The Sunday Show: Saakashvili on the Roof, Anti-Corruption Under Attack, Minority Language Row

✅ Ukraine Arrests Mikheil Saakashvili

This week, after two unsuccessful attempts, the Ukrainian security forces detained ex-Georgian president and Odesa governor Mikheil Saakasvhili. The authorities accuse Saakashvili of taking money from a fugitive oligarch close to ousted President Viktor Yanukovych. The arrest comes as the latest event in a showdown between President Petro Poroshenko and Saakashvili, and many believe the criminal charges are political. We break down the Saakashvili story.

OlenaTregub

Transparency International
Secretary General of the Independent Defence Anti-Corruption Committee

Oleksiy Panych

Media analyst

✅ Ukraine’s Anti-Corruption Agencies Under Attack

The second major story of the week was an attempt by the Ukrainian Parliament to pass a bill many believed would undermine the independence of the country’s anti-corruption agencies. Working through the night, reformists were able to get the bill shelved. But the next day, the parliament voted to remove the independent head of the parliament’s anti-corruption committee. International organizations and Ukraine’s Western partners have harshly criticized the parliament’s actions, and some are calling for the West to get tough on Kyiv.

Hannah Thoburn
Research Fellow at the Hudson Institute

✅Minority Language Row in West Ukraine

In September, we reported on Ukraine’s new education law, which would limit instruction in the languages of national minorities. The law had sparked outrage among some of Ukraine’s minority communities and its European neighbors. Now, we talk with residents of Hungarian- and Romanian-speaking towns in western Ukraine to learn how they are reacting to the new law.

Klaus Iohannis

President of Romania

✅ Polish Prime Minister Resigns

This week, Polish Prime Minister Beata Szydlo resigned, despite surviving a no-confidence vote in parliament called for by the liberal opposition party. Since coming to power two years ago, her party — the Eurosceptic Law and Justice Party (PiS) — has been criticized by the EU and UN for their plans for judicial reform, which many believe undermines democracy and rule of law in Poland. The PiS has named Finance Minister and former deputy PM Mateusz Morawiecki as Szydlo’s successor. Hromadske spoke toVisegrad Insight editor-in-chief Wojciech Przybylski to find out what this PM reshuffle means for Poland.

Wojciech Przybylski

Editor-in-Chief, Visegrad Insight