Digest of news from Slovakia, Czechia, and Poland, May 18 - 24, 2026
Slovakia
1) European Parliament urges the European Commission to assess rule-of-law risks in Slovakia and potential misuse of EU funds
2) PM Fico publicly rejects Merz's proposal for Ukraine's associate membership in the EU
Analysis:
The European Parliament adopted a resolution calling on the European Commission to evaluate whether Slovakia poses a clear risk of seriously breaching EU values. The vote passed 347 to 165. The resolution reflects growing institutional concern over the rollback of anti-corruption mechanisms in Bratislava, including the weakening of criminal law provisions on graft and the closure of specialized oversight bodies. MEPs also raised concerns about recent constitutional amendments that appear to challenge the primacy of EU law, as well as allegations that EU-funded rural development projects have been redirected to finance the renovation of private estates.
On the European integration front, Prime Minister Robert Fico publicly dismissed the proposal by German Chancellor Friedrich Merz to grant Ukraine a form of associate EU membership as a transitional status. Speaking at a press conference, Fico declared that no atmosphere exists within the EU for such a step, and that candidate countries must instead fulfill standard accession conditions. He used the occasion to argue that Montenegro, Albania, and Serbia deserve full EU membership before Ukraine receives any special arrangement. President Zelenskyi has repeatedly stated that Ukraine has no interest in partial membership formulas.
Slovakia's political trajectory this week was defined by a widening gap between the government's domestic and European postures. Brussels is applying increasing institutional pressure, while Bratislava continues to push back. Fico's rejection of the Merz proposal is consistent with his broader pattern of opposing accelerated European integration for Ukraine. The EP resolution on the rule of law adds a formal legal dimension to what had previously been a mostly rhetorical confrontation. Whether the Commission will act on the Parliament's request remains the key open question for the weeks ahead.
Czech Republic
1) Czech President Pavel urges NATO to take firmer action against Russian provocations on its eastern flank
2) The Sudeten German congress in Brno triggers a domestic political crisis, with suspected Russian involvement behind organized protests
3) Pavel threatens to take PM Babiš to the Constitutional Court over a dispute about who will represent the Czech Republic at the NATO summit in Ankara
Analysis:
Czech President Petr Pavel called on NATO to respond more decisively to repeated Russian provocations along its eastern flank. Speaking to The Guardian, Pavel warned that an absence of a firm collective response risks emboldening the Kremlin further. He argued that Russia has developed a pattern of behavior that deliberately stays just below the threshold triggering Article 5, exploiting allied hesitation. Pavel stated plainly that Russia tends to understand the language of strength more than diplomatic signals, and suggested that continued airspace violations may eventually force NATO to make difficult decisions about shooting down intruding aircraft.
The holding of the first-ever Sudeten German Association congress in Brno provoked a significant domestic political controversy. The Czech parliament had earlier passed a resolution opposing the event, framing it as a challenge to the post-World War II settlement anchored in the Beneš Decrees. The ultra-right SPD party initiated the resolution, but it drew support from coalition partners, including PM Andrej Babiš's ANO movement: the timing served to distract from the government's failure to meet its pre-election promises on defense spending. There are also credible indications that Russian-linked actors on the SPD side helped to organize large-scale protests against the congress, exploiting a historically sensitive topic for destabilization purposes.
A sharp institutional dispute continues between President Pavel and Prime Minister Babiš over who will represent the Czech Republic at the July NATO summit in Ankara. Babiš has moved to block Pavel's participation, claiming that defense spending and related summitry fall within the government's purview. Pavel insists that foreign representation abroad is his constitutional prerogative, and announced at the GLOBSEC forum in Prague that he is prepared to take the matter to the Constitutional Court if the prime minister proceeds. The two leaders failed to reach agreement in a bilateral meeting earlier in May, and the government has said it will settle the question only on 8 June. The dispute is compounded by a broader disagreement over Czech defense expenditure, which Pavel has repeatedly criticized as insufficient by NATO standards.
The Czech Republic this week finds itself navigating security challenges on three distinct fronts simultaneously. President Pavel is pushing for greater Alliance assertiveness externally, while domestically the government is exploiting historical grievances for electoral gain and suspected Russian actors are amplifying the resulting tensions. The constitutional standoff over the NATO summit delegation adds an institutional dimension to this picture, revealing a country whose strategic coherence is under strain from within precisely when external pressures demand unity.
Poland
1) Poland receives its first three F-35 fighter jets, becoming the first NATO eastern flank state to deploy 5th-generation aircraft
2) Polish Defense Minister publicly criticizes Ukrainian drones “straying into neighboring airspace”, calling for greater operational precision
3) A disinformation campaign spreads fabricated claims about Polish schools organizing trips to Ukraine to visit a Bandera museum
Analysis:
Poland took a significant step in its military modernization program as three F-35 fighter jets arrived at the Łask air base in Łódź province. Defense Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz described the delivery as Poland's entry into the elite tier of modern air forces, noting that these are the first fifth-generation aircraft deployed on NATO's eastern flank. Poland ordered 32 of the aircraft from Lockheed Martin in 2020, and this first batch marks the beginning of a broader transition away from Soviet-era aviation. The delivery reinforces Warsaw's standing as one of the most serious defense investors among NATO's eastern members.
In a separate development, the same Defense Minister took a firm public stance on the issue of Ukrainian military drones “straying across Baltic airspace”. Speaking at a press conference in Estonia, Kosiniak-Kamysz stated that Ukraine “must operate its drones with greater precision to avoid providing Russia with pretexts for narrative manipulation”. The remarks came in the context of repeated drone-related air alerts across Lithuania and Latvia, which caused significant disruption to civilian life. Estonia's foreign minister suggested that Russia may be deliberately redirecting some Ukrainian drones into NATO airspace as a provocation tactic. Poland's public criticism of an ally reflects the growing tension between solidarity with Kyiv and the need to manage domestic security anxieties.
Polish social media was targeted by a coordinated disinformation campaign falsely claiming that the Ministry of National Education had organized summer school excursions to Ukraine, including a visit to a Bandera museum. The fabrication was supported by forged emails purportedly from the ministry, using a free email service that the ministry does not use for official communications. Polish fact-checkers from the Demagog Association verified the forgery, and the ministry issued a formal denial. The campaign's clear objective was to stoke anti-Ukrainian sentiment in Polish society by exploiting existing historical sensitivities around figures associated with wartime violence against Poles.
Last week in Poland brought several remarkable events on both domestic and external security dimensions: the F-35 delivery confirms Warsaw's commitment to hard power investment and long-term deterrence, while the criticism of Ukrainian drones reflects Poland's need to manage public perception at home. And the disinformation campaign targeting Polish-Ukrainian relations serves as a reminder that information warfare remains a constant variable in the regional security equation. Warsaw has to simultaneously act as Ukraine's advocate, NATO's most active eastern partner, and a government accountable to a domestic audience that is not immune to manipulation.