts and traditions are canceled and renamed to separate their unique spiritual dimension. One does not have to be too politically active to draw motivation to create a unified world where there is no place for sovereign states.

  • Vast majority of US citizens are tired of political correctness

    Overall, the study presents unusual findings, showing something that lies underneath the surface and is not usually visible. For years, the Americans have been deluding themselves into thinking that they want political correctness. In fact, only a leftist intellectual elite wishes for it  

    For example, 88 percent of native Americans are tired of political correctness, so are 87 percent of Hispanic people and 82 percent of Asian Americans. Against political correctness are also African Americans and the youth. Actually, the only group that showed somewhat positive views on it are well-paid white liberals with a university degree, who are self-identifying as atheist or agnostic.

    It might sound like fake news propaganda, but the study wasn’t conducted by More in Common organization and published in The Atlantic – a very liberal magazine. Obviously, the usual outcome of such surveys and studies that America’s public is divided into two equally camps, isn’t actually true. 

    According to the survey, there are only 8 percent of progressive activists among Americans. However, they take a disproportionally huge part of the public discussion given the small part of the population they represent.

  • Senator Valenta demands return of gothic crown jewels

    Valenta was surprised when he found out that some of the crown jewels are not on Czech soil. According to the Senator, it is a paradox that they are in Austria at the time when we are about to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the foundation of Czechoslovakia.

    The part that has been stored in Vienna’s Hofburg treasury consist of the gothic sceptre and orb. Valenta announced his initiative together with lawyer Zdeněk Koudelka, who stated that under the Saint-Germain peace treaty, a set of two scepters and two orbs existed. However, only the renaissance crown jewels are currently in possession of the Czech Republic, while the gothic pieces are in unauthorized possession of Austria.

    President Zeman should collaboratively with the Czech government request a return of the crown jewels, suggested Valenta. Both sets of the crown jewels had been in Vienna since the Thirty years’ war, but only the older set used in the late 17th century remained there after Czechoslovakian independence in 1918.

  • Babiš: Let me discuss migration with Morocco

    In the second half of the 1980’s, Babiš worked five years in Morocco as a Czechoslovakian business delegate. Babiš believes he would be able to contribute to tackle the migration crisis thanks to his ties in the country.

    The Czech PM has already requested an official visit to Morocco and Algeria, while his Tunisian counterpart is planning a visit to Prague. He added that the EU should conclude a similar deal with some African countries as it did with Turkey. The EU-Turkey refugee agreement practically closed the key migrant route from Turkey to Greece.

    Morocco is one of the main African starting points for migrants fleeing to Spain, which is now encountering more asylum seekers than Italy or Greece. EU leaders have been dealing with other African countries already, reminded Babiš in reference to Kurz and Tusk who negotiated with Egypt and Merkel’s activity towards Algeria and Nigeria.

    Babiš would also like to deepen economic relations between the Czech Republic and Morocco in order to improve the lives of Moroccan people and lower their motivation to emigrate to Europe. Thus, he plans to take Czech businessmen on board for his potential entrepreneurial mission