Germany Neglects Central and Eastern Europe at its Peril

Then there was the suspension of Hungary's governing party, Fidesz, from the European People's Party due to the party's overt shift toward authoritarianism in the past years and straightforward attacks on European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker.

The democratic decline in East-Central-Europe raises questions regarding the normative responsibility of EU institutions and member states to safeguard democratic values, and beyond this it is also a geopolitical problem, in particular for Germany.

Central and Eastern Europe form the direct geopolitical neighbourhood of Germany, and until the accession of these countries to the European Union German foreign policy invested enormous resources in the region to guarantee its geopolitical stability.

However, with their EU accession Berlin's focus strayed from its eastern neighbours and the vacuum left has been filled since 2010 by growing internal authoritarian tendencies and assertive external powers, like Russia and China.

Increasingly, the democratic challenge in East-Central-Europe poses a threat to German geopolitical interests as Berlin has failed to counter the erosion of European values in neighbouring countries.

This must change quickly and starkly to protect Germany's core geopolitical interests in the region.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Slovakian Prime Minister Peter Pellegrini, Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis and Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki attend a press conference after a Visegrad Group summit in Bratislava in February 2019. Photo: EPA-EFE/JAKUB GAVLAK

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