Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s decision to bestow one of Ukraine's military units with the honorary name “Heroes of the UPA” continues to reverberate in Polish-Ukrainian relations, prompting calls for restraint from both Warsaw and Kyiv. The controversy is rooted in sharply different Polish and Ukrainian historical interpretations of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA): while many Ukrainians view the UPA as a symbol of the struggle for national independence, Poles associate it primarily with the massacres of tens of thousands of Polish civilians in the regions of Volhynia and Eastern Galicia during World War II. The dispute escalated after Polish President Karol Nawrocki announced in late May that in response he would seek to strip Zelensky of the Order of the White Eagle, Poland's highest state distinction – a decision he is yet to make. In recent days, however, both administrations have sought to cool tempers. Polish PM Donald Tusk said he had personally intervened and called on the Polish and Ukrainian presidents to hold a “direct and honest conversation” before tensions undermine bilateral solidarity. Kyiv responded with a conciliatory message. A spokesman for Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry acknowledged that historical disputes have recently become more acute, but said the two countries had made substantial progress over the past 18 months in tackling difficult questions about their shared past, including a number of search and exhumation projects conducted in late 2024. He also warned that those seeking reasons for conflict would always find them and that both countries share a common adversary: Russia. Efforts to contain the fallout have extended beyond public statements. Over the weekend, Kyrylo Budanov, head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, visited Warsaw for talks with senior Polish officials, including Defence Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz and representatives of the Presidential Office, National Security Bureau and Foreign Ministry. The timing of the dispute is awkward, coming as it did two weeks before Poland and Ukraine are due to co-host the Ukraine Recovery Conference in Gdansk, a flagship event intended to rally political and business support for Ukraine’s reconstruction. Zelensky is expected to make an appearance, and Tusk said he had received no signals that Kyiv intended to change its plans.
Just weeks after being released from a Belarusian penal colony in a high-profile prisoner exchange, Polish-Belarusian journalist and minority activist Andrzej Poczobut says he intends to return to Belarus in September. Speaking in Bialystok on Wednesday, Poczobut said he agreed to leave only after receiving assurances that he would be allowed back. “It can be judged in different ways and things may turn out differently, but I am optimistic. I would not have agreed to leave if I had not received a passport and assurances that I would be able to return to Belarus,” he told reporters. “My home is in Grodno,” he added, saying he remains needed by the Union of Poles in Belarus, an organisation representing Belarus’s Polish minority. Poczobut was sentenced to eight years in prison in 2023 on charges widely viewed as politically motivated. His release in April came as part of the first prisoner exchange conducted on Polish territory since WWII, following more than two years of negotiations involving multiple countries and intelligence services. According to Polish media reports, the effort required coordination between agencies from Poland, the US, Romania, Moldova, Kazakhstan, Russia and Belarus.
President Peter Pellegrini is facing pressure to halt Miroslav Radacovsky’s appointment as Slovakia’s ambassador to Cyprus after a controversial parliamentary hearing. Radacovsky was due to receive his credentials on Thursday, but Pellegrini, who has delayed the nomination for months, has given no indication of whether or when the appointment will proceed. The issue has once again attracted attention because of Radacovsky’s recent appearance before the parliamentary foreign affairs committee. Lawmakers had expected the government nominee to outline his priorities for Cyprus, one of Slovakia’s most strategically important diplomatic postings. Instead, Radacovsky, a 72-year-old former judge and independent MP elected on the far-right SNS party ticket, acknowledged that he had no diplomatic experience. During the hearing, he criticised opposition MPs and suggested that one of them could leave the room through a window. Opposition parties have since renewed their calls for Pellegrini to block the appointment. Tomas Valasek, an opposition MP and former ambassador to NATO, described the nomination as one of the worst in Slovakia’s history. The nomination has already been approved by the government, passed security vetting and received Cyprus’s consent. If Radacovsky takes up the post in Nicosia, he will leave parliament. His departure would create a vacancy likely to be filled by a politician closely associated with SNS, strengthening the ruling coalition’s narrow majority. Another appointment attracting attention is that of Peter Kmec, a career diplomat and former deputy prime minister. Kmec, a member of Pellegrini’s Hlas party, left the government only last year following controversy over a lack of transparency in a grant scheme and the state’s purchase of a building at a price criticised by the opposition. Kmec should be posted to Italy. Appointing political nominees rather than career diplomats is not unusual in Slovakia. The ruling Smer party has made similar appointments in the past, particularly following political scandals.
A new report from the Supreme Audit Office (NKU) has revealed problems in Slovakia’s management of EU funds. Auditors found more than 5,000 breaches of rules linked to EU-funded projects between 2004 and 2025. Slovakia has benefited mightily from EU membership, receiving a net 28.8 billion euros from the European budget since 2004 – roughly 5,327 euros per person. Yet auditors say the country has struggled to make the most of these resources, repeatedly encountering problems such as procurement violations, slow administration and red tape. The review also identified a number of high-profile projects where significant problems have emerged. One of them was a digitalisation project for the national land registry, financed with almost 28 million euros of EU funds. The project was supposed to deliver 45 online services, but only some of them were launched on time. Due to procurement shortcomings, part of the expenditure was not reimbursed by the EU, according to the daily SME. Regardless, EU funding has contributed to improvements in infrastructure and public services. Still, economic disparities between regions remain huge. Eastern Slovakia continues to lag behind more developed parts of the country and remains below 60 per cent of the EU average in key economic indicators. The review also found that EU money gradually shifted from supplementing domestic investment to replacing it.
