Eurasia Press & News
A scandal dubbed ‘Gungate’ has fired up Hungary’s election campaign, after the opposition’s defence expert, Romulusz Ruszin-Szendi, a former chief of the military staff, was spotted at a party meeting with a suspicious-looking object bulging out of his back pocket. Photos quickly went viral on pro-Fidesz propaganda media, with government politicians accusing the opposition figure of carrying a gun at a public event – something that requires a special permit. Ruszin-Szendi admitted that he owns a firearm but stated that he holds a legal license for it. In a Facebook post, he explained that he had received multiple death threats since entering politics, and occasionally carried his gun when leaving the house. However, he had stopped doing so after receiving proper protection from the TISZA party, he wrote. The following day after the photos, taken at an event in May, went viral, police showed up at his home and confiscated his weapon. According to ATV.hu, not only was Ruszin-Szendi’s firearm confiscated, but his license was also revoked. PM Viktor Orban quickly weighed in on the issue, posting on Facebook: “Weapons have no place at political meetings. If someone lacks the common sense to understand this, the authorities will act. And they did.” TISZA party leader Peter Magyar threw his support behind Ruszin-Szendi and called the Fidesz-government a “mafia which needs to go – and will go.”
In a piece of good news for the government this week, the US government announced it has restored Hungary’s status in its visa waiver program – one of the first tangible signs of the improved bilateral relations since Donald Trump returned to the White House. According to a statement from the US Department of Homeland and Security, Hungary has taken the necessary steps to address “security vulnerabilities” and its citizens will once again be able to apply for an ESTA with a two-year validity period, which can be used for multiple entries, from September 30. The move reverses restrictions imposed in recent years as bilateral relations soured during the Biden administration. In August 2023, the US government reduced the ESTA validity period for Hungarian travellers from two years to one, and limited ESTAs to a single entry. The US also revoked the ESTAs of all Hungarian passport holders born outside of Hungary and denied new ESTA applications to them. “The United States and Hungary have a strong security partnership,” said Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin. “Like President Trump, Prime Minister Orban is dedicated to keeping his borders secure and vetting who comes into his country. When nations secure their borders, they’re making the entire world a safer place – and they should be rewarded for doing so.” Only nations with the highest standards of security are granted visa-free access to the US, the statement added. The Hungarian government celebrated the reintroduction of visa-free travel, although admitted it would affect only a few people. Experts say ending double taxation (which was reintroduced in 2024) would be far more relevant for the business sector, but so far there has been little progress on the issue.
Czech president to address nation ahead of election; trust in govt at all-time low
Czech President Petr Pavel announced he would hold a televised address on September 30, just a few days before the parliamentary election that will be held on October 3-4. The main goal of the speech, according to Pavel, is to “reassure” the public that the elections will be free and fair and safe from any major fraud or abuse. The move comes against a backdrop of recent surveys that have shown large parts of the electorate worry the election could be manipulated – either through social media, foreign interference, or even by the ruling coalition itself in a bid to stay in power. Pavel, who as head of state must remain non-partisan, will also urge citizens to go vote, with reports showing that up to a third of eligible voters remain undecided and are not sure whether to vote at all. “If we don’t go [to vote], we will have no choice but to devote ourselves to our favourite national sport, which is to complain about everything and point the blame at everyone else but ourselves,” he quipped. Pre-election polls still put former PM Andrej Babis’s ANO party at over 30 per cent of voting intentions, about 10 points ahead of the ruling SPOLU coalition, but doubts remain as to whether Babis will be able to find coalition partners to form a majority government. Earlier this week, a Median agency survey further showed that a government led by ANO alone – while unlikely based on current numbers – would be the most acceptable for Czechs (41 per cent), followed by a coalition between ANO and the far-right SPD (37 per cent) and, in third place, a repeat of the results from four years ago with a coalition between SPOLU, the Mayors and Independents (STAN), and the Pirate Party (31 per cent).
Underpinning those weak polling figures and the reluctance of many government voters to head to the ballot in two weeks, recent surveys indicate that citizens’ trust in the Czech government is plumbing new depths. The latest OECD data show that just 19 per cent of Czechs trust the current government of PM Petr Fiala, while a local poll from the STEM agency found that only 3 per cent “definitely” trust the ruling coalition, and about a fifth of the population show a lukewarm support for it – corresponding to the latest voting preferences figures. An analysis by the Europe in Data project determined that this lack of trust is based on the dire financial situation of large parts of the population, the widespread feeling that their voice isn’t being heard or represented at the political level, as well as corruption scandals. “It should be taken into account that only a relatively small proportion of Czechs have a direct experience with corruption,” noted Ondrej Kopecny from the Czech branch of Transparency International. “It is therefore more a feeling that influences how politicians or the media talk about corruption than an assessment based on experience.”
