Eurasia Press & News
Karol Nawrocki, the PiS-allied presidential candidate, was involved with a network that supplied prostitutes to clients of a luxurious hotel in Gdansk while working there as a security guard during his student years, according to an investigation published on Monday by onet.pl. The report is based on claims by two anonymous sources that worked with Nawrocki at the hotel at the time, with both saying they are prepared to testify in court about what they know. The onet journalists, well-known for previous investigations, also say they cross-checked the claims with multiple other sources. Nawrocki vehemently denied the allegations, saying he intends to file both a lawsuit against onet and a criminal complaint with prosecutors. Nawrocki, who is facing the candidate of the ruling coalition, Rafal Trzaskowski, in the second round of the presidential election on Sunday, was previously reported to have had links with figures from the Gdansk underworld, although none of the information known to the public before suggested he was involved himself in any criminal activity. Nawrocki’s campaign was previously dogged by controversy surrounding his ownership of an additional apartment he had not declared, which he allegedly procured via unethical means from an old man. On Wednesday, the government informed that the previous head of the ABW internal security agency had given the green light to appointing Nawrocki as head of the Institute for National Remembrance despite a background check revealing issues in connection to his ownership of that apartment. “Having all the knowledge, including information about the negative recommendation of the officer analysing the case files, the then-head of the Internal Security Agency Krzysztof Wacławek (currently an advisor to the president of the Republic of Poland) made the decision to grant Karol Nawrocki security clearance,” posted Jacek Dobrzynski, a government spokesperson.
Meanwhile, the US homeland security secretary, Kristi Noem, was in Poland on Tuesday to attend the first Conservative Political Action Conference, or CPAC, to be held in Poland. In Jasionka, near the southeastern Polish city of Rzeszow, Noem took the opportunity to endorse Nawrocki before the second round on Sunday. “Donald Trump is a strong leader for us, but you have an opportunity to have just as strong of a leader in Karol if you make him the leader of this country,” Noem told the gathering of European and American hard-right populists, adding that having such a leader who can work with the US president Trump would mean a continued “US military presence here… and you will have equipment that is American made, high quality.” Nawrocki was already received by Trump at the White House earlier this month in what was seen as a gesture of support from the US President for the PiS camp. Trump has repeatedly called current Polish President Andrzej Duda a “friend”.
Hungary PM uses CPAC to rally right against EU; Magyar tempts disillusioned Fidesz voters
On Thursday and Friday, it was Hungary’s turn to host its edition of CPAC. Hungarian PM Viktor Viktor Orban opened the event in Budapest in the style of a motivational training session for radical-right parties being sent into battle against the “Brussels” enemy. “The Trump tornado… gave hope back to the world. We are not drowning in the woke sea. We are not being overwhelmed by migrants,” he told the gathered, calling Trump’s 2024 victory “the greatest comeback the Western world has ever seen.” To follow in Trump’s footsteps, Orban outlined a four-point plan for his European allies, in which he argued for peace and repeated there would be no Ukrainian EU membership. He also rejected EU-wide taxes or common borrowings as a breach of sovereignty, called for a right to free speech (ironically, given his government is trying to silence the critical media in Hungary), and retaking European cities from migrants. But he admitted that first, sovereigntist forces need to win national elections – this weekend in Poland, in Czechia in the autumn, next year in Hungary and the year after in France. He requested Trump’s support in this endeavour “to take back Brussels”, although was careful not to mention tariffs or Trump’s anti-European narratives. President Trump addressed the gathering in a video message, thanking the organisers for “their fantastic job” and praising Orban as “great man who is respected”. But he failed to send any high-ranking officials, let alone government members. Instead, speakers at this year’s CPAC Hungary were mostly a collection of European hard-right leaders: Alice Weidel of the German AfD; Geert Wilders of the Dutch Party for Freedom; Herbert Kickl of Austria’s FPO; Slovak PM Robert Fico; former and wannabe Czech PM Andrej Babis; and former Polish PM Mateusz Morawiecki of PiS. Orban lashed out at the current Polish government, accusing it of trampling on European and constitutional rights. Marcin Romanowski, a Polish deputy minister for the previous PiS government, who has since been given political asylum in Hungary to avoid a European arrest warrant, was also among the speakers. Notably absent was Italian PM Giorgia Meloni, a former ally of Orban.
