Analysis
Society
Funding Cuts to Czech NGOs Fuel Populist Surge Ahead of Elections
22 May 2025
The next four years should define a renewed Europe. Countries in Central and Eastern Europe are no longer newcomers, and what four years ago were regional objectives have been elevated to Union-wide goals. It is high time, therefore, that CEE be ambitious, drive the EU Commission portfolios that will give shape to the renewed Europe and add real political power to the east.
After the last European elections in 2019, a geopolitical Europe, led by a geopolitical commission, was set as both a vision and a goal by the outgoing and the incoming presidents of the EU Commission.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has changed the focus from geopolitical posturing to containment of the economic consequences of war and, as fighting continued, to supporting Ukraine and strengthening European defence.