Page 38 - bneMag Oct23

38 I Central Europe bne October 2023
After nearly two decades of governments with a large presence of populist and conservative-leaning parties, further legislative development guaranteeing equal rights to LGBT+ Czechs has all but stalled.
guaranteeing civil partnership to same-sex couples, and opinion polls show that Czechs are among the most liberal on sexual issues among the former Communist states of Central and Eastern Europe.
However, after nearly two decades of governments with a large presence
of populist and conservative-leaning parties, further legislative development guaranteeing equal rights to LGBT+ people has all but stalled.
The government has only recently decided to begin the ratification process of the Istanbul Convention against violence
to women, even though Czechia signed up to it in 2016. It is unclear whether the parliament can complete the ratification, with many conservative, populist and far-right legislators opposing it.
Rightwing parties across Europe have used the convention to try to start culture wars against liberal and leftwing opponents.
letter, stating, “I have never shied away from debate on how to improve the lives of those living in same-sex partnership – moving the legislation so they have more rights.”
He added that he very much wants “parliamentarians to vote freely based
VISEGRAD BLOG:
on their own convictions about morally- ethical affairs.”
Czechia was once viewed as a champion of human rights in the region following the fall of communist rule in 1989.
It was fairly quick to adopt legislation
Orban should hold the champagne just yet Robert Anderson in Prague
Hungarian strongman Viktor Orban has looked a forlorn figure since his triumphant re-election in April last year for a fourth consecutive term. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has left him isolated as President Vladimir Putin’s only remaining supporter in
the European Union, and divided him even from his ally Jaroslaw Kaczynski’s Poland. The Visegrad Group (V4) of Central European countries, which he often used as his megaphone in Europe, was silenced.
Yet the likely re-election of leftwing populist Robert Fico as Slovakia’s new prime minister on Saturday offers a ray of hope for the Hungarian radical right- wing strongman.
“Guess who’s back!” Orban said on the social media X on Sunday.
www.bne.eu
"Congratulations to Robert Fico on his undisputable victory at the Slovak parliamentary elections. Always good to work together with a patriot. Looking forward to it!"
Orban could even receive more good news if Kaczynski’s Law and Justice is re-elected for an unprecedented third consecutive term.
"This dark alliance of Fico, Kaczynski and Orban is something that Brussels should be afraid of,” Michal Vasecka, head of the Bratislava Policy Institute think-tank, told a recent VOICEE webcast.
Despite their ostensible ideological differences and Slovakia’s sometimes tense relations with Hungary, Fico admires Orban and has copied parts of his playbook.
Like Orban, Fico has made the “illegal migration” scare a key part of his rhetoric. In his first press conference after the election on Sunday, the Smer leader said it would be necessary to use force to suppress "illegal" migration, which has been on the rise in recent weeks. "They won't be pretty pictures," he warned. Under Fico, Slovakia would be likely to refuse to accept refugees reallocated from Mediterranean countries.
He has also tried to stoke culture war, accusing Progressive Slovakia, which came second at the election, with backing Western European gender politics that are alien to Slovakia’s Catholic traditions. He has said of his own party, “Smer is a left-wing, social- democratic party, we use the expression that we are of the rustic type, more