The European Commission has now received 13 national plans for how EU countries plan on spending pandemic recovery funds from the EU, which has allotted EUR 672.5 – roughly half grants, half loans – to help economies recover and foster zero-carbon public investment projects. While such plans have been received from
Budapest Airport, the Chinese Henan Airport Group, and the Chinese-Hungarian business and logistics development company, CECZ/Utlink, have signed a cooperation agreement aimed at establishing an “aerial Silk Road” between Hungary and China. The deal is expected to bring important economic opportunities and foster a significant expansion of air freight
It’s said that when times are tough one knows who their friends are. For Greece, it was Chinese interests (and credit) that came to the rescue of an economy that had been on the brink of disaster, and investment by China into a Greek port has turned it into
President Radev handed over a mandate to the second-largest political force in Parliament, There Is Such a People (TISP), to form a government, following GERB-UDF failed to find coalition partners and secure a majority. The party immediately returned it as they would not like to enter into any coalitions with
Despite the significant increase in China’s contribution to the Serbian economy in the last decade, EU countries’ investments in Serbia largely outperform those of the Asian economic powerhouse. Here’s how FDI from China is influencing Belgrades’ trade priorities, but outstanding questions over Serbia’s 5G rollout could make
Croatia’s prime minister says a soon-to-be constructed bridge ensures his country’s borders. Set for completion in October, the Pelješac Bridge, which is being built by the China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC), will allow travelers to go to the southern part of Croatia without having to cross a
While Czechia has shown signs of interest in growing trade and cooperation with China, at the same time Prague is the loudest critic of Huawei in the region and is likely to continue to follow Brussels’ lead related to any further US-China trade disputes. 5G: A voice critical of Huawei
After an agreed takeover deal for Hungarian insurance company Aegon, a blocking of the transaction between Dutch Aegon and VIG in Austria has led to diplomatic tensions with Austria, the Netherlands, and the EU. Both Austria and the Netherlands have issued complaints about Hungary restricting the free flow of capital
On 22 April, Ford Europe announced it would invest USD 300 million in Romania to build new light commercial vehicles in its Craiova plant starting from 2023. The Romanian investment was announced weeks after Ford having disclosed it would turn its factory in Cologne, Germany into its European EV automotive
Similar to its welcoming approach to Russia, Hungary’s government is greeting Chinese economic and trade interests with open arms – despite openly expressed concerns by its allies in Brussels and the West. 5G: whose technology? Despite pressure from the US not to do so, Hungary has welcomed Huawei’s participation
A global trade war between the US and China may turn Central & Eastern Europe (CEE) into a battleground. The region, which has become a springboard for Chinese expansion, is now torn between its political and security allegiances to the US and its hunger for fresh capital. In the last
The incumbent Bulgarian leader, Boyko Borissov, and his party, GERB, stumbled in the elections that took place on 4 April. For the prime minister, this meant losing his grip on the government after almost a decade of ruling the poorest EU member state. Three weeks after the inconclusive elections, the
Hungary will be among the first countries to hand in its Recovery Plan in Brussels, said Gergely Gulyás of the prime minister’s office in a radio interview. According to him, Hungary will spend most of the money on developing the healthcare sector and on emission reduction projects, targeting the
In an op-ed for Euobserver, Attila Steiner, secretary of state for circular economy, energy and climate at the Ministry of Innovation and Technology describes Hungary’s position in the climate politics with the following sentence: “If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em’ – and when you do so, try to
According to an audit by the European Commission, the Agrofert business empire of Czech prime minister, Andrej Babis, has broken conflict of interest rules through his control of company trust funds and could be forced to pay back EU subsidies it had received after 2017. A report by EU auditors