Name: Část Západu stále žije v 90. letech. Havel nahrazoval politický úsudek morálním reflexem by !Argument Podcasty
Duration: 48 min 35 s
Description: S politologem Petrem Drulákem v prvním díle našeho rozhovoru hovoříme o české zahraniční politice, vztazích s Čínou a Ruskem, o lidských právech v mezinárodních vztazích a o dědictví 90. let.

The Romanian political analyst Mihai Isac joins Cross-Border Talks to discuss the recent Congress of Deputies of All Levels that took place in Tiraspol, the capital of unrecognized Republic of Transnistria. The Congress called upon Russia to support Transnistria in disputes with the government of Moldova, the state to which Transnistrian region legally belongs. 

Mihai Isac explains why in his view the Congress was actually a 'non-event', with no practical consequences, or a propaganda operation by Tiraspol's Russian protectors. He discussed the context of current Chișinău-Tiraspol relations and possible future attempts at Moldova's reunification. He also commented on the reaction of the authorities in the Republic of Moldova and Romania on this "non-event". Finally, he shared his views on the attitudes of Moldovan and Transnistrian societies towards war and towards the EU course of the country.

Mihai Isac: Media hype that Transnistria would be annexed by Russia was a disinformation campaign

Left MEP Leila Chaibi joins Cross-Border Talks to discuss the European directive on platform workers which, if accepted, could be a great step forward in the fight against exploitation of the most vulnerable individuals. People working for Uber, Glovo or Deliveroo are, in fact, not 'independent entrepreneurs' as the platforms prefer to claim, and the question of their employment status was a central issue during the political discussion. Leila Chaibi, who stood for workers' rights during the entire process, explains how the directive was worked out, how it was discussed, and how different platform lobbies did a lot to stop it. While there is still a slim chance that the directive would not be abandoned, the whole story shows how powerful pro-business lobbies are in Brussels and how far we still are from an ideal of pro-citizen, pro-social Europe.

Leila Chaibi: Refusing workers rights to platform workers show how non-social European Union is

1. 00:00  The significance of the 2024 Russian presidential elections and their legitimacy are being discussed.

2. 03:05  The 2024 Russian presidential elections are crucial for the country's future, with potential impact on legitimacy, control, and the possibility of abolishing elections in the event of conflict.

3. 05:43  The 2024 Russian presidential elections will be heavily influenced by the Kremlin, with expected record-breaking results for the incumbent.

4. 07:44  The 2024 Russian presidential elections had Vladimir Putin as the incumbent candidate, with the focus on maintaining legitimacy and political ambitions.
 
5. 10:37  The 2024 Russian presidential elections focused on war, but the results showed some differences among voters.

6. 12:56  The 2024 Russian presidential elections are crucial due to high support for Putin and the uncertainty of what will happen after them.

7. 15:23  Regional differences in support for Putin in the 2024 Russian presidential elections and potential manipulation and pressure in Eastern Ukrainian territories impacted the legitimacy of the results.

8. 18:04  The outcome of the 2024 Russian presidential elections will have significant implications for Russian society and the world, as Putin's continued leadership may be due to a combination of genuine support, apathy, and fear of potential chaos without him.

The most important thing in 2024 Russian presidential elections is what will happen after them

Stephanie Roth - the strategist for the campaign against the Roșia Montana gold mining project in Romania, is a guest of this episode of Cross-border Talks. She speaks about her own history with the fight for protection of nature and people at Roșia Montana, about the strategy of the movement for its protection, about accomplishments and what's next. Stephanie Roth has a Swiss and a French nationality and has been a journalist and activist on ecological and social issues for decades.

Rosia Montana: victory of solidarity over greed

Tatiana Moutinho, Portuguese housing, feminist and left-wing activist, a permanent collaborator to transform!europe network, joins Cross-Border Talks to explain the results of Portuguese snap parliamentary elections, which came as a surprise to many in Europe. While a social-democratic Socialist Party held a full majority in the previous parliamentary term, it is the right that emerged victorious from the March vote, and a far-right party Chega made a great leap forward.

Tatiana explains the reasons why the left-wing parties lost the society's trust, while a party who directly hints at 'cleaning Portugal' (but also promises a kind of 'chauvinist welfare') gains votes. She speaks of major disappointments and social problems, including precariousness and unability to deliver good public services, including education or healthcare, as well as of corruption that marked the social-democratic rule. She also explains why it is extremely hard to make any prognosis about Portugal's future. Not only the composition of a future government is unclear - it is even hard to imagine what the succesful right-wing parties indend to actually do, given how many contradictions are there in their programmes and promises.

