Julija Sardelić on Transit Europe and the Politics of Refugee Protection

Julija Sardelić on Transit Europe and the Politics of Refugee Protection

What does it mean for a country to become “transit”? Is this a matter of geography, or a political choice? And how do such choices reshape the rights and lived realities of those seeking refuge? In this episode of Studio Central and Eastern Europe, Denitsa Marchevska speaks with Dr Julija Sardelić, Senior Lecturer in Political Science and International Relations at Te Herenga Waka – Victoria University of Wellington. The conversation grows out of Sardelić’s recent book, Refugee Protection Crises and Transit Europe (Springer, 2025). She advances a compelling argument: so-called “transit countries” do not merely find themselves in that position—they actively fashion themselves as such, precisely to circumscribe their obligations towards those in search of protection. Tracing four key moments in post-war European history—from the displacement following the 1956 Hungarian Revolution, through the Yugoslav wars, to the movements of 2015–2016 and the flight from Ukraine after Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022—Sardelić shows how states in Central and South-East Europe have recurrently cast themselves as temporary waypoints. This self-positioning, she argues, enables them to withhold full refugee status and the rights it entails, transforming what are commonly termed “refugee crises” into, more accurately, “refugee protection crises”. The episode situates these insights within the wider architecture of the international refugee regime, which Sardelić characterises as both hierarchical and racialised. It considers how selective forms of diversity politics sustain uneven systems of protection, while leaving all refugees in conditions of precarity. Denitsa Marchevska brings to the discussion her expertise as a postdoctoral researcher at KU Leuven, where she studies public policy-making and administrative processes in hybrid regimes and weak democracies. Together, they offer a reflection on borders, belonging, and the political production of mobility—and its suspension—in contemporary Europe.

Antoine Bailleux on the ECJ, Hungary, and the Legal Power of Values

On 21 April 2026, the European Court of Justice will deliver its long-awaited judgement in an historical case where the European Commission, for the first time ever, took Hungary to Europe’s highest court for a violation of “European Values” because of its anti-LGBT laws. Why could this judgement be a game-changer for European law? Why were European values not invoked before in courts? What are the risks when judges start using values? And more broadly: is it a coincidence that Central European Countries such as Poland and Hungary are, once more, accused of disrespecting Europe’s values and principles? And how do these countries defend themselves before the court in Luxembourg? In this episode of Studio Central and Eastern Europe these and other questions are discussed by Antoine Bailleux, who is a professor in European Law at UCLouvain, in a conversation with Wim Weymans, who, until recently, held the Chair in European Values at UCLouvain and who is also a Research Affiliate at LINES (KU Leuven).

Vjosa Musliu on Lived Experience as Knowledge in International Relations

From a distance, objectivity looks almost effortless—one of the presumed privileges of studying war. But what if the scholar has survived the very conflict they seek to analyse?   In this episode of Studio Central and Eastern Europe, Kosovo-born and Belgium-based scholar Vjosa Musliu joins PhD researcher at KU Leuven Njomëza Mulhaxha Musliu to discuss her book Girlhood at War. Blending personal narrative with political reflection, Musliu probes how lived experience can inform, unsettle, and deepen academic inquiry into conflict and its aftermath.   Can the researcher’s own memories—intellectual, emotional, even bodily—become a legitimate source of knowledge in the study of international relations? And might embracing subjectivity, rather than expunging it, bring greater humanity to the discipline? Girlhood at War offers a vivid account of growing up during the Kosovo war and its aftermath, tracing how a young girl’s initially clear-cut moral map fractures as displacement, class, and the ambiguities of “liberation” take hold. The book evokes the intimate textures of wartime life that rarely enter official histories, including Musliu’s unexpected role as a thirteen‑year‑old interpreter for NATO troops, while also illuminating the broader stakes of writing scholarship from a life shaped by conflict. In this conversation, Vjosa Musliu reflects on how these formative experiences inform her teaching and thinking as a scholar—shaping her work as Professor of International Relations at the VUB, her research on statebuilding and liberal interventions in the Balkans, and her engagement in regional scholarly and human‑rights initiatives.

Elisabed Gedevanishvili on Unravelling Democracy and Opposition Energy in Georgia

Researcher and activist Elisabed Gedevanishvili speaks about the political situation in Georgia. In conversation with political scientist Peter Vermeersch, she reflects on how the continued unravelling of Georgia’s democracy affects the opposition, fuels the energy of the protests, and shapes the ways in which protesters find the courage to stand their ground and demand democracy.

Vera Messing on Hungary’s ‘Community Identity’ Law—and Its Impact on the Roma Minority

Can a law designed to safeguard local identity end up eroding fundamental rights? In this episode of Studio Central and Eastern Europe at KU Leuven, sociologist Vera Messing (Center for Social Sciences, Budapest) speaks with political scientist Peter Vermeersch about Hungary’s Law on Protecting Local Community Identity, in force since July 2025. The legislation gives municipalities the power to restrict new residents and property buyers, granting local councils authority to regulate settlement and property acquisition. While presented as a measure to preserve cultural identity and support small communities, human rights organisations and the EU warn of serious risks to equality and freedom of movement. Messing examines how local authorities apply—or ignore—these powers, and what this means for Hungary’s citizens, particularly the Roma minority. Vera Messing is a research fellow at the Center for Policy Studies and a senior research associate of the Institute of Sociology at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in Budapest. Peter Vermeersch is Professor of Political Science at KU Leuven. Their current work forms part of the project RAISE [https://raise-horizon.eu], Recognition and Acknowledgement of Injustice to Strengthen Equality. Join us for a conversation that exposes the tension between local autonomy, national politics, and fundamental rights in Hungary.