Problems Passing on the Torch

In Czechia SPOLU beats Andrej Babis’s ANO with a slight majority of the votes, but President Miloš Zeman will likely grant the right to form a government to the biggest single party which is ANO. Situation is complicated by a deterioration in the 77-year-old Zeman’s health, currently left in intensive care. Budapest liberal mayor Gergely Karácsony drops out of the opposition race, instead choosing to endorse the centre-right Péter Márki-Zay: the third-ranked candidate in first round of the primaries and now the only candidate to stand against Klára Dobrev. Meanwhile demonstrations across Poland, seen as a massive cry-out against the ruling party’s conflict with Brussels over the supremacy of EU law, gathers more than 100,000 people in Warsaw alone. Romain Le Quiniou, managing editor at Euro Créative, a French think tank focused on the CEE region, talks to Visegrad Insight about the French consideration of Central European perspective as France strives to take the lead on Europe’s strategic autonomy. More dialogue, the development of alternative diplomatic tools (i.e. think tanks) and reinforcement of interpersonal links between France and the CEE is needed to reach a more common understanding on the future of the continent.