Tatiana Moutinho: Portugal enters in a period of political uncertainty

Małgorzata Kulbaczewska-Figat answers Vladimir Mitev's questions about recent Polish regional elections. After the democratic parties led by Donald Tusk took over the power last autumn, it is Law and Justice, their populist, nationalist & conservative rival that comes first again. No good news for Donald Tusk: his voting base is not growing, and the electoral result his party and its allies had roghly corresponds with the number of hardcore anti-Law and Justice voters who are absolutely determined not to allow the populist to rule again. Neither side, however, is able to win over doubtful or disappointed voters. 

Law and Justice, having lost power and thus also the access to state media which it used as a powerful propaganda tool, proves to be, nevertheless, the party with greatest mobilization capacities. Its domination outside of big cities is visible, just like the cities firmly choose more liberal options. Polarization in Poland, therefore, has not only political, but also territorial and even identitarian dimension. And it is not going anywhere - it is worse and worse to grow in Polish politics as a 'third option', as the social-democrats' record-bad result proves.

Local elections in Poland: a setback for Donald Tusk's 'smiling coalition'

Vladimir Mitev, the co-founder of Cross-Border Talks, answers Małgorzata Kulbaczewska-Figat's questions about another upcoming Bulgarian snap elections, legacy of the coalition government that ceased to exist and composition of the new caretaker government announced on 5 April. Vladimir Mitev points out to possible internal and external factors that contributed to the break up of the fragile coalition between GERB and We Continue the Change & Democratic Bulgaria, therefore, a coalition of a party constantly accused for corruption and two parties who swore to fight corruption. He underlines the need of taking into consideration not what someone announces to do in Bulgaria, but what is actually done by respective parties. In this light, the anti-corruption successes of parties who claimed to fight corruption seem very bleak. Vladimir also shares a more general reflection on how Bulgarian political life is dominated by those who have business, and how parties are not living entities with internal discussions, but leader-type parties aiming at turning power into money (and the other way round). The real change, he concludes, could be only done through people, for and by people with genuine agency.

Change in Bulgaria will come not from hollow political parties, but from people with agency

Malgorzata Kulbaczewska-Figat interviews Vladimir Mitev in a p2p cross-border talk on the entrance of Bulgaria and Romania to the so-called Air Schengen on 31 March 2024 and about the relevance of the idea for elimination of border controls between Greece, Bulgaria and Romania. Vladimir comments on the economic and social groups or interest that stand behind the idea for this elimination of border controls, or who oppose it. He reviews the attitudes towards this idea of the Bulgarian and Romanian high ranking officials, as well as of the European Commission. He also discusses about the role of people as subject of the international relations in the region, a role which the elimination of border controls could strengthen.

In-depth publication on the idea for elimination if border controls between Greece, Bulgaria and Romania:
https://friendshipbridge.eu/2024/02/19/euxglob-mini-schengen-en/

Photo: The Romanian-Hungarian border (source: Raimond Spekking, CC BY-SA 4.0 DEED)

The elimination of border controls in Southeastern Europe would transform the region

The Bulgarian political analyst Vladimir Vladimirov, deputy head of the Bulgarian-Macedonian business forum, spoke to Cross-border Talks about the internal and international situation around North Macedonia after the parliamentary and presidential elections of April/May 2024. He commented that North Macedonia’s only real geopolitical option is further Europeanization. In his view what Skopje tries to do now is to base itself on Serbia as a regional ally, which means ties to non-Western countries. 

Vladimirov also commented on Bulgarian-Macedonian relations. In his view the previous government of the Social Democratic Union of Macedonia and its Albanian partner of the Union for Democratic Integration started developing the infrastructural connections with Bulgaria and once that they are completed in a few years’ time, real boost of people-to-people relations, of business ties and cultural projects between Bulgarians and Macedonia can be expected.

Vladimir Vladimirov: The future of Bulgarian-Macedonian ties is in the relations between people

– There is not a single issue that impacts every single country or voters in every single country in European Parliament elections. In every single country, there are different issues. And the one issue that could be common to everybody, which would be the EU issue, has become more important over time, but it’s still only one of the many possible issues that people could talk about in the election. And in some countries, they don’t even talk about the EU at all in European Parliament elections! – says Raul Gomez, sociologist from the University of Liverpool before the 2024 European Elections.

Raul Gomez: People vote in elections, when they see real stakes

S politologem Petrem Drulákem v prvním díle našeho rozhovoru hovoříme o české zahraniční politice, vztazích s Čínou a Ruskem, o lidských právech v mezinárodních vztazích a o dědictví 90. let.

Část Západu stále žije v 90. letech. Havel nahrazoval politický úsudek morálním reflexem

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