With NATO heads of state announcing on Thursday the approval of four additional battlegroups to Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia, in addition to the four already deployed to the Baltic countries and Poland, Slovaks took delivery this week of the long-awaited Patriot air-defence system, along with a crew of Dutch-German servicemen.

“It’s another element within the protection of Slovakia’s airspace,” Defence Minister Jaroslav Nad said of the weaponry transferred.

Observers were quick to speculate that the Patriots arrived as part of a tentative deal within NATO ranks to send Slovakia’s older arsenal of the S-300 Russian air defence system over to Ukraine and replace it with the upgraded Patriot technology. While Nad denied the notion of an arsenal trade-off, a deal of a similar kind “was not entirely off the table,” according to findings first published by the Dennik N daily.

As is often the case, the sticking point during the negotiations appears to have been money when it comes to a Patriot system that costs around a billion US dollars, with the price of a single rocket varying between 1 and 6 million dollars. This is several times higher than the price tag of the outdated Russian weaponry. Slovakia would consider passing over its S-300 systems to Ukraine, several coalition politicians said, but only if it got an adequate substitute in return, Dennik N reported.

Whether this presages the delivery of further Patriots to the country is unclear as of now, but a new NATO battle group is already set to be deployed in Slovakia, along with additional missions in Hungary, Bulgaria, and Romania, NATO informed. The eastern flank of the alliance will be boosted by more troops, anti-tank systems, drones and naval forces.

Slovak President Zuzana Caputova spoke highly of NATO’s support and welcomed the deployment of the battle group in Slovakia during the alliance’s emergency summit in Brussels on Thursday.

Meanwhile, the Slovak parliament approved a law containing various provisions designed to make the life of Ukrainian refugees in the country easier. Dubbed Lex Ukraine, the hot-off-the-press legislation boasts measures related to health care, financial benefits for those who house Ukrainians, or finding work. Refugees will also be exempt from having to pay municipal taxes or tolls and will be able to open a bank account without the usual formalities, the Slovak Spectator highlighted.

Elsewhere, an evaluation by the acclaimed Let’s Stop Corruption Foundation, a local anti-graft NGO, found a gaping hole between corruption-cleansing promises made by the ruling coalition and the actions it undertook during the first two years of its tenure. Not even a third of the government’s anti-graft pledges have been acted upon at the halfway mark of its rule, the NGO reported, adding that key reforms were expected to be implemented during these crucial first two years. Experts nevertheless applauded the wave of large-scale and heavily scrutinised police investigations that led to several prominent corruption-related arrests.

“[The government] went through a historically difficult time when it first had to face the COVID-19 pandemic and then the war conflict in Ukraine, its economic impacts and refugee crisis,” said Zuzana Petkova, head of the anti-graft foundation, as quoted by TASR. “But this cannot be used as an excuse for meeting only a few goals of the anti-corruption part of the programme statement,” she added.

The government of Prime Minister Eduard Heger remains divided over several formerly key aspects of pre-election promises. The adoption of a long-overdue new court map stands out in this respect, along with the controversial Article 363 of the Criminal Code, which has been repeatedly used – some say even abused – by the general prosecutor’s office to quash criminal charges against high-ranking and notorious individuals.

Poland expels Russian ‘spies’; punished for speaking too soon; Biden in Warsaw

Warsaw this week expelled 45 “Russian spies pretending to be diplomats” and detained an employee of the Warsaw town hall on charges of spying on behalf of Russia. The Russian ambassador to Poland, Sergey Andreev, denied the charges and threatened Moscow with retaliation by expelling Polish diplomats.

Also facing the music this week was Development Minister Piotr Nowak, who was fired by Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki after announcing on Tuesday that the European Commission would unblock EU recovery funds allocated to Poland. Nowak said the Commission had given “political consent” to the national spending plan Poland had submitted for the coronavirus recovery money, which meant the cash would start being disbursed anytime soon. However, soon after, a government spokesman directly contradicted Nowak, specifying that negotiations with Brussels were still ongoing.

US President Joe Biden is in Warsaw Friday for an official visit. He will be greeted at Rzeszów-Jasionka Airport by Polish President Andrzej Duda and meet with members of the 82nd Airborne Division in Rzeszów. On Saturday, he will go to Warsaw, where he has a scheduled meeting with Duda again and will give a speech to the Polish people at the Royal Castle with selected guests in attendance.

“The President will discuss how the United States, alongside our Allies and partners, is responding to the humanitarian and human rights crisis that Russia’s unjustified and unprovoked war on Ukraine has created,” a statement from the White House said about the meeting with Duda.

