“Despite climate change being an omnipresent agenda in Slovak politics, it has never established itself as a dominant political discourse, often being side-lined by other pressing issues”

Climate change is the greatest global challenge of our times. It is a multidimensional crisis that affects us all in very different ways. It impacts all our policies and our way of life, and it interacts with and other overarching geopolitical transformations like Russia’s aggression of Ukraine, the COVID-19 pandemic and the future of our economies.

Nonetheless, as demonstrated in Donald Wertlen’s chapter on Slovak attitudes to climate change in “Climate Change and the Future of Europe: Views from the Capitals”, many citizens find it difficult to prioritise the need for climate action over other issues, resulting in lacklustre efforts from government and Wertlen’s conclusion that the issue is a “second-class agenda” in Slovakia.

It is therefore crucial to reflect on how this picture can be turned around, in view of the ongoing climate emergency. To discuss this issue, the Trans European Policy Studies Association (TEPSA) is co-organising the public debate “Climate Change: a Second-Class Agenda in Slovakia?” with the Faculty of Social and Economic Sciences (FSES), Comenius University Bratislava. The event takes place online via Zoom on November 28 at 11:00 CET.

SPEAKERS:

• Donald Wertlen, Vice-Dean for Study Affairs, Faculty of Social and Economic Sciences, Comenius University Bratislava;
• Martin Hojsík MEP, Vice-President of the European Parliament (Renew Europe Group);
• Jakub Hrbáň, Executive Director, “Climate Needs You” Initiative.
• Moderated by: Lucia Mokrá, Dean of the Faculty of Social and Economic Sciences, Comenius University Bratislava & Chairperson of the TEPSA Board.

With this event, TEPSA and FSES aim to provide an overview of how specific factors of Slovak history, economy, and politics, have determined the current situation with regards to national attitudes towards the climate emergency. In addition, the debate will feature recommendations as to how to improve the situation towards a more satisfactory climate action for Slovakia both as a country unto itself and as an EU Member State.

“Climate Change and the Future of Europe: Views from the Capitals” is edited by Michael Kaeding, Johannes Pollak and Paul Schmidt, and published by Springer. While the ambitious objectives outlined in the EU’s Green Deal aim at making Europe the first climate-neutral continent by 2050, national implementation greatly varies depending on local geographies, history, culture, economics, and politics. This book analyses Member States’ and EU neighbours’ national efforts to combat climate change. It subsequently draws on these factors to highlight local challenges, tensions, and opportunities on the road towards climate neutrality. In the context of inter-country dependencies following Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, it addresses strategic questions regarding EU integration, the transformation of our economies, the reduction of energy dependencies, and public perception of the above. The book also makes concrete recommendations, in various policy areas, on how individual countries and the EU as a whole should deal with the climate crisis.