Right-wing extremism has become a virulent phenomenon in Central and Eastern Europe in the last years. Political parties like Hungary’s Jobbik and Ataka in Bulgaria won seats in national parliaments and succeeded in dominating parts of the political discourses. In these weeks the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung publishes a set of studies presenting the situation in most of the countries of the region by identifying the actors of right-wing extremism, their influence on the respective political landscape and state-driven or civil society-based counterstrategies.

In neighboring Slovakia, the extreme right’s central issue and main mobilization tool is the strong anti-Roma rhetoric. Right-wing parties try to organize rallies and support local protest in places of difficult coexistence of the Roma minority with the majority population. In Hungary and Slovakia, right-wing extremism is reflecting each other with regard to territorial claims and the revision of post-World War I – peace treaties, causing challenges for the foreign policy of the two EU member states.