Articles

I visited Chernobyl for the first time two and a half years after nuclear disaster. Over the decades, during which time I returned to the Exclusion Zone at least every ten years, I have come to understand that a nuclear disaster has no ‘afterwards’. The consequences of the biggest nuclear incident to date are still affecting many people of the former Soviet Union, having destroyed their future.

It was 28th April 1986, early morning in Poland. The radiation monitoring station in Mikołajki, Mazury area (north-eastern region of Poland) showed that the radioactivity in the air was 550,000 times higher than the day before. The radioactive cloud from Chernobyl had travelled to Poland. The story of the catastrophe began here.

Academic freedom is under attack, both in authoritarian democracies and in liberal Western democracies. Dominant discourses about academic freedom and free speech in the global north, lately especially in France and Germany, focus on an alleged threat to academic freedom through "political correctness" and "cancel culture", that, under scrutiny, often turn out to be exactly the opposite, namely defences of plurality and critical voices.

The Human Rights Action Plan revealed by Turkish Pres. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan makes bold claims of progress in human rights, freedom of expression, freedom the press and judicial independence. Here an analysis of what the action plan promise us

The shift from compliance towards a result-oriented delivery model was highly debated in the super CAP trilogue on 26 March 2021. Have the EU co-legislators ensured that the CAP Strategic Plans are result-oriented, while still holding the delivery model accountable for taxpayers?

Walking is vital for liveable cities and a basic right for any city dweller. However, it has long been under-represented in practice and research, something London is planning to overcome. England’s capital intends to build on its prior success in improving walkability, through the elements of shaping individual behaviour, space inequalities and governance.

The new US administration offers the opportunity for a reboot of transatlantic relations, especially in relation to civil society. The calls and grievances expressed by Women’s movements, the Black Lives Matter movement, and the climate generation resonate strongly in both Europe and the US.

No country is safe from COVID-19 until all countries are safe from COVID-19. To state the obvious: To overcome a pandemic of this magnitude, vaccines must be made available quickly, cheaply, and fairly.

The EU’s positive agenda in its Turkey policy is based on wrong assumptions where Europe’s strategic interests lie.

The Hungarian ruling Fidesz party’s delegation to the European Parliament announced on 3 March that they would leave the EPP parliamentary group after the latter approved changes to its internal rules, allowing the caucus to suspend or expel entire national delegations instead of individual MEPs only. Later, Fidesz left the EPP party family as well. It is, therefore, crucial to assess how the end of the Fidesz-EPP relationship will influence the Hungarian cabinet’s ability to represent national interests in the EU and the future of PM Orbán on the European political scene. In short: the decision constitutes a blow to Hungary, but not necessarily to Fidesz.