In the aftermath of Prime Minister Robert Fico’s shock visit to Moscow to meet Vladimir Putin in December 2024, Slovaks poured onto the squares of large cities and small towns under the banner Slovakia is Europe. The protest movement continued into 2025 and mobilized hundreds of thousands of people. 
 

Yet these protests were about far more than the country's membership in the EU. They were about values that people continue to hold dear and are not prepared to surrender without a fight: decency, solidarity, tolerance, and a commitment to telling the truth.

In this episode, we travel from Prague to Bratislava and finally to the borderland town of Čadca in northwest Slovakia to examine the power of the European idea, what it means to different people, and how it functions as a mobilizing force.
    

Episode breakdown:

• Intro: A surprise trip to Moscow and Europe as a mobilizing idea
• Segment 1: An outsider/insider perspective on the protest movement and Slovak society, with Adam Kollár in Prague
• Segment 2: The stakes of the fight over Slovakia's European future, with Samo Marec in Bratislava
• Segment 3 (Part I): Building community and standing up for justice and accountability, with Mirka Petríková, Ľuboš Žárský, and Jozef Šustek at the offices of the organization KERIC in Čadca
• Interlude: Brief visits to protests held in Čadca and Bratislava
• Outro: Modeling values on town squares, fighting resignation, and why a protest is not an end in itself, but a beginning

Episode soundtrack: Vyprchá by the Slovak indie artist Samotay, a track whose title means "it evaporates" or "it fades away." A special thanks to Samotay for lending his music to this episode. Keep an eye out for him at the next anti-government protest. 

   
As always, you can reach me with questions, comments or just to say "ahoj" by emailing [email protected]. If you send me a question related to the season by Thursday, October 1st, I will try to answer it in an upcoming bonus episode. 

    
This episode was mastered and produced by Dávid Pál. It was written, hosted, and executive produced by me, Jeff Lugowe. ​

    
If you like what I'm doing, please subscribe and consider leaving a review wherever you listen to podcasts.

In Slovakia, political polarization seeps into everything. Disinformation emanating from Russia and spread by Slovak "alternative media" platforms has transformed the information landscape. This creates enormous challenges for media organizations in the country. How do you continue to focus on what really matters when faced with actors whose aim is to loosen people's grip on reality and make them question the truth of everything?
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Seven years after investigative journalist Ján Kuciak and his fiancée, Martina Kušnírová, were murdered in cold blood, journalists in Slovakia continue to expose corruption and shed light on the troubling links between politicians and powerful oligarchs. They do so in spite of the risks they know this work carries, because in any democracy the media plays a vital role keeping the public informed and holding power accountable.
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In this episode, we go behind the scenes at Sme—one of the country’s most important papers, founded during the first month of Slovak independence—to meet two veteran journalists doing this essential work. Join me as we explore what it's like reporting in a country fighting a rising tide of disinformation, where the government itself traffics in half-truths, untruths, and outright lies.
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Episode breakdown:

• Intro segment: A double-murder that shook the nation and holding power to account at Sme
• Guest 1: Village life, the main divisions in Slovak society, and living in parallel information universes, with Michaela Terenzani, head of the news desk at Sme, in Bratislava
• Interlude: Dispatch from Bratislava Pride and an unexpected encounter
• Guest 2: The stress of working as a journalist and reporting on the front lines of disinformation, with Jakub Filo, deputy editor-in-chief at Sme, in Bratislava
• Michaela, part ii: Confronting Russian propaganda and the end of history no more

Episode soundtrack: "Rusínska" by the Slovak group Folk&Bass Orchestra, who make music that is both beautiful and makes me wanna dance. A special thanks to the group for generously lending their music to this episode and for the art they create.  ​ ⠀  

I encourage you to check out the episode page on the show’s website, where you will find photo galleries of the places I traveled for this episode so you can visualize where we’ve gone and see who we’ve met.
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As always, you can reach me with questions, comments or just to say "ahoj" by emailing [email protected].

This episode was mastered and produced by Dávid Pál. It was written, hosted, and executive produced by me, Jeff Lugowe.
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If you like what I'm doing, please click follow and consider leaving a review wherever you listen to podcasts. 