Hungary PM makes rapid U-turns on EU loan and refugees

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban made a spectacular U-turn when he announced this week that his government has now requested money from the EU’s “allocated loan facility”, part of the bloc’s post-Covid Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF). Hungary was entitled to 9 billion euros in loans and 7.2 billion euros in non-returnable grants from the RRF, but the government announced in May that it would not need the loan part, just the grants.

The recovery plan Hungary that submitted to the EU as part of the process to get its hands on the coronavirus recovery money is still pending approval by the European Commission. Brussels has demanded guarantees that the money would be spent in a transparent way and the government would step up its fight against corruption. In a letter to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Orban argued that the “war in Ukraine poses an unprecedented challenge to the Members States” and the burden of the security and humanitarian crises is largely being borne by countries like Hungary on the EU’s eastern borders.

“Extraordinary circumstances require extraordinary measures,” Orban wrote, requesting the “immediate and effective access to EU funds” which can be spent “in a flexible way”. He also asked for urgent approval of Hungary’s recovery plan and, in general, more money for the eastern EU member states.

EU Commission spokesperson Andrea Masini told local media that Hungary has not applied officially for the loan money. Brussels insiders say there is little chance of immediate access to any funds and, without EU approval of Hungary’s overall recovery plan, it’s unlikely the country could get any access to the loans even if it actually applied for them, as the two are connected. But the fact the government has openly turned to Brussels for more money indicates the financial pressures on the budget and the government could perhaps be ready to compromise on some of the many issues that it’s fighting with Brussels over.

Orban also visibly changed his approach to the refugee crisis this week. More than three weeks since the fighting broke out, the government has decided to finally open a transit shelter for refugees in a large sport venue in central Budapest with decent sanitary facilities, a children’s area and even an animal corner. The centre will provide rest areas, food and services like psychological help.

Until now, it has mainly been humanitarian organisations providing help, food, accommodation and transportation for refugees, but often under quite rudimentary conditions. Helpers told BIRN the government apparently heard rumours that around 40,000 refugees are on their way towards Hungary, and as the war intensifies in Ukraine, it’s clear there is little chance people can return to their homes anytime soon.

With the government coming to terms with the fact that their early expectations of the war ending quickly were wrong, a more professional and long-term solution was needed for the refugees. But there is also speculation that the government – which suffers a major image problem in Europe due its previous closeness to Russian President Vladimir Putin – is embarking on a charm offensive. The local independent and international media can report freely from the railway station where refugees are being picked up and even inside the transit shelter. Following the Polish example, Orban’s government is realising belatedly that it can boost its image if it shows Western media and politicians it has a “human face”.

Czech justice cranks into gear

It took seven years, three police investigations, and two revocations of parliamentary immunity. But it’s the one general election loss that seems to be the key to the decision of Czech prosecutors this week to indict Andrej Babis for fraud in the “Stork’s Nest” case.

The billionaire leader of the ANO party lost his prime minister’s seat in October’s election. That fall appears to have exposed him to charges that he fraudulently acquired a 50 million koruna (2 million euros) EU subsidy for the Capi hnizdo (Stork’s Nest) farm and conference centre in 2008.

Babis has persistently rejected any claims of wrongdoing. The police, however, say that he handed ownership of the resort to his family and lawyers in order to claim the funds, which were only available to small businesses. The shares were then returned to Agrofert. The populist billionaire’s agrochemicals conglomerate is one of Czechia’s biggest companies.

Of the 11 people previously treated as suspects, only former aide Jana Nagyova has been indicted. Charges against Babis’s family were dropped in 2019, including those against his estranged son, who claims that his father had him kidnapped and taken to Crimea to prevent him talking to police.

Babis continues to insist, however, that the case was fabricated by the political establishment in order to force him out of politics. The indictment, he insists, “… only …. confirmed that this is a contrived political process.”

However, many suspect that in fact Babis’s political power may have helped to delay the case. Police launched an investigation after receiving a criminal complaint in 2015. In 2017, they made the first of three recommendations that charges be laid.

That same year, Babis became prime minister. Three months after the billionaire left office, the public prosecutor has acted.

“Like any other citizen of this country, Andrej Babis will get a chance to defend himself and his deeds before an independent and just court,” commented Ivan Bartos, leader of the Pirate Party, one of the five parties that make up the centre-right government that took power in December.

The case will now be handed to the Prague Municipal Court. However, it’s widely anticipated that Babis plans to run in the presidential election, scheduled to be held in January 2023. Polls suggest he would have a good chance of becoming head of state, which would hand him fresh immunity from prosecution.

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