Polish military to consult with Ukraine on countering Russian drones; reparations redux
The fallout from Russia’s drone incursion into Polish territory on September 10 continued this week, as experts questioned the wisdom of using expensive air-to-air missiles to shoot down what were reportedly cheap, unarmed UAVs, while a house in the village of Wyryki-Wola, in eastern Poland’s Lublin Voivodeship, that suffered damage to its roof was struck not by a drone, but by an AIM-120 missile fired from a Polish F-16 jet, according to Rzeczpospolita. Polish officials have declined to confirm the newspaper report, though there is a growing understanding amongst the government and military that alternative ways need to be found to counter such Russian provocations, more of which are expected in the future. “Interestingly, [the drones] were all duds, which suggests to me that Russia tried to test us without starting a war,” Polish Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski told The Guardian, as it emerged that some of the 20-odd drones were identified as Gerbera models – low-cost Russian copies of Shahed drones, built from plywood and foam, typically fitted with small warheads. US General Ben Hodges noted: “Using F-35s and F-22s against drones shows we are not yet prepared.” Thus, Ukraine’s experience of combating Putin’s drone fleet is seen as crucial in this process. In light of this, Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday that the Kyiv government expects a delegation of Polish military officials to arrive this week to study the country’s experience in countering Russian air attacks, though the details of the visit have not been released due to “security reasons”. NATO also this week launched Operation Eastern Sentry, a flexible framework that, it says, allows commanders to move jets, sensors and ground-based air defences to where the risk is highest.
Meanwhile, Poland’s new president, the right-wing populist Karol Nawrocki, made his first state visit to Germany this week, where he met with President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Chancellor Friedrich Merz to discuss bilateral trade, EU policy, and the issue of reparations. The latter is something Nawrocki and his party backer, the right-wing opposition PiS, have often brought up. When in power in 2022, PiS started a campaign to obtain reparations for Nazi Germany’s occupation of Poland between 1939 and 1945, which its experts estimated at an improbable 6.2 trillion zloty (1.3 trillion euros). Steinmeier’s spokeswoman, Cerstin Gammelin, confirmed that Nawrocki had raised the reparations issue when the two presidents met on Tuesday, but she reiterated the longstanding German position that the matter is closed, according to Notes from Poland. Under the 1945 Potsdam Agreement between the three main victors of World War II (the US, UK and Soviet Union), it was the latter that would collect and distribute Polish war reparations. In 1953, under the control of the Soviet Union, Poland announced it would waive its right to war reparations from East Germany, while keeping the German lands to its west. East Germany accepted the territorial loss in exchange. Nawrocki later told the media he had suggested that Berlin could help finance Polish defence as part of any long-term settlement. “I suggested that we could be heading toward… financing the Polish arms industry, military capabilities, which on one hand would certainly be the beginning of a long process,” he said.
European Socialists to expel Slovak ruling party; another diplomatic row with neighbour
Slovakia’s ruling party Smer is on course to be expelled from the Party of European Socialists (PES) at its congress in Amsterdam next month, bringing to an end years of strained relations. The centre-left alliance suspended Smer in 2023 after PM Robert Fico returned to power in a coalition with nationalists and pushed policies seen as out of step with EU values. According to reports in Euractiv, citing senior sources, the suspension will now be made permanent. “European Socialists have run out of excuses not to act,” said Radovan Geist, publisher of Euractiv Slovakia, arguing that Fico had become as much of a reputational liability for the left as Viktor Orban once was for the centre-right. Smer’s five MEPs, led by Monika Benova, have already been sitting outside the socialist bloc. Benova said they were holding talks with the hard-right Patriots for Europe, the group dominated by Orban’s Fidesz, the Freedom Party of Austria and former Czech PM Andrej Babis’s ANO. Expulsion would force Smer to go through a full reapplication process if it ever sought to rejoin the European left – something analysts consider unlikely. Since his election last year, Fico has clashed with Brussels over the rule of law and Ukraine, while cultivating ties with Moscow. Geist said the party now belonged “naturally” with the nationalist and Eurosceptic Patriots. “They may not be able to shape EU laws, but they can block, and that’s the power they’re building,” he told Slovak daily Sme.
Slovakia has lodged a diplomatic protest with Prague after the Czech interior minister, Vit Rakusan, joined an anti-government demonstration in Bratislava this week, in a move the Slovak government described as interference in its domestic politics. Juraj Blanar, Slovakia’s foreign minister and a senior figure in Fico’s Smer party, said Rakusan’s presence at Tuesday’s protest against the government’s economic consolidation plans amounted to dragging Slovakia into the Czech election campaign. He instructed the Slovak ambassador in Prague to deliver the complaint. “I reject interference in the internal affairs of the Slovak Republic,” Blanar said, dismissing Rakusan’s claim that he had travelled in a private capacity. Rakusan, leader of the coalition STAN party, posted photographs from the rally holding a banner with Czech and Slovak flags and the slogan “We are with you”. He said he wanted to show solidarity with Slovaks demanding a pro-European course for their country. The row comes amid wider tensions between Fico’s government and Western partners. Over the summer the Slovak prime minister accused the UK, without providing evidence, of meddling in Slovakia’s 2023 election. In previous campaigns, by contrast, Fico enjoyed open support from Czech politicians including Andrej Babis and Milos Zeman. Michal Simecka, leader of the opposition Progressive Slovakia, welcomed Rakusan’s gesture and accused Blanar of double standards. “We won’t let Fico spoil good relations between our countries,” he said. Relations between the Slovak and Czech governments have cooled over Bratislava’s stance on the war in Ukraine, with Fico opposing military support for Kyiv while Prague remains one of Ukraine’s strongest backers.