It is hard work confronting the darker chapters of our shared past. When faced with horrors like those that occurred on Slovak soil during the Second World War, it is easier to look away. To try to forget. 
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Others still never learn about the crimes committed by the wartime Slovak regime against citizens of the country. About what neighbors did to neighbors. 
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Yet in what Hana Kubatová – who you will meet in the second main interview of this week's episode – calls the spirit of historian Tony Judt, nations and people can never move on from the misdeeds of our past if we do not acknowledge and remember. There is no other way forward.  
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So, as hard as it might be, I invite you to join me on another journey around Slovakia. I invite you – as the band Besna put it when speaking about their 2025 album Krásno, from which this episode's soundtrack is drawn – to face the darkness head-on, rather than averting your gaze. 
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• Intro segment: A case study of history concealed during a way across the main square of Banská Bystrica
• Slovak-language interlude #1: Empty spaces, with Zuzana Janíčková in Banská Bystrica
• Segment 1: Remembrance work and reclaiming lost history, with Veronika Fishbone Vlčková in Bratislava
• Slovak-language interlude #2: Bringing history alive and connecting it to the present, with Lubomir Morbacher in Bratislava
• Two minutes about: The Slovak language, with Lucia Hasbach and Tomáš Polesensky, somewhere between Martin and Banská Bystrica
• Segment 2: We can feel shame and we can feel pride, with Hana Kubatová in Prague
• Slovak-language interlude: They felt relieved only when they tore down the synagogue, with Eva Paulechová in Čadca

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Episode soundtrack: Zmráka sa by the Slovak post-metal band Besna, the opening track from the album Krásno. A special thanks to the band for agreeing to lend their music to this episode and for their support of the podcast more generally. 

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As always, you can reach me with questions, comments or just to say "ahoj" by emailing [email protected].

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This episode was produced and mastered by Dávid Pál, and hosted and executive produced by me, Jeff Lugowe
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If you like what I'm doing, please share the podcast with a friend. 

Hey listener! I accidentally published the first draft of this episode earlier today. Sorry about that! This represents the final version of the episode. I hope you like it. 

Why did I quit my secure job in Oslo in early 2025 so that I could dedicate myself full-time to starting a podcast, this podcast?
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In the first three episodes of the podcast, you've met people from all across Slovakia who have shared their fears, hopes and visions for a better country. They have demonstrated openness and vulnerability during our conversations and for that I am grateful to them.
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Now it's my turn to be open and vulnerable. Why am I doing this work? Why do I consider Central Europe Matters a mission as much as a podcast?
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I owe a great debt to the Bratislava-based post-metal band Besna, whose song Ocean práchu (Ocean of Dust) is the soundtrack to this episode. This episode truly wouldn't have been possible without this hauntingly beautiful track. 
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Please let me know what you think of the episode by emailing me at [email protected]. I'd also be grateful if you'd share this podcast with a friend who feels overwhelmed by the current direction of travel in Europe and the world. 
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I also want to thank my producer Dávid Pál for the beautiful work he did mastering this episode. 
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You will have a "regular" episode in your feed next Wednesday. 
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Finally, if you're located in or near Oslo, please join me for the official podcast launch event Tuesday, September 8th from 4:30pm until 6:30pm at Kulturhuset. 

This episode was executive produced and hosted by me, Jeff Lugowe. Why did I quit my secure job in Oslo in early 2025 so that I could dedicate myself full-time to starting a podcast, this podcast?

⠀
In the first three episodes of the podcast, you've met people from all across Slovakia who have shared their fears, hopes and visions for a better country. They have demonstrated openness and vulnerability during our conversations and for that I am grateful to them.
⠀
Now it's my turn to be open and vulnerable. Why am I doing this work? Why do I consider Central Europe Matters a mission as much as a podcast?
⠀
I owe a great debt to the Bratislava-based post-metal band Besna, whose song Ocean práchu (Ocean of Dust) is the soundtrack to this episode. This episode truly wouldn't have been possible without this hauntingly beautiful track. 
⠀
Please let me know what you think of the episode by emailing me at [email protected]. I'd also be grateful if you'd share this podcast with a friend who feels overwhelmed by the current direction of travel in Europe and the world. 
⠀
I also want to thank my producer Dávid Pál for the beautiful work he did mastering this episode. 
⠀
You will have a "regular" episode in your feed next Wednesday. 
⠀
Finally, if you're located in or near Oslo, please join me for the official podcast launch event Tuesday, September 8th from 4:30pm until 6:30pm at Kulturhuset. 

This episode was executive produced and hosted by me, Jeff Lugowe. 

Many Slovaks thought they had gotten authoritarian strongmen leaders out of their system when Prime Minister Vladimír Mečiar lost his reelection bid in 1998. Almost twenty years later, the current Slovak government is led by former Communist Robert Fico, whose coalition government attacks independent media, starves independent culture of financing, and in televised rants and social media tirades accuses political opponents and Slovaks who didn't vote for him of progressive fascism and ideological terrorism.