Yet beyond the bravado of CPAC these are worrying times for Orban and his Fidesz party. Peter Magyar, leader of the fast-rising Tisza opposition party, said in an interview with Telex that “the government has already lost popular support; according to internal polls, Tisza is leading by 10 per cent ahead of Fidesz.” He addressed the growing speculation that Fidesz will try to stop him running in next year’s general election. “If I am taken away in handcuffs, I will use the time in jail to perfect my English, as Lajos Kossuth did,” he said, referring to the leader of the Hungarian revolution against the Habsburgs in 1848. The government has already launched an unprecedented campaign against Tisza’s defence expert and former chief of staff, Romulus Ruszin-Szendi, who is accused of “collaborating with Ukraine”. Magyar claimed to have credible information that Ruszin-Szendi could soon be detained and prosecuted. He suggested that Orban might step down as Fidesz’s prime ministerial candidate if he sees no chance of winning the election. “Orban is already eroding his political community with decisions that many find unpalatable, especially the young in the party,” he said, in an attempt to lure away disappointed Fidesz members. “The next 318 days [until the election] are going to be an exciting time, not just for us, but also for Fidesz members if they cross the Rubicon.” But Magyar dismissed fears that Orban, if defeated, would not hand over power peacefully: “I don’t think the army, the police and the state institutions would allow that. No, they wouldn’t dare stop [political change].”
China hacks Czech Foreign Ministry; MPs change rules to pay non-teaching school staff
The Czech Foreign Ministry this week directly accused China of hacking into one of its unclassified communication systems. “The malicious activity, which has been going on from 2022… was carried out by the cyber-espionage group ATP31, associated with the intelligence service of the [Chinese] Ministry of State Security,” the Czech authorities said, adding the Foreign Ministry had updated and installed a more secure internal system last July. Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky summoned Beijing’s ambassador Feng Piao to the ministry after the revelations. “We are taking this situation with the utmost seriousness and are taking steps to strengthen the protection of key institutions to minimise the risk of similar attacks in the future,” PM Petr Fiala wrote on X, also thanking NATO and EU allies – some of whom have also been targeted by the state-sponsored ATP31 cyber-group in the past – for their cooperation in the matter. NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte and the EU’s top diplomat Kaja Kallas both expressed solidarity with Czechia, while the US embassy in Prague issued a statement to “condemn these activities and call on the Chinese Communist Party to immediately cease all such activities”. Run by China’s Ministry of State Security out of the city of Wuhan, ATP31 has been accused of other prominent hacks in the past, and some individuals tied to the group have been targeted by US and UK sanctions.
Funding to pay the salaries of non-teaching staff in Czech schools – such as cooks, cleaners, janitors or administrative employees – should soon be the responsibility of regions and municipalities rather than the state, according to an amendment passed this week in the lower house. The vote comes on the heels of heated debates between the governing coalition, which has pushed the reform, and the opposition ANO and far-right SPD parties as well as some school unions, with the bill now heading to the Senate for approval. The government has vowed that increased tax revenues would compensate and help municipalities shoulder the added costs, but widespread criticism centres on claims there simply won’t be enough funding. The amendment is part of a wider reform of the Czech education system, with provisions also planning to merge smaller schools catering to fewer than 180 students, changing the admission process to secondary establishments and establishing the position of a social educator to deal with issues like bullying among pupils.
German chancellor’s warning to Slovakia; central bank chief convicted of bribery
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz warned this week that Slovakia and Hungary could face EU penalties if they continue blocking the bloc’s unified stance on Russia, marking a tougher approach toward the bloc’s more Kremlin-friendly members. Merz said the EU must not allow “a small minority” to hold decisions hostage, and warned that tools such as fund suspensions and legal proceedings remain on the table. The comments triggered a storm in Bratislava. PM Robert Fico – who has met Vladimir Putin twice in less than a year and blames the West for fuelling the war in Ukraine, despite Slovakia’s continued arms exports to Kyiv – slammed the remarks as “absolutely unacceptable”, accusing Merz of undermining national sovereignty and imposing a “politics of mandatory opinion”. Fico has long opposed sanctions on Russian pipeline gas. Interior Minister and Hlas party leader Matus Sutaj Estok, along with Slovak National Party leader Andrej Danko – both Fico’s coalition partners – also pushed back, with Danko declaring that Slovakia “is not a German colony”. Opposition leaders seized the opportunity to accuse Fico of isolating Slovakia. A local branch of Fico’s Smer party went a step too far by resharing a post from political commentator Dag Danis and adding the term “Fuhrer” in reference to Merz. The post was later edited then deleted.
Slovak National Bank Governor Peter Kazimir was found guilty of bribery by the Specialised Criminal Court and fined 200,000 euros, or one year in prison if unpaid. Despite the conviction, Kazimir will remain in office beyond the end of his six-year term on Sunday, as the coalition has yet to agree on his successor. Kazimir, a former finance minister under PM Fico, was convicted of paying 48,000 euros to former tax chief Frantisek Imrecze in 2016 to speed up VAT refunds for companies linked to a close associate. Originally fined 100,000 euros by Judge Milan Cisarik in 2023 via a summary order, Kazimir appealed, prompting a full trial. Thursday’s verdict followed formal evidentiary proceedings. Cisarik justified continuing the case by reclassifying the offence as one involving harm to the EU’s financial interests, thereby bypassing last year’s criminal code reform. Kazimir denies wrongdoing and plans to appeal, while also refusing to resign.
