Poland’s fugitive former justice minister, Zbigniew Ziobro, resurfaced this week in Washington, D.C. after quietly leaving Hungary, where he had been living after Viktor Orban granted him political asylum in late 2025. Ziobro confirmed his arrival in a television interview on Tuesday, a month after Hungary’s newly elected PM, Peter Magyar, warned that foreign politicians using Hungary as a refuge from prosecution should no longer feel protected there. Ziobro appears to have taken the hint before extradition proceedings could begin. The former minister is a suspect in Poland’s sprawling Justice Fund investigation, led by the National Prosecutor’s Office, in which 26 charges have been pressed against him, including allegations of leading an organised criminal group. Ziobro said one purpose of his stay in the US is political activity among the Polish-American diaspora – traditionally conservative and long considered a stronghold of the PiS party abroad. Warsaw has now formally asked the US embassy in Warsaw to clarify the legal basis of Ziobro’s entry after the US State Department declined to disclose details. The whereabouts of his former deputy, Marcin Romanowski, is not known, but he is also suspected of having left Hungary, where he was granted political asylum in 2024, for the US. Ziobro says he travelled on a Geneva Convention document issued to asylum beneficiaries. The affair is reportedly deepening tensions inside PiS itself. According to Polish media reports, the faction around former PM Mateusz Morawiecki sees Ziobro’s flight as politically damaging ahead of the opposition’s attempted rebuild, while loyalists to PiS leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski continue to defend him publicly.
Warsaw made history on Thursday by recognising the first same-sex marriage in Poland, in a decision announced by Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski. The move marks an important symbolic breakthrough, though the road to full marriage equality in Poland remains long. The two men were married in Berlin in 2018, as same-sex couples are still unable to marry in Poland itself. What followed was a years-long legal battle through the courts in Warsaw and Brussels. The turning point came in November, when the Court of Justice of the European Union ruled that EU member states must recognise same-sex marriages legally concluded elsewhere in the bloc. Artur Kula, the lawyer representing the couple, told TVP World that the ruling will now open the door for other Polish same-sex couples seeking to transcribe their marriage certificates. He disclosed that he is already working with dozens of couples preparing similar applications. “Change has arrived,” Kula declared. “Today there is the first transcription, but more will follow.”
Meanwhile, Gazeta Wyborcza reported on Wednesday that three Ukrainian teenagers were brutally attacked in central Warsaw last week, in what appears to be another episode in a growing wave of hostility towards Ukrainians in Poland. According to the newspaper, the assault took place on May 7 on the Swietokrzyski Bridge. Artem, a 16-year-old Ukrainian boy, was walking with friends while speaking Russian and Ukrainian when two Polish men began harassing them verbally. After the teenagers ignored them, the men reportedly returned with a group of around ten attackers. Artem was kicked in the head so severely that he suffered a fractured skull and extensive facial injuries, requiring surgery. Another teenager was allegedly nearly thrown from the bridge (standing 90 metres above the Vistula River), while a third was left with a broken nose (both remain anonymous). Police confirmed the attack and said an investigation is ongoing, though authorities stated that the evidence gathered so far does not indicate a nationality-based motive. Artem’s account suggests otherwise: the attackers reportedly shouted at the group to “Get the f**k back to Ukraine.”
Four weeks after the election that ended in a devastating defeat for Viktor Orban and his Fidesz party, Peter Magyar was sworn in as Hungary’s new prime minister during the first session of the newly formed parliament on May 9. Tens of thousands watched the parliamentary session streamed live on giant screens in front of the parliament building and celebrated into the early hours of Sunday morning. In a pugnacious one-hour speech, Magyar called on the president – who had just officially given him the mandate to govern – to step down, along with the heads of state institutions appointed by the former government. Magyar promised to reunite Hungary and end the deep polarisation in society, but said this could only happen after members of the former government, many of whom are accused of enriching themselves by playing the system and have contributed to Hungary’s dire economic position, are held accountable. “Renewal is impossible without reconciliation, but there can be no reconciliation without justice, and no justice without confronting the past,” Magyar vowed. The crowd outside parliament cheered as the EU flag – removed by arch-conservative Laszlo Kover in 2014 when he was speaker – was once again raised on the building, one of the first symbolic acts of the new parliament. Magyar held the first government session this week and his 16-member cabinet is looking into the most urgent issues facing Hungary. A significant shift has already been seen in foreign policy: after Russia launched a drone attack against Zakarpattia, a western Ukrainian region that is also home to a Hungarian ethnic minority, Foreign Minister Anita Orban summoned the Russian ambassador to the Foreign Ministry – a move unprecedented since Russia attacked Ukraine in 2022.
The government also ended six years of emergency rule (the “state of danger”). Orban’s government introduced a state of emergency in 2020 due to the Covid pandemic and subsequently ruled largely by decree. The move triggered international controversy, while opposition parties warned it would hollow out the parliamentary system. The emergency rule was briefly lifted but then reintroduced in 2022 on the basis of the war in Ukraine. During this period, between 140 and 160 regulations were introduced through emergency decrees, ranging from frost-damage compensation for farmers to capped fuel and food prices. The emergency rule expired on May 13, and the new parliament transformed some of the decrees into ordinary laws in order to shield the Hungarian population from abrupt price increases. However, the finance minister has already signalled that constant government intervention in market prices cannot be a long-term policy. Hungary has also been living under a “state of crisis due to migration” since 2015, although illegal migration has been reduced to practically zero in recent years. The state of crisis has been prolonged every six months and is due to expire in September – but the new government can end it anytime.
