Croatia
The European Commission (EC) will cut Croatia’s maximum share of the EU’s Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) stimulus programme by around 13% due to the country’s unexpectedly strong economic performance last year. Croatia’s economy shrank 8.1% in 2020, the year that COVID:19 reached Europe,
Hungary
Hungary had the highest proportion of solar technology in its electricity production in the EU last year, according to the Hungarian energy and public utility authority MEKH. Solar accounted for 11.1% of electricity generation in Hungary last year, MEKH announced on Monday, local business website Portfolio reported. Athough Hungary’
Baltic countries
Surging energy prices pushed prices up across the EU in June, but the three Baltic countries have been hardest hit, according to according to a flash estimate by the EU statistics office Eurostat. Estonia had the highest inflation rate in the EU in June, at 22%, closely followed by Lithuania
Bulgaria
Bulgarian Prime Minister Kiril Petkov is trying to save his administration by persuading seven MPs to support his coalition in the wake of populist party There Are Such People’s departure. Former premier Boyko Borissov’s centre-right party GERB initiated a confidence vote on Wednesday, and accused Petkov of failing
Austria
Austria’s foreign and European affairs minister said he expects the countries in the Western Balkans (WB) to join the EU, after he met Serbian government officials in Belgrade on Monday, 13 June. Alexander Schallenberg added that he hopes Serbia and other WB states will align their stances on Russia
Czech Republic
Inflation is endangering EU-funded infrastructure constructions across Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), and affected countries say the European Commission (EC) is not reacting fast enough. The EU’s structural investment scheme – which is widely distributed around CEE in seven-year cycles – has been hit hard by inflation, and the soaring prices
Bulgaria
The European Innovation Council (EIC) will award grants or equity investments of up to EUR 17.5mn to six “high potential” startups from Poland, Estonia and Bulgaria, it announced Wednesday, 8 June. Poland had three grantees announced on Wednesday: Ecoplastomer, which develops technology for plastic and rubber waste, Camino Science,
Poland
MEPs are planning to protest the transfer of a EUR 35.4bn EU stimulus package to Poland, arguing that the country has not adequately addressed disputes over judicial independence and Rule of Law in the country. The European Commission (EC) last week approved Poland’s COVID recovery plan, despite a
Bulgaria
Croatia has been given the go-ahead to adopt the euro from the start of next year, when it will become twentieth country to do so, and the first since Lithuania in 2015. Having received positive assessments of the ECB and the European Commission, the path for euro adoption is now
Baltic countries
Lithuania allowing Taiwan to open a ‘Taiwanese Representative Office’ in its capital Vilnius “gave China reason to go all-out against us”, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis says in an interview with the right-wing UK magazine The Spectator. Beijing withdrew its ambassador and blocked imports from Lithuania, deleting it from its
Baltic countries
Inflation was highest in Estonia amongst the Eurozone countries in May, according to a Eurostat report that estimated 20.1% year-on-year for the Baltic country. Inflation climbed from 11.6% in Estonia in February, up from 14.8% in March and 19.1% in April. As numbers diverged wildly across
Serbia
As Europe attempts a highly complicated manoeuvre to phase out Russian energy, two countries in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) are taking very different roads. While EU member Slovakia is signing supply contracts for liquefied natural gas (LNG) