Vedernikov Mikhail Vladimirovich – Ph.D. in History, Leading Researcher, Institute of Europe RAS
The paper examines the results of the 2024 elections to the European Parliament (EP) on the examples of the Czech Republic and Slovakia. It is noted that those elections, held in the countries for the fifth time, were accompanied by an upsurge in turnout. It is indicated that the increased interest in the European elections was not due the augmented attention of Czechs and Slovaks to the problems of the EU development, but to the external challenges faced by the EU (the conflict in Ukraine) and domestic political processes. It is emphasized that in the minds of Czechs and Slovaks, the European elections retain a secondary status, inferior in importance to parliamentary and presidential ones. It is shown that, regardless of the ideological and value orientation of the political forces participating in the elections, they primarily solved problems related to strengthening their own positions on the national political arena, using European issues as a backdrop. It is noted that the election results confirmed the party-political trends that had emerged in Prague and Bratislava: the strengthening of the opposition led by the ANO movement in the Czech Republic and the split of Slovak society into two equal camps – supporters of deepening European integration and adherents of strengthening the national component of the EU. A forecast has been made about the possible return to power of former Prime Minister A. Babiš in the fall of 2025 and the stabilization of the Slovak political scene by 2027. It is indicated that the Czech Republic and Slovakia were not affected by the «right turn» that some experts warned about. On the contrary, in both countries there are opposite trends, characterized by a weakening of support for far-right parties and their replacement by political forces that use moderate rhetoric and seek to get rid of their negative reputation.
Czech Republic, Slovakia, European elections, SMER – SD, ANO, right turn, national conservatives, liberals, populists, Euro-optimists, Euro-sceptics.
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