Czechia between Europe and nationalism: analyst Filip Nerad on power, populism, and beer
After two decades in Czech public media and years spent in Brussels, Filip Nerad, now working at Globsec Policy Institute, offers a long-term view of Czechia’s position inside the EU and NATO. In an interview for Czechast, he discusses the country’s growing credibility in Europe, the challenges posed by the new government, and persistent Czech euroscepticism. He also turns to a lighter theme, explaining how Belgian beer culture reveals sides of Europe no summit ever could.
Filip Nerad has seen Czechia’s relationship with Europe from multiple angles. According to him, the country’s standing inside the EU has changed fundamentally over the past fifteen years.
“In the era of President Václav Klaus, Czechia was seen as a kind of European curiosity – eager to join, but constantly criticising the project,” Nerad recalls. Later, during the migration crisis, the country became associated with outright rejection of common European solutions. That image, he says, has shifted only recently.
The turning point came with Czechia’s second EU presidency in 2022, held amid the energy crisis and Russia’s war against Ukraine. Nerad argues that Prague proved it could act as a constructive and reliable partner, capable of negotiation, coalition-building and compromise. This, he says, helped Czechia push through key issues such as recognising nuclear energy as part of the green transition.
Yet that progress may now be at risk. With a new government in office, Czech foreign policy has entered what Nerad describes as a potentially confusing phase. While Prime Minister Andrej Babiš (ANO Party) insists he will control foreign policy, other voices – including figures from the SPD and Motorist parties – speak loudly on issues such as Ukraine, often sending contradictory signals abroad.
“For our partners, the problem is not criticism as such,” Nerad explains. “It’s unpredictability. Allies need to know who speaks for Czechia and what the line actually is.”
On Czech complaints about being overruled by large EU states, Nerad is sceptical. In his view, even small and medium-sized countries can shape decisions – but only if they engage early, build alliances and accept compromise. Blaming “Brussels”, he adds, is often a convenient domestic strategy used across Europe, not a uniquely Czech habit.
The interview also touches on public attitudes toward the EU. Nerad notes that Czech enthusiasm after accession in 2004 gradually faded, replaced by one of the strongest eurosceptical moods in the Union. The migration crisis deepened this trend, and despite clear economic benefits, support for adopting the euro remains low. A real shift, he believes, may only come with generational change.
Away from geopolitics, Nerad turns to a subject closer to his heart: Belgian beer. Living in Brussels, he says, pubs were often the only places where he truly met Belgians, rather than diplomats and officials. There, linguistic and political divisions between Flemish and Walloons seemed to dissolve. And that inspired him to write a whole book on the subject.
“Beer, the king and the national football team – that’s what really holds Belgium together,” he says. For a Czech audience, accustomed to treating beer as an everyday staple, Belgian beer culture offered a humbling lesson in diversity, tradition and patience.
Asked what gives him hope in today’s turbulent world, Nerad points to Europe’s track record in crises. From Covid-19 to the energy shock after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the EU has repeatedly shown an ability to act when pushed.
“Europe works best under pressure,” he says. “And that gives me hope – for the EU, and for Czechia as part of it.”
Listen to ther full version of the discussion with Filip Nerad on Czechast, wherever you listen to your podcasts.
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Czechast, Radio Prague International
Czechast is a regular RPI podcast about Czech and Moravian culture, history, and economy.
