Czechia’s new government will allocate more EU subsidies to smaller-scale family farms, and fewer to the country’s traditionally dominant large landowners, from next year. The conservative-led coalition that succeeded Babis has deeply discussed its policy within the EU Common Agricultural Policy strategic plan. The result was a document
With a EUR 1,074 minimum wage, Slovenia was the only country in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) where a gross monthly salary of over a thousand euros was guaranteed, as of January 2022, according to new data from Eurostat. The federal minimum wage in the United States was EUR
In Europe and in Hungary, initiatives to expand use of hydrogen as an energy source have been given the green light, as without it the EU’s 2050 climate targets seem unattainable. Carbon-neutral or low-carbon – green and blue hydrogen – could be one of the key energy sources for the climate-friendly
EU Commission Vice-President Maros Sefcovic laid out the bloc’s plans how to build capacity in critical raw materials for batteries along the value chain after a meeting of the Competitiveness Council this week. “We know that the broad deployment of clean and digital technologies will lead to a rising
The European Commission (EC) on Thursday announced its intension to extend the validity of EU Digital COVID Certificates by another year, to 30 June 2023. The EC said the move will ensure that travellers can continue to use their certificate when travelling inside EU member states that maintain certain public
The Austrian Greens party made secret, parallel arrangements when it signed a coalition deal with the conservative OVP party in 2020, according to a newly leaked document. The supplementary agreement, or “Sideletter”, was unknown to party members and even Greens politicians who had co-negotiated the coalition deal. One of the
Here in Hungary, company cultures that effectively reduce gender discrimination are taking root, helping women to gain access to management positions. These pioneering initiatives are part of a European effort that is still only just beginning to take shape at an EU level. In March 2020, the European Commission adopted
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and Russian President Vladimir Putin talked for almost five hours in Moscow on Tuesday, although only a small amount of their conversation was made public, according to local outlets. After the meeting, Orban said Hungary aims to negotiate an increase in the volume of natural
As the EU surpassed its target of 20% sustainable energy usage in 2020, the Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) high achiever was Latvia 42.1%, which was in 3rd place in the bloc as a whole, new Eurostat figures show. In total, 7 CEE countries were above the EU average
Romania’s GDP should grow 4.5% both this year and next, after a 6.3% expansion last year, according to a report released Friday by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The positive projection came three days after Romania, Bulgaria and Croatia were announced as the three
Private sector wages in Czechia are rising by as much as 20%, Czech Radio found when it interviewed employment industry experts this week. High inflation and rocketing energy prices while the government has chosen to freeze salaries for civil servants, means companies are having to hike salaries to keep employees.
One well-known energy resource has great potential as an increasingly cost-effective source of clean energy: namely, hydrogen. It can play an important role in Europe’s CO2-free energy supply, through its low-carbon green and blue forms. Investment bank Goldman Sachs estimates that hydrogen could meet up to a quarter of
Bulgaria and North Macedonia premiers Kiril Petkov and Dimitar Kovacevski discussed establishing regular flights between their two respective capitals Skopje and Sofia, in the latter city on Tuesday. They also signed memorandums on finishing the incomplete railtrack in “Corridor VIII” between Skopje and Sofia, mutually supporting SMEs and developing a
Estonia and Austria have the cleanest economies in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) according to the latest annual report by the anti-corruption NGO Transparency International (TI). Austria and Estonia ranked joint 13th worldwide, of the 180 countries surveyed, after scoring 74 out of 100 on TI’s 2021 Corruption Perceptions
Household consumption expenditure decreased by an unprecedented 8% in the EU year-on-year in 2020, according to a new survey by the official EU statistics agency Eurostat. However as the EU-27 registered falls in household expenditure, only four countries in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) were below the EU average 8%