Is Decentralization Progressing? Green Politics in Tension Between the Central and Local Levels in the V4 Countries

The paper explores the responses of selected CEE countries to the challenges of green policies. Particular attention is paid to the tension between local and central levels in the Visegrad Group countries (Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Hungary). Therefore, a key question is whether, and if so, to what extent, the implementation of environmentally oriented policy influences strengthens (intensifies) or eliminates (reduces) the aforementioned tension between central government and local government administration. This issue is important because it fits into a stream of political science research that aims to illustrate the fluctuating levels of local autonomy experienced in Central and Eastern European countries - dynamic decentralization versus progressive recentralization (Ladner, Keuffer, Bastianen, 2025; Ladner et al., 2019; Swianiewcz, 2019). The paper presents the results of international comparative research aimed at capturing the impact of the challenge of protecting the natural environment and climate on policy-making in the V4 countries, which engages the so-called central and local levels' actors.