On June 16th, 1989, a young man named Viktor Orbán held a speech watched by hundreds of thousands of his compatriots. The occasion was the reburial of Imre Nagy, who as a Prime Minister had been the leader of Hungary’s 1956 uprising against the Soviets.
On Wednesday, 11th October I sat on a remarkable podium at the „Budapest Forum”, a conference organized by the City of Budapest, run by mayor Gergely Karácsony, in order to combat „authoritarianism” and „defend democracy”.
I grew up in Western Europe, but live and work in Budapest. Sometimes, Western friends ask me how it compares to other great cities I lived in – say, Paris or Berlin.
While Hungary stands accused of „Rule of Law” deficiencies, Germany’s leftwing goverment has just passed a law that may well end up costing citizens their jobs, if they disagree with the government.
Words don’t come easy when trying to understand the ever more chaotic political landscape in Germany. Maybe it helps to compare some parties to works of literature.
Think tank founder Gerald Knaus proposes to fine Poland 5,2% billion Euros for not implementing an ECJ ruling. In fact, there are no clear rules for imposing fines. This must change.
The EU can inflict murderous financial punishment on states who don’t implement rulings of the European Court of Justice. This instrument has never been used to really hurt a member state – but legally, it can. Poland may soon become the first country to feel the pain. The political consequences could be disastrous for all concerned, including the EU itself.
German authorities began tracking „politically motivated crime” in 2001. In 2020, more such crimes were registered than in any year before. Social tensions are rising.
Populism has become a dirty word in politics, although in its original meaning it should be an elementary democratic virtue. What the People (“populus”) want, expect, express, should be part of the political discussion in any democracy.
With the most appreciated contribution of Mr. Alexandre de Sousa Carvalho from the University of Coimbra, the Votes&Seats podcast series gladly issues its episode on the March 2024 Portuguese early legislative election.
In the second part of this episode of the DiploMaci Podcast, dr. Calum Nicholson, the Director of MCC's Climate Policy Institute, presented climate change in a broader perspective, with special emphasis on how politics and politicians had an impact on the discussion about this phenomenon.
This time, we discuss the background, the outcome and the possible repercussions of the legislative, regional, and local elections that took place in Serbia on the 17th of December, 2023.
The introduction of new subjects such as Citizenship, and the decolonisation of traditional academic subjects such as history, reveals the extent to which teaching is now politicised in ways that are entirely antithetical to classical education.
The most explicit argument for separating education from the legacy of the past is made under the banner of ‘decolonise’. Movements to ‘decolonise the curriculum’ began in higher education but rapidly migrated to schools.
