The next listen cued up on my list!

@centreeuropeanref.bsky.social is looking for a technology fellow to join its research team. Please see the #job description and details on how to apply below 👇 Deadline for applications 19/09/25 buff.ly/jGjPGCY

Incidentally, just started watching it for the first time last week. Great timing.

Come work with us! Superb opportunity to think and write about tech policy at a time when good analysis is perhaps more important than ever 👇

🇵🇱⚖️Poland has a new Minister of Justice, a very … colourful figure that heralds a new chapter in the Polish rule of law saga. Waldemar Żurek - a veteran judge and outspoken critic of the PiS government, harassed and intimidated, and likely tapped to bring about retribution against "Bad Guys". 1/

🎙️ New #CERpodcast: @zecsaky.bsky.social spoke with @zach-meyers.bsky.social on Trump’s proposed tariffs on the EU and how to approach digital policy in the talks.🎙️ Listen here: buff.ly/vxMlg55

The US president is pushing Europe to drop aspects of its digital rules. Europe is right to hold firm: there is little sign that digital policies are a priority for Trump. 🆕 @centreeuropeanref.bsky.social insight by @zach-meyers.bsky.social, @cerrethinktank.bsky.social Read here: buff.ly/zxuDYFS

Coal-fired power plants remain the main generators of electricity in much of the Western Balkans. New @centreeuropeanref.bsky.social insight by @elisabettaco.bsky.social Read here: buff.ly/pnzWUnR

I'm generally skeptical about opinion polls – especially in hybrid regimes – and there's lots of assumptions here (such as a unified opposition or a unified student list) – but to go from non-existent to capture a a plurality (and almost majority) of the electorate is spectacular and demonstrates...

The second shock clearly is a lot worse than the first one for Europe as well. As I wrote last year for Politico, the EU’s now poised to potentially lose many more jobs than the U.S. did during the first shock. Some reflections inspired by this great NYT piece. 1/

Her departure also brings closer the day when there will be a majority of seats vacant at the Tribunal, potentially paving the way to "new" judges outvoting the "old" judges (all appointed by the PiS majority). That date would move from Feb 2027 to Sep 2026. 8/

🇵🇱⚖️Shocking (no, really) news from the Polish Constitutional Tribunal - its most (in)famous judge, Krystyna Pawłowicz, will retire in December, exiting the Tribunal three years before the end of her term. A plot twist with some actual consequences, and firmly in "nobody saw this coming" category. 1/

It's publication day! I'm delighted to get my hands on The Real Book. The 2nd edition is more comprehensive than the 1st in its treatment of EU institutions & competences, & will hopefully be a useful reference for some years. Thanks to @tandfresearch.bsky.social www.routledge.com/The-Routledg...

Proportionally, the estimated 100-200k Pride marchers in Budapest today would correspond to something approaching 1m in London or New York. And this in a country that has now spent 15 years under illiberal, authoritarian rule. What a symbol of hope.

Budapest Pride 🏳️‍🌈🇭🇺 the ban backfired! Peaceful, safe, happy and huge! Organisers estimate a crowd over 200,000 people.

Some pictures from the Budapest Pride march. There is an astounding amount of people marching! (The people in the front of the second picture are not even the first people in line and you can barely see the end of it!) #budapestpride

Update: Massive crowds today at the (government-banned) 30th Budapest Pride. 🏳️‍🌈 The largest Pride according to the organizers, possibly among the largest protests in the past 15 years. Follow live: www.youtube.com/live/0u7-QHv...

Amazing photos from Budapest, it looks like record high attendance. Reports say streets are full of people between Astoria and the University of Technology (~2.5 km on wide avenues and a bridge). A major embarrassment for Orbán and yet another unforced error.

Rutte applied the lessons we’ve learnt on how to deal with Trump: trade excessive flattery for policy concessions. This bought Europe time to rearm. We mustn’t waste it, I argue in @tvpworld.bsky.social tvpworld.com/87508987/rut...

Grim survey of USAID DRG implementers and how cuts have hit them.https://globaldemocracycoalition.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/US-Foreign-Aid-Cuts-Survey-Graph-Presentation.pdf

On point. In fact, it's all so confusing that Equality Commissioner Hadja Lahbib's spox said, “In view of the fluidity of the situation, she will assess her presence at the Pride on the ground.” www.ft.com/content/6cc4...

Reposting this thread here for tomorrow. 👇

Really very good thread here. The misplaced focus on misinformation (or disinformation and even FIMI) fails to capture the bigger problem -- the fundamental change in our information ecosystem and its impacts on democrary.

So the real question isn’t “who decides what’s true.” The question is, do we still have the ability to decide anything together at all? Because once we lose that, democracy isn’t under threat. It’s already gone.

US makes its flip from pro-democracy to anti-democracy official, moving to end State Department democracy promotion programs and grants. For comparison, all these democracy-promoting efforts over multiple years cost the US, in total, 1-2% of a single year's military budget.

