Poland Introduces State of Emergency, and the Controversial Media Law Vetoed

CEE returns to school with some of the slowest vaccine rollouts among EU countries. Elections In Poland are postponed this year due to a declared state of emergency, but the political scene remains far from stable. The Polish government is likely to use the crisis on the border with Belarus to improve chances of survival while President Andrzej Duda is expected to veto the LexTVN law to salvage relations with the US. Simultaneously, the Zapad 2021 exercises are spooking Poland, Lithuania and Latvia, but over-exaggerated narratives may play into the hands of Belarus and Russia.  Meanwhile, divisive issue over Afghanistan reinvigorates political campaigns of populist parties like ANO in Czechia and SDS in Slovenia. The fate of PM Janez Janša’s SDS party — currently leading in popularity polls — is undecided due to the alienation of the opposition and potential cracks in the ruling party ahead of parliamentary elections. Czech PM’s Andrej Babiš’s ANO party no longer trails behind the rival liberal Pirates party. Euroscepticism, hard-line immigration stance and allegiance to Hungary’s PM Viktor Orbán has formed a grand narrative that attempts to define Central Europe in opposition to its western neighbours.