Belarus, a former soviet republic, attained independence in 1991. Belarus’ ties with Russia influence both its economic and political direction. President Lukashenko is often dubbed “Europe’s last dictator”. He has been in power since 1994. In August 2020, the largest protests in the country’s history began to demand Lukashenko’s departure after […]

The Republic of Bulgaria is a democratic sovereign state in southeastern Europe with a population of 7.5 million and bordered by Romania, Serbia, Macedonia, Greece, Turkey and the Black Sea. The Constitution guarantees “the life, dignity and rights of the individual and shall create conditions conducive to the free development […]

The Czech Republic, or Czechia, is a constitutionally secular state. Beneath the secular surface, however, there are a number of systemic privileges and special permissions granted to religious groups. According to the 2021 Census,1https://vdb.czso.cz/vdbvo2/faces/en/index.jsf?page=vystup-objekt&pvo=SLD210092-KR&z=T&f=TABULKA&skupId=4294&katalog=33525&pvo=SLD210092-KR 48% of the population are non-religious. 22% of the population identify as religious, of which 59% […]

Hungary is often said to be pulled culturally, socially and politically between “East” and “West.” Hungary’s modern constitutional parliamentary democracy was introduced in 1989, following a long history of varying authoritarian regimes including 40 years of communist dictatorship. In the first 20 years, democratic institutions were set up and improved […]

With a population of just over four million, Moldova is a parliamentary republic nestled between Romania and Ukraine. Constitution and government According to the Constitution, there is no State religion in Moldova. Article 10 of the Constitution provides for equal treatment for all citizens regardless of religion, and Article 31 […]

The Roman Catholic Church is the largest religious organization in Poland and maintains considerable influence in social and political life. In 1993, it was granted special recognition by the Polish state as per a Concordat with the Holy See. Recent developments have seen new propositions by the government to impose […]

Romania is a semi-presidential republic with a multi-party system, a member of the EU and NATO. The law forbids public authorities from asking individuals to specify their religion, except for the census. According to the 2021 census,1https://insse.ro/cms/sites/default/files/com_presa/com_pdf/cp-date-provizorii-rpl2021_0.pdf 16.3 million of the country’s 19 million population chose to answer questions on […]

The Russian Federation is the world’s largest country by land area. After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Russia has struggled to maintain its commitments to human rights conventions and its Constitution. The Russian Federation is a multi-religious nation, with roughly 71% of the population identifying as Orthodox […]

Slovakia is a democratic republic with a multi-party parliamentary system. After the 1989 collapse of Communism, the dissolution of Czechoslovakia in 1993 meant that Slovakia became an independent state. It is now a member of the EU and NATO. The population of around 5.4 million people is predominantly Catholic. Just […]

Ukraine became a fully independent sovereign state in 1991 following the collapse of the Soviet Union. By area i tis the largest country entirely within Europe, and has a population of around 41 million.1https://index.minfin.com.ua/ua/reference/people/ The majority of Ukrainians consider themselves believers (61.7%), 2.5% are atheists, the number of non-believers slightly […]