So often the exemplar in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), Estonia has been named the region’s most transparent country in the annual Transparency International (TI) Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), released by the NGO on Tuesday, 31 January. In 2022, Estonia placed 14th globally, with a CPI score of 74,
Retired General Petr Pavel, a former senior NATO commander, won the Czech presidency in a record-breaking victory over former prime minister Andrej Babis on Saturday. In the head-to-head second round of voting, pro-EU Pavel received 58.3% of the ballots, to Babis’s 41.68%, the largest ever victory margin
Standard & Poor’s (S&P) downgraded Hungary’s credit rating by one step to the lowest investment grade of BBB- on Friday, partly due to Hungary’s current struggles in accessing some EUR 30bn of EU funding. The credit ratings agency also pointed to the negative effects of
The European Commission (EC) on Wednesday endorsed a package of 24 guarantee programmes worth EUR 2.4bn to support investments in the EU’s neighbourhood and enlargement countries in the West Balkans. The new guarantees approved by the EC’s Operational Board of the European Fund are classified under the
Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary and Slovakia have jointly requested EU funding to develop the necessary infrastructure to support increased gas supplies from Azerbaijan. The countries say they recognize the importance of energy security for Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) and see the potential for Azerbaijan to play a crucial role in
Bulgaria is preparing for a new general election in the spring, following the failure of the country’s Socialist Party to form a working government. The Socialists, who were given a third and final chance to establish a cabinet after the 2 October election brought no clear winner, announced that
Railway infrastructure managers from Czechia, Poland and the Baltics signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) in connection with building almost 2,800 miles of high-speed railway across Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) on Wednesday. The MOU was signed in Warsaw at the Railway Direction Days conference, and builds on a
More people in Estonia use online banking services than anywhere else in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), according to a new report by the official EU statistics office Eurostat. In Estonia, 83.36% of residents used digital banking in 2022, with Latvia close behind on 82.45%. Other countries high
A memorandum of understanding (MOU) for the oil pipeline project between Alexandroupolis, east Greece, and Burgas, east Bulgaria, will be signed very soon, Armenian state news agency Armenpress reported Bulgarian Energy Minister Rosen Hristov as saying on Saturday. “The energy crisis in Europe,” Hristov said, “calls for even closer cooperation
Retired General Petr Pavel will face ex-prime minister Andrej Babis in Czechia’s presidential runoff vote after narrowly beating him into second place in an eight-candidate ballot on Friday and Saturday, 13-14 January. Pavel received 35.4% of the votes, to Andrej Babis’s 34.99%, missing the simple majority
As President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine nears its first anniversary and Russia regroups, the defence sector politics of Central and Eastern Europe are also in transition. Fighting is moving to the flatter eastern Donbas region, in the wake of Russia’s retreat from the outskirts of Kyiv. To
Hungary has finalised a deal to acquire Vodafone Europe’s Hungarian unit for HUF 660bn (EUR 1.6bn) in the largest state purchase since the change of regime in 1990. The Hungarian state made the deal through its holding company Corvinus, which has obtained a 49% stake, while government-linked company
The three Baltic countries are the worst hit by the wave of inflation in Europe, according to the latest flash estimate from the EU’s official statistics agency Eurostat. Latvia currently has the highest inflation in the Eurozone, as prices rose 20.7% year-on-year in December, slightly higher than in
Net4Gas, Czechia’s natural gas transmission system operator, had not received its contracted monthly payment from Russian state-owned Gazprom by 4 January, Czech Industry and Trade Minister Jozef Sikela announced. Gazprom contracts made up 75% of the revenues of Net4Gas in 2021. In an official filing Net4Gas stated that it
The EU last year attempted to address the erosion of perceived democratic norms of the populist governments of Hungary and Poland, by withholding a combined EUR 138bn in funding from the two states. After this unprecedented move, 2023 will be the year when the EU decides on whether to make