Defence Minister Jaromir Zuna called this week for defence spending to increase to 190 billion crowns (about 7.8 billion euros) next year to reach 2 per cent of GDP. Czechia’s defence expenditure for this year has fallen from last year’s 154 billion Czech crowns, or just 1.8 per cent of GDP, putting it among the very few NATO countries spending less than the alliance’s minimal requirements for its defence and security – notwithstanding the updated and higher defence spending rules agreed at the Hague summit in 2025. The issue has put the three-party government at odds with President Petr Pavel, a former NATO general, with both branches of the executive power regularly clashing over the topic. Repeatedly postponed, a final decision on who will represent Czechia at next month’s annual NATO summit in Turkey is now expected on June 22. Meanwhile, Defence Minister Zuna – a non-partisan nominee for the far-right and pro-Russian SPD party – also reiterated Czechia’s “readiness to continue contributing Czech soldiers to the joint defence of NATO’s eastern flank” in Lithuania, Latvia, Poland and Slovakia. The statement follows media reports from iRozhlas.cz, citing internal documents, that authorities were planning to reduce Czech numbers to the east from 2,000 soldiers currently to 1,600 starting in 2027.
Czechia’s ruling coalition led by PM Andrej Babis has reversed an education reform pushed by the previous government, sparking a wider debate about the state of the country’s education system. A reform pushed during the time of the previous government had sought to make English compulsory from the first grade of primary school and a second foreign language mandatory from seventh grade at the latest. However, Education Minister Robert Plaga announced this week that primary schools would no longer have to teach English from first grade and won’t be required to teach a second foreign language to pupils. Although offering a second foreign language will be mandatory, students will be free to swap it with another subject. Both the public and experts seem divided on the issue. According to the head of the Czech Association of Primary School Principals, Lubos Zajic, the reform goes in the right direction, allowing schools that have the capacities to continue teaching English from the first grade of elementary schools, while letting the other ones free to incorporate English in their curriculum according to their capabilities. His stance echoes that of other experts who point that there is a shortage of qualified English and other foreign language teachers in Czechia, and that making it compulsory from an early age was neither realistic nor feasible. Many slammed the reform, however, as an ill-conceived and short-sighted policy that will have a significant negative impact on Czech children’s language skills. According to Gallica Olga Nadvornikova, chairwoman of the Czech Association of University French Teachers, children from poorer families and more disadvantaged backgrounds may opt out of a second foreign language in larger numbers than children from higher-income households, further entrenching inequalities.
The government submitted a major legislative package aimed at meeting the EU’s 27 “super milestones” – a prerequisite for unlocking Hungary’s frozen EU funds. The 110-page omnibus bill focuses on anticorruption measures. It would strengthen the powers of the Integrity Authority, Hungary’s anti-graft watchdog (whose current president is himself under investigation for allegedly misappropriating almost 400,000 euros), tighten asset declaration rules for public officials and strengthen oversight of public funds to prevent the conspicuous enrichment of politicians. Omissions or false statements in asset declarations could be punishable by up to two years in prison. The new rules would apply to all political leaders whose parties receive public funding, including Viktor Orban, who is no longer an MP but is expected to be re-elected Fidesz chairman on Saturday. The legislation also targets the public-interest trust funds established by the previous government to restructure universities. These entities would be brought back under state control. The Fidesz-linked Mathias Corvinus Collegium (MCC), which maintains an influential branch in Brussels, would also lose public funding. PM Peter Magyar said that “if its founder, Andras Tombor, has enough money, he can continue financing it privately.” The package is expected to be debated in parliament next week.
Magyar also indicated that parliament could skip its traditional summer recess because of tight deadlines and the scale of the new government’s legislative agenda. Hungary also managed to submit its revised Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) plan to Brussels at the last possible moment to retain access to post-pandemic EU funds. “We literally worked 24 hours a day,” Transport and Investment Minister David Vitezy told 444.hu. He said the plan was submitted only minutes before the midnight deadline on June 9.
In line with a campaign pledge, the Tisza government has banned new work visas for foreign workers. While the previous Fidesz government maintained a tough stance on migration, it nevertheless admitted workers from selected – primarily Christian – countries to ease labour shortages. Foreign workers in Hungary currently amount to between 2.0 and 2.5 per cent of the workforce, mainly in hospitality, manufacturing and food services. Tisza has opted to take an even stricter approach. It believes Hungary still has untapped labour reserves, particularly in the country’s north and east, which should be mobilised before relying on foreign labour. Hungary’s current unemployment rate is 4.5 per cent. The issue is controversial. Employers argue that the domestic workforce is either insufficiently mobile or lacks the skills needed in many industries. Laszlo Barany, owner of food-processing company Master Good, recently warned that his company might halt construction of a new factory if it cannot recruit enough workers. “We do not employ foreigners because they are cheaper; we employ them because there are no Hungarians left,” Barany said, arguing that Hungary must face up to its demographic decline. The population is expected to fall below 9 million as the large generations born in the 1970s reach retirement age. Magyar retorted by noting that Master Good had received billions of forints in government support under previous Fidesz administrations “to create work opportunities for Hungarians”. He also suggested the company was underpaying Hungarian workers while relying on foreign labour to suppress wages. Labour market experts questioned that line of argument, noting that employing foreign workers is overall more expensive than hiring Hungarians once transport, accommodation and administrative costs are taken into account. However, they acknowledge many guest workers are willing to accept longer shifts and tougher conditions, making them attractive to employers.
