William Nattrass is a British journalist and Visegrád Four current affairs commentator based in Prague.
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It doesn’t take long for visitors to Prague to figure out how the locals feel about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Fifteen months since the war started, yellow and blue flags still seem to flutter in almost every city centre street. The current Czech government – an ideologically varied five-party coalition united by its pro-EU and
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Could one of Ukraine’s staunchest allies in Europe soon flip to become one of the most sceptical nations in the West when it comes to military and political aid? That question is troubling Kyiv and the EU, as a political crisis in Slovakia leaves the door wide open for a party to take over which
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Supporting Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine is now socially and morally beyond the pale in most of the western world. Even being wary of arms deliveries to Ukraine is, in most places, considered wrong. But in the Czech Republic things are being taken a step further, as those who express controversial views of the war
The country’s Child Protection Act is morphing into a clash over fundamental values
Putin’s invasion has strengthened a sense of national identity
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After months of delay, the Hungarian parliament finally started the process of approving Finland and Sweden’s Nato membership this week. Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s Fidesz party announced that it would back the two countries’ membership bids, but with Hungary the only country besides Turkey to have dragged its heels on the issue, he is again being accused of
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Novak Djokovic is no stranger to controversy. A year ago, the Serbian tennis star was deported from Australia after failing to comply with the country’s covid vaccination rules. Organisers of the Australian Open are once again fighting fires relating to Djokovic. This time, it is Djokovic’s father, Srdjan, who is in trouble after he posed
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European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz looked on with uneasy pride as leaders from six western Balkan aspiring EU members gathered in Berlin to sign new agreements this Thursday. British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly also attended the summit, which aims to encourage friendlier ties in this fractious region. Agreements
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Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán has become a towering figure in European politics over the past 12 years thanks to his promotion of ‘Christian democracy’ as an alternative to western liberalism, which he claims has lost its way. But a change to abortion laws introduced by the Hungarian government this week may indicate an alarming
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Poland commemorated the 83rd anniversary of its invasion by Nazi Germany this week. To mark the occasion the leader of the country’s ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party, Jarosław Kaczyński, announced that Poland was once again seeking reparations for the invasion from Germany. Speaking from the Royal Castle in Warsaw, Kaczyński unveiled a report which
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Serbia and Kosovo are close to conflict. Of all things, a dispute over car number plates is threatening the fragile peace won 23 years ago, after a Nato bombing campaign against then-Yugoslavia. For that, Serbs have never truly forgiven the West. On Sunday night, roads were blockaded by Serbs in northern Kosovo. Their anger was
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Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov spoke magnanimously while receiving his Hungarian counterpart Péter Szijjártó in Moscow this week. He promised that the Kremlin would ‘consider’ Hungary’s request for significantly increased gas deliveries, after Viktor Orbán’s right-hand man said his country won’t manage without more Russian resources as Europe faces a deep-freeze this winter. It’s hard
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Is Serbia being terrorised into supporting Ukraine? The question may sound like it comes from the fevered imagination of a Kremlin propagandist, but it’s being asked with increasing urgency in Serbia. The country has been buckling under a tsunami of fake bomb threats which the government claims is being orchestrated by pro-Ukrainian forces after Serbia
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‘Hungary’s stance on oil and gas sanctions on Russia remains unchanged,’ Hungarian government spokesperson Zoltán Kovacs said on Monday. ‘We do not support them.’ Cue panic in Brussels as European Union ministers discussed a potential embargo on Russian oil imports, plans for which were presented to the European Parliament on Wednesday morning. Claims swirled that
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As soul searching in Britain continues over Boris Johnson’s alleged proximity to a slice of cake, a different sort of rule-breaking has apparently been going on in Slovakia. The country’s former leader Robert Fico has been charged by police with leading an organised crime gang from his prime ministerial office. The Slovak police’s ‘Twilight’ operation,
The Ukraine crisis could lead to a long-term change in the fabric of these societies
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Viktor Orbán took the stage for a victory speech in Budapest last night with supporters chanting his name. Not long after polling stations had shut, it was already clear that the Hungarian prime minister’s Fidesz party had won a stonking victory against the United Opposition, a group of six parties led by small-town mayor Péter
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Budapest is racked with tension. As Russia’s invasion of Ukraine sends a stream of refugees to Hungary’s eastern border, Viktor Orbán’s Fidesz party has scrambled to respond to the humanitarian crisis while turning his back on his previous pragmatic relationship with Moscow. Fidesz’s unequivocal condemnation of Vladimir Putin’s actions will have come as a relief
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The EU has a knack for turning a crisis into an opportunity. The Eurozone crisis led to the centralisation of economic powers in Brussels; Brexit consolidated the Franco-German push for EU integration; and Covid became the pretext for EU funds being made dependent on members adhering to the ‘rule of law’ for the first time.
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Thursday marked the beginning of a new era in European politics. Nowhere has Russia’s invasion of Ukraine been met with greater fear and trepidation than in central and eastern Europe, a region all too familiar with ‘brotherly help’ in the form of military occupation by a looming eastern power. It may be a new era