Zselyke Csaky

My latest piece - inspired by 3 workshops in 2024 organised with @uclei.bsky.social & with intellectual input fm @benhnoble.bsky.social . As Witkoff & Kushner enjoy Putin's hospitality in Moscow, seems like a good time to say that Europe must build its security with UA, against RU & without the US.

Trade: Council and Parliament strike a deal to reinforce rules on trade preferences to developing countries Council and Parliament reached a provisional deal on the revised GSP regulation, linking trade preferences for developing countries to stronger commitments on human rights, environment and migration c...

EU trade/immigration law

EU Member States and European Parliament agree on amendments to EU trade preferences for developing countries - including withdrawal of preferences in the event of insufficient readmission of migrants (in the EU's opinion)
www.consilium.europa.eu/en/press/pre...

Enjoyed this conversation a lot--take a listen

Just read this from last week on social media's impact on affective polarization:
"Small changes to the tone of posts fed to users of X can increase feelings of political polarisation as much in a week as would have historically taken at least three years," www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

WW1 toxic compound sprayed on Georgian protesters, BBC evidence suggests Anti-government demonstrators are likely to have been targeted with camite, our investigation finds.

According to a BBC investigation, the Georgian Dream regime used a WWI-era chemical agent called “camite” during last year’s protests. This finally explains the symptoms many of us experienced both on the night of the crackdown and in the following months.
www.bbc.com/news/article...

The far right’s impact on the EU’s climate agenda The far right is stronger than ever in the European Parliament. And climate policy has become a testing ground for its influence. 

On a more serious note though, this still holds from my analysis last month: "What matters more for the green agenda is what happens within the mainstream and across the member-states." www.cer.eu/insights/far...

That's indeed very helpful.

The far right in the EP is a threat to the future of the climate agenda. But the bigger issue, in terms of weakening existing laws & diluting future climate targets, may be the mainstream moving further to the right.

New insight by @zecsaky.bsky.social

Read here: buff.ly/7rqeFaO

How has the far right in the European Parliament impacted EU climate policy so far? great work by my colleague @zecsaky.bsky.social

🎙️ In our new podcast, @jakubjaraczewski.bsky.social examines the progress of undoing the consequences of eight years of illiberal rule in Poland, and the challenges that lie ahead. 🇵🇱🇵🇱🧑‍⚖️

🎧 Listen to it now:
👉 tinyurl.com/2ywn387b

We talk so much about the rise of the far right -- it's time to look at how that is translating into policy change. That's what I did in this insight, focusing on climate policy and the green agenda 👇

Important new report.

This also holds for immigration, which is why a strategy to fight only far-right PARTIES, rather than more broadly far-right POLICIES (irrespective of who advances them), is addressing only part of the problem.

The far right’s impact on the EU’s climate agenda The far right is stronger than ever in the European Parliament. And climate policy has become a testing ground for its influence. 

The main finding is that the increased far right presence in the EP is starting to impact policy. But it's happening primarily through influencing the mainstream, that is, the EPP. For more, read the paper here: www.cer.eu/insights/far...

We talk so much about the rise of the far right -- it's time to look at how that is translating into policy change. That's what I did in this insight, focusing on climate policy and the green agenda 👇

Hi Nicolo, thanks a lot! I looked at plenary roll-call votes on issues related to climate. You can find the full list in the paper.

I had parts of this piece written before and then yesterday's vote in the EP blew up the analysis. Which goes to show how politics in the EP is changing. For more, read below 👇

EuroParliament’s strong text on #TransnationalRepression is milestone in EU’s needed response to attacks by repressive states against nationals beyond borders.

@ec.europa.eu @eudiplomacy.bsky.social should protect & prevent, hold states responsible to account

www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/pres...

"Can we say that #populists are natural predators on the inherent weaknesses of democracies, preying on issues that are hard to resolve in a democratic way?"

@zecsaky.bsky.social asked @benansell.bsky.social & @johnspringford.bsky.social in the latest #CERpodcast.

Listen here: buff.ly/qT7A3eF

Many thanks to @johnspringford.bsky.social and @zecsaky.bsky.social for having me on to talk about populism and democracy.

🎙️ @zecsaky.bsky.social, @benansell.bsky.social and @johnspringford.bsky.social discuss the rise of European #populism and what moderates should or shouldn't do to stem its rise in the latest #CERpodcast. 🎙️

Listen to the episode here: buff.ly/qT7A3eF

The sun is shining in Brussels on this enlargement day! ☀️🗒️The Commission is presenting today enlargement progress reports on EU candidate countries. A good occasion for a thread on my recent work on the implications of enlargement on EU climate and energy agenda:

And by the way, the maximum a country can reach is "well advanced" in EU parlance, meaning that the best prepared Montenegro is still three "category" steps away from that. (I know these reports don't like scores but they actually help us understand what's going on.)

And a quick look shows:
▪️Montenegro made ⬆️⬆️progress in 4/6 categories ➡️ Moderate/good level
▪️Albania made ⬆️⬆️ progress in 3/6 categories ➡️ Moderate
▪️North Macedonia made 0️⃣ progress ➡️ Some/moderate
▪️Moldova made ⬆️ progress in 2/6 categories ➡️ Some
▪️Ukraine made 0️⃣ progress ➡️ Some level of preparation

Taking a look at EU enlargement reports, rule of law & democracy still remains an area where candidates are lagging. I made this chart last year to show how prepared each country is based on the reports' assessments... www.cer.eu/insights/enl...

A rule of law transition period? Let's see what that looks like. The Commission could avoid accusations of double standards (after all, there was the CVM for Romania and Bulgaria) but much will depend on how seriously it takes implementation.

If social media feels even worse, this is why. Fascinating research.

⚖️🗺️Our friends at World Justice Project just released the 2025 edition of the Rule of Law Index. Unsurprisingly, they found an accelerating decline in the state of the rule of law globally. Let's take a look at Central & Eastern Europe and how this trend plays out there. 1/

Results for Dutch elections are trickling in. As expected, some surprises.

My thoughts:

Is this the end of populism in The Netherlands? No.

Freedom Party (PVV) has lost seats, but the far right vote has splintered. Big wins for JA21, a PVV-light party: 30% of PVV voters in 2023 now voted for JA21

By every metric, the industry is in deep trouble — and none of it has anything to do with future emission rules or an engine ban a decade away.

In fact, the future of cars is electric - not because of Brussels regulation, but because EVs will soon be much cheaper to make and run.

So what’s actually going wrong? The industry is facing a perfect storm.

China is hammering the sector powered by massive state support.

In 2020, China wasn’t a net car exporter. Today, it’s the world’s largest - pumping out 8 million cars a year, almost four times Germany’s pre-pandemic peak.