Doug Mastriano, a controversial Republican politician from Pennsylvania, has been nominated as the next US ambassador to Slovakia. The former military officer gained national attention after the 2020 presidential election by promoting claims that Donald Trump had been cheated out of victory by Joe Biden. He also attended protests linked to efforts to overturn the election result and helped organise transport for supporters travelling to Washington on January 6, 2021. Mastriano, 62, is known for strongly conservative and often divisive views. He has dismissed climate change as a hoax, questioned the compatibility of Islam with the US constitution, and voiced opposition to same-sex marriage. His political rise accelerated during Trump’s first presidency, and he became one of the president’s most loyal allies in Pennsylvania. In 2022, Mastriano ran for governor of Pennsylvania with Trump’s backing, but suffered a heavy defeat to Democrat Josh Shapiro. Some Republicans considered him too extreme, with a group of party members openly supporting his Democratic rival instead. Although he lacks diplomatic experience, Mastriano has spoken frequently on international affairs, particularly war. Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, he strongly condemned Vladimir Putin, comparing his actions to those of Adolf Hitler. More recently, however, he criticised US support for Ukraine and accused political opponents of encouraging further conflict. If confirmed by the US Senate, Mastriano would replace former ambassador Gautam Rana in Bratislava. His appointment would mark a shift from recent US ambassadors to Slovakia, who were mostly career diplomats, to a highly political figure closely associated with Trump’s MAGA movement.
After years of delays, the high-profile Ocistec (Purgatory) corruption case has finally reached court, placing several influential figures linked to previous Smer governments under renewed scrutiny. Yet the opening hearing in Banska Bystrica produced more legal manoeuvring than substantive debate, postponing the trial before prosecutors could even present the charges in full. The case concerns allegations that a network of senior police officials and politically connected individuals exerted influence over criminal investigations while Smer governed between 2012 and 2020. According to prosecutors, the group interfered in law enforcement to shield allies and secure benefits. Those accused insist the claims are unfounded and politically driven. Among the defendants is Tibor Gaspar, a former police chief and now deputy speaker of parliament for Smer. Businessman Norbert Bodor, often described as a powerful political intermediary, is also one of the accused, alongside former special prosecutor Dusan Kovacik and several former officers from the now-defunct National Crime Agency. The timing of the proceedings is politically significant. Since returning to office, Robert Fico’s administration has reshaped parts of Slovakia’s justice system, abolishing specialised anti-corruption institutions and easing criminal penalties in some serious offences. Government representatives, including Fico himself, have frequently criticised investigators tied to major corruption probes launched after Smer lost power. Despite expectations surrounding the trial, the first day ended quickly. Defence teams challenged aspects of the investigation and requested additional legal reviews, while another proposal sought to connect Purgatory with a separate corruption case involving overlapping evidence and witnesses. Judges postponed further action, with the next hearing scheduled for early June. However, recent legislative changes mean that even if some charges are proved, the consequences may be less severe than when prosecutors first brought them more than four years ago.
After a first round of talks was adjourned last week, the lower house of the Czech parliament continued debating the upcoming congress of Sudeten Germans, scheduled to take place in Brno on May 22-25. MPs from the three ruling parties voted against holding the Sudeten German congress in the Czech Republic, calling on the organizers to scrap it from their program and claiming it was inappropriate, provocative and risked reopening old wounds linked to the post-World War II expulsion of millions of ethnic Germans from then-Czechoslovakia. Most coalition deputies voted in favour of this resolution and just four present abstained. Opposition MPs boycotted the debate in protest, stressing that the Association of Sudeten Germans – which is organising the congress – has already in recent years dropped their claims for property restitution and amended their position in view of promoting a path towards reconciliation and mutual understanding. “As a nation, we should come to terms with our dark history,” argued the opposition senator, Tomas Tretina, who accused the ruling coalition of fostering “hysteria” on a topic that requires sensible dialogue and goodwill.
Still no resolution in sight about who should represent the Czech Republic at July’s NATO summit in Turkey. After a meeting earlier this month with PM Andrej Babis, President Petr Pavel said he was still planning on attending – as he has since taking office three years ago as is his constitutional prerogative – despite Babis and other government ministers previously suggesting Pavel could be sidelined. With the president and ruling coalition at odds over key foreign and defence policy topics, Pavel said he would only consider filing a constitutional complaint as a last resort if the government, which ultimately has the last say, were to exclude him from the Ankara summit. According to a new NMS agency poll released this week, about 57 per cent of Czechs believe Babis should represent Czechia at the NATO meeting compared with 47 per cent for Pavel. About 45 per cent of respondents said they would like Defence Minister Jaromir Zuna to join the delegation, but just 30 per cent are in favour of Foreign Minister Petr Macinka attending.
French investigators concluded a probe into suspected tax evasion and money laundering by the Czech PM, although their conclusions still haven’t been made public and Babis, since being reelected, enjoys immunity, including from criminal prosecution in France. For several years, the French authorities have been investigating Babis’s purchase, in 2009-2010, of a six-hectare estate in the southern town of Mougins, near Cannes, through a chain of offshore companies. Now returned to the National Financial Prosecutor’s Office for final assessment, the case came to light in the wake of the Pandora Papers, prompting an investigation into Babis’s multiple purchases in France’s south and whether the complex use of offshore companies could amount to tax evasion and fiscal optimisation practices under French law.
