EU

We would like to invite you to an online debate as part of the Café Evropa series, this time on the topic "EU-China relations - will the current crisis transform the relationship between the two great powers?" The debate will take place on Monday 20 March at 17:30 online on our Facebook page.

Last August, a decision was made that may be one of the most important steps in the fight against climate change this decade. Relatively unnoticed, the United States Congress voted to pass the Inflation Reduction Act. This is a massive investment package that could fundamentally affect the way Europe and other countries have approached the green transformation to date.

Our senior researcher Kateřina Davidová commented for ČRo Plus on the postponement of the vote to end the sale of new cars with internal combustion engines, which is to apply from 2035. Its final approval was not supported at the last minute by Germany, which is concerned that the proposal does not include an exemption for vehicles that would burn synthetic fuels.

Our senior researcher Jana Juzová commented for RTVS on Ukraine's planned accession to the European Union.

Christian Kvorning Lassen, deputy director and head of research at the EUROPEUM, writes in his policy paper about the new pact on migration and asylum. In his article, he reminds that migration remains highly politicized.

Tomasz Żornaczuk writes that Russia's aggression in Ukraine has led to major changes in EU enlargement in 2022. The most significant of these was the change in the Union's geographical position after Ukraine and Moldova were granted EU candidate status and Georgia was granted the prospect of accession. The move seemed almost impossible a few weeks before it became the new political reality in June 2022.

About what kind of policy is Victor Orbán leadinng towards European Union and his upcoming annual speach, wrote for Euractiv Oszkár Roginer, Global EU project manager from the EUROPEUM Institute.

This is the second time the delivery company's couriers have gone on strike since the beginning of the year. Our researcher Klára Votavová explained the reasons for the strike on Český Rozhlas Plus. The couriers are bothered by the drop in earnings and describe the remuneration system itself as non-transparent. The European Parliament is also concerned with increasing the protection of couriers and so-called platform workers in response to the emergence of a new market segment.

Zuzana Stuchlíková, our research associate, commented for TA3 on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj’s summit at the European Union.

Our junior researcher Tatiana Mindeková conducted an analysis of the narratives around the Green Deal in the Czech and Slovak information scene. What kind of misinformation about the EU climate policy is being voiced in mainstream and alternative media? Tatiana Mindeková commented on the results of her research for iDNES.cz.

The European Green Deal is the core of the current climate strategy of the European Union, which has set the goal of making Europe a carbon-neutral continent by 2050. In an effort to monitor and counter disinformation narratives about the deal, IRI's Beacon project launched an initiative called the “European Green Deal: Mapping perceptions in Central and Eastern Europe,” in which six partner organizations studied how the deal is perceived in Bulgaria, Czechia, Poland, Romania, and Slovakia. Our project manager and juniour researcher, Tatiana Mindeková, analyzed narratives spread about the Green Deal and the EU’s green policies through Czech chain emails as well as through selected mainstream media and websites known for spreading disinformation.

A policy paper by our research intern Silke Maes entitled "EU Platform workers' directive: A test for regulating the future of work" takes a closer look at the aforementioned Directive on improving working conditions at work through platforms. The paper details the impact of the development of platforms on working conditions and then argues that the Directive is the first EU attempt to respond to this development.