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To understand what Fico's brand of take-no-prisoner politics means for Slovakia and its people, I spoke to a political scientist, an author/journalist and two women living in a small town. 
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We start our journey around Slovakia in the passenger's seat of Diana's car, somewhere between Revúca and Spišská Nová Ves in Central Slovakia. You met Diana in episode 1; now she's back due to popular demand. We then move to Košice in the country's southeast, before making the long drive (when is that cross-country highway getting built?) to the capital, Bratislava. Finally, we jump back into the car with Diana and Emma, one of the students Diana mentors. 

Episode breakdown:
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• Intro segment: With politicians like this, what could possibly go wrong? with Diana Jacková
• Segment 1: Slovak stagnation and the ruse of social democracy, with political scientist Lukáš Jakabovič
• Segment 2: Progress and development? Not on Robert Fico's watch, with author, columnist and translator Samo Marec
• Outro segment: Double standards in politics, with Diana and Emma

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Episode soundtrack: Močí ďïovča konope (featuring Ženy z Muzičky) by Folk&Bass Orchestra, a Slovak ensemble that combine folk sounds with electronic and jazz elements. 
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As always, you can reach me with questions, comments or just to say "ahoj" by emailing [email protected].
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This episode was produced by Dávid Pál, and hosted and executive produced by me, Jeff Lugowe.

What happens when you wake up one day and find yourself living in a different country?

     
In this week's episode, we move from the fall of communism in 1989 to the emergence of an independent Slovak state in 1993.

     
For most of this episode, I spoke to people living in Bratislava, the dynamic and at times architecturally puzzling Slovak capital, before returning to Banská Bystrica in central Slovakia for my final conversation. I also made a brief stop in Košice in eastern Slovakia.

     
The thread running through this episode is: what prevents some people in Slovakia from identifying with their own state?

     
Episode breakdown:

• Intro segment: The country that cried itself into independence, with democracy activist Ľuboš Žárský
• Segment 1: The complex nature of Slovak national feeling and identification with the state, with sociologist Miloslav Bahna
• Segment 2: The deep rift within the Slovak elite, then and now, with sociologist Dominik Želinský
• Interlude segment: The limits of solidarity, with professor of social work Katarína Šiňanská
• Segment 3: The country that was founded on a façade, with civil society activist and veteran Peter Medveď

     
Episode soundtrack: TRESTY by Samotay, one of my favorite Slovak indie artists

     
As always, you can reach me with questions, comments or just to say "ahoj" by emailing [email protected].

     
This episode was produced by Dávid Pál, and hosted and executive produced by me, Jeff Lugowe.
     
You can click on the names of the cities I visited for today's episode if you want to pair your listening experience with a visual trip around Slovakia. Visit the Central Europe Matters website for even more photos, a preview of the rest the season, or if you're curious about who I am and why I started this podcast. 

This episode marks our first trip to Slovakia and the start of season 1, Slovakia – Democracy under attack. Buckle up – it's going to be a wild ride. Follow me, host Jeff Lugowe, as I speak with activists, researchers, artists and concerned citizens about the battle currently underway in Slovakia over the country's democratic future.
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We begin in  Banská Bystrica in central Slovakia to meet Sandra and Lea, two activists with the organization Not in our Town (Nie v našom meste).
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Then we move a few hours northwest to the city of Žilina. There, I sat down with three high school students who gained national prominence last winter for their Student Protest initiative (Študentský protest).
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Finally, I drove the winding roads back to Central Slovakia and  Revúca, a town of 11,000 people set amid a canopy of forested hills. Diana invited me to her apartment, where we talked about being a community activist in a small, isolated town. 
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This journey around Slovakia is just getting started. Subscribe to Central Europe Matters if you haven't already – episode 2 will be out next Wednesday.
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Episode soundtrack: Dufekova Cifra by  Folk&Bass Orchestra

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Check out the official show website, where you can read more about the podcast and what motivated me to embark on this project in the first place: https://www.centraleuropematters.eu/
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You can see photos of the places we visited during this episode by clicking on the names of the cities above. 
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Email me with any questions or to tell me what you think of the first episode: [email protected]
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This episode was produced, mix and mastered by Dávid Pál. It was hosted and executive produced by me, Jeff Lugowe. 

Season 1 will take listeners on a trip around Slovakia — a small, mountainous country on the eastern periphery of the European Union  — currently in the throes of a democratic crisis. Join host Jeff Lugowe as he meets people living in the big cities and deep in the countryside and hears how they are fighting for their democracy.

Slovakia — Democracy under Attack launches in August 2026. Subscribe today to get the first episode in your podcast feed.

Central Europe Matters is an new, independent narrative podcast. Read more about the podcast and the upcoming season by visiting:  https://www.centraleuropematters.eu/

Trailer soundtrack: Smutné kvety by Samotay