Coming full circle on US democracy grants: looks like practically all remaining programs will be terminated at DRL www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

🏳️‍🌈 Our Homeland, a party even more extreme right than #Fidesz, has announced a demonstration for Saturday along part of the #BudapestPride march route. According to them, the police have already approved their request. With a bit more than a day to go before Pride, uncertainty about the event remains

Really important to keep our eye on the ball with AI & elections, even between cycles and especially as CISA is gutted. @stuartathompson.bsky.social + @stevenleemyers.bsky.social do that here. Recent related research from my @cdt.org colleagues below🧵 www.nytimes.com/2025/06/26/t...

Europe's demographics are not necessarily a curse for its global standing. Next week, we'll be discussing together with @agathedemarais.bsky.social and @johnspringford.bsky.social what European policymakers can do to tackle this strategic challenge. Register here 👇 ecfr.eu/event/people...

With exponential AI takeup, newspapers are in trouble (again). But here is a suggestion from the always-excellent @erdelyip.bsky.social: focus on serving your niche instead of scale. Call me naive but I'd love a future that resembles parts of the early internet. www.funds4media.org/p/the-fractu...

The justice minister has requested a recount of votes at 1,472 polling stations in the recent presidential election, which was won by the opposition candidate. He believes, based on statistical analysis, that there is a "high probability of irregularities".

Ahead of the planned Pride 🏳️‍🌈 parade on June 28, let’s look at the situation in Hungary. It’s confusing: the LGBT+ Pride is banned but also, it’s going ahead. Here’s an explainer on the background and what we can expect 🧵

An insurgent far right failed to seize Romania’s presidency, while a centrist government was unsuccessful in unseating a nationalist president in Poland. 🇷🇴 🇵🇱 New @centreeuropeanref.bsky.social‬ insight by @zecsaky.bsky.social ‬ Read here: buff.ly/FejJVW1

The elections in Poland and Romania will deliver little change, for now. But they raise a disconcerting question: can democracy survive if it is continuously on the ballot? @zecsaky.bsky.social‬ analyses what the results mean for the EU. 🇷🇴 🇵🇱 Read here: buff.ly/FejJVW1

Orbán wants to make Hungarians dependent on his ruling clique. But the EU may have found a new way to protect Hungarians’ liberty from his overreaching state. Read my latest on this at @tvpworld.bsky.social Koszi @martapardavi.bsky.social for the push.

The official response has arrived and as expected, Orban calls the AG opinion "shameful:"

This week in Germany, a court ruled that the rejection of three migrants at the German border violated EU law. The interior minister, supported by the chancellor, sees no reason to change his policy. The judges on the case are facing defamation and threats. Worrying development for the rule of law.

Worth reading

Beyond, Article 7 TEU, what would such a systemic finding mean for any EU process relying on mutual trust, for instance? And, under Article 10(2) TEU, is a Member State govt in such a State “democratically accountable” (which should provide the basis for its legitimate membership of the Council)? /5

If the Court follows this highly significant AG Opinion, then we need to consider what the consequences of a Member State having “significantly deviated from the model of a constitutional democracy” means in practical and procedural terms. /1

Excellent analysis here from my colleague @aslak.bsky.social arguing for the activation of the ACI against Russia to get rid of Hungary's veto threat.

The AG opinion on Hungary's anti-LGBT+ law is out: it proposes that the ECJ agrees with the Commission on *all counts.* This would be massive: Hungary would be in violation of not just separate rights but Art 2, the founding values of the EU curia.europa.eu/jcms/upload/...

Russia targeting deployment of 10,000 troops in breakaway Transnistria region on Ukraine’s border, Moldova's PM warns @financialtimes.com. “This is a huge effort to undermine Moldovan democracy... They want to consolidate their military presence in the Transnistrian region" on.ft.com/4kn9qT3

Surprising development: looks like the adoption of the law blacklisting organizations in Hungary could be delayed to later in the fall hvg.hu/itthon/20250...

I asks Hungary’s Parliament not to adopt law that stifles civil society. ⬇️Read my letter addressed to the Speaker of the Hungarian Parliament. #FreedomOfExpression #FreedomOfAssociation www.coe.int/en/web/commi...

Latest action from @goodlobbyprofs.bsky.social: In short, we lodged a complaint with @ec.europa.eu under the Conditionality Regulation requesting the activation of this instrument in relation to the deliberate & systemic deterioration of the #ruleoflaw in Slovakia www.thegoodlobby.eu/the-good-lob...

So here it is: Hungary's police banned the upcoming LGBT+ Pride. There was some uncertainty whether this would happen as the courts struck down the ban of an LGBT+ event earlier. The organizers will now have to go to court -- all eyes on that decision before June 28 www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Financial incentives coupled with conservative policies fail to make a lasting effect on fertility it seems. Cf. Hungary.

So here is the difficult question liberal democratic parties face: should they (continue to) make the election about defending democracy, even once they return to power? I don't disagree with John that rule of law deserved more attention in Poland's elex. But I'm not sure about the long-term game.

I'm also not saying that I'm good at precognition, but somehow I assembled a roundtable for the World Justice Project Forum in Warsaw later this month (24 Jun) to discuss just what exactly should and could you do to repair the rule of law under constraints such as the ones in Poland. 6/