Category: Central/Eastern Europe

Populists have weakened, not destroyed democratic institutions

     

National populists operate within the shell of democratic institutions, and have weakened but not destroyed them, the FT’s John Lloyd writes in a review of Whiteshift: Populism, Immigration and the… Read more »

Corruption hits support for democracy in Eastern Europe: feeds ‘Generation of Distrust’

     

Eastern Europeans’ faith in democracy has declined and German researchers think they know the reason why — corruption, POLITICO.EU’s Philip Kaleta reports: A study by the German Economic Institute, a Cologne-based think… Read more »

Russia ‘actively sponsoring’ assault on Hungary’s democracy

     

The European Union should determine if Hungary is at risk of breaching shared European values of democracy, rule of law and fundamental rights, members of the European Parliament said today, raising concerns over… Read more »

Backsliding or renewal? Democracies must unite to survive

     

The United States should adopt a new foreign policy focused on defending and expanding the ranks of democracies around the world, argues Michael H Fuchs, a senior fellow at the… Read more »

Civil courage deprives authoritarians of vital weapon

     

Liberal democracies are facing an authoritarian resurgence and various forms of sharp power projections on the part of Russia and China. These countries are becoming more authoritarian and prohibiting independent… Read more »

Beginning of the end for CEE populists?

     

  The centre-right European People’s Party (EPP), wants to adopt a resolution in defense of liberal democracies, Euronews reports. The largest political grouping in the EU is reacting to mounting… Read more »

‘ReGeneration’ in Bosnia and Herzegovina?

     

In the wake of the Bosnian War that dominated headlines in the early 1990s, tensions still reverberate among Bosnia and Herzegovina’s three main ethnic groups. As part of a broader… Read more »

Kateryna Handziuk’s legacy: Ukrainian civil society combats corruption

     

Ukraine’s Parliament began its morning plenary with a moment of silence for anti-corruption Kateryna Handziuk, who has died following an acid attack according to 112 Ukraine. Ukrainian Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko has… Read more »

Ukrainian anti-corruption activist, Kateryna Handziuk, dies from acid attack

     

The prominent Ukrainian anti-corruption activist Kateryna Handziuk died on Saturday, The New York Times reports, several months after she was attacked with a liter of concentrated sulfuric acid. “Those who… Read more »

Serbia convicts youth activist critics of war criminals

     

Serbia’s Misdemeanor Appellate Court has confirmed an earlier ruling against eight Youth Initiative for Human Rights (YIHR) activists for “disturbing public peace” during an event in Beska in January 2017,… Read more »