Estonia has climbed into a higher innovation category according to new data from the European Innovation Scoreboard (EIS). Estonia became a Strong Innovator in 2024, after enjoying steady growth since 2017, the European Commission (EC) wrote in a statement released on Monday 8 July. The EC wrote that “Strong Innovators
Polish photovoltaic company RPower has signed with Polish State Development Bank (BGK) a loan agreement worth PLN 231mn (EUR 54.17 mln) for solar farms with a combined capacity of 72 MWp, the company announced. This is the third finance loan agreement RPower has signed this year. The projects will
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban was accused of mission creep by the international community after he opened his first week hosting the six-month EU rotating presidency with unannounced trips to Kyiv, Moscow and Beijing. Orban’s final destination after a busy week was Washington DC, for the long-planned NATO summit
Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico on Friday 5 July gave his first public appearance since being seriously injured in an assassination attempt. Fico was shot by Juraj Cintula, a 71-year-old writer and political activist after a government meeting in Handlova on 15 May, since when he has had two operations.
The EU formally opened accession negotiations with Moldova and Ukraine on 25 June. The agreement of the EU’s 27 members was secured the previous week, despite efforts from Hungary to block the move. “These are truly historic moments. Ukraine is and will always be part of a united Europe,
Romania reported the highest inflation rate in May, of 5.8%, driven by significant increases in housing and utilities prices, according to the latest data from the EU’s official statistics agency Eurostat. Croatia experienced the second highest inflation in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), of 4.3%, driven primarily
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, Austria’s Freedom Party FPO leader Herbert Kickl and ANO party leader and former Czech prime minister Andrej Babis declared a “new era” as they announced a European Parliament political alliance named Patriots for Europe at a joint press conference in Vienna on Sunday, 30
Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas was nominated on Friday, 28 June as the EU’s foreign policy chief (High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy), subject to agreement from the European Commission (EC) president. Kallas will succeed Spain’s Josep Borrell and become the first politician
Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) is becoming increasingly vital to the EU’s manufacturing landscape, the German Marshall Fund of the United States writes in a new report entitled “Rethinking Industrial Policy for Central and Eastern Europe”. Current industrial policies in the EU are pivoting towards high-tech, capital-intensive industries, as
Serbia has said it is looking to give global mining group Rio Tinto the go ahead to create Europe’s largest lithium mine two years after Belgrade shelved the project following huge environmental protests. President Aleksandar Vucic told UK daily the Financial Times that “new guarantees” from the British-Australian company
Romanian companies are now obliged to offer customers the possibility to pay for purchased goods and services with credit and debit cards, under new regulations, effective Sunday, June 16. The law does not yet specify that a merchant must have a point of sale (POS) payment machine, as there is
Hungary will take over the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union on Monday, 1 July with the slogan “Make Europe Great Again,” a nod to the populist and nationalist politics of Donald Trump, who will run for US president again in November, during Hungary’s own tenure.
Despite an overall downturn, the Central and Eastern European (CEE) start-up scene showed resilience in the first quarter of 2024, when it secured USD 11.8bn in investor funding. AI continues to attract significant interest, representing about 17% of global funding. Other key industries receiving investments in CEE include enterprise
Hungary will not be obliged to participate in military actions outside its territory or send money or troops to Ukraine, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said after he met NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg in Budapest on Wednesday, 12 June, ahead of the treaty organisation’s Washington Summit next month.
The European Commission (EC) published a draft package on battery electric vehicles (BEVs) imported from China, including tariffs of between 17.4% and 38.1% on manufacturers, in addition to the 10% they already pay, on Wednesday, 12 June. The EC wrote that it has “provisionally concluded that the battery