Out of 180 countries in the world, Slovakia ranked 27th, an improvement from last year's 35th place. Pavol Szalai of Reporters Without Borders sees the reversal of the acquittal of Marián Kočner, the drafting of media laws, and fewer verbal attacks from government officials.

After Sweden, Canada, France and Germany, the countries of the "Global South" are also beginning to embrace the principles of social justice and gender equality policies. But feminist foreign policy is not just about increasing the number of female diplomats in the foreign service.

In recent weeks, Turkish officials have spoken more and more about their ambition to return to EU accession negotiations. According to Farouk Kaymakci, Turkey now enjoys only a "marginalised and discriminated against" candidate status. He welcomes political support for Ukraine's EU membership, but argues that "the most useful EU membership will only be Turkey's".

From the powerful French Presidency, the Union will pass into the hands of our neighbours, who, even before the war, had to patch up holes in the budget. This will make it difficult for it to find space to deal with other issues, including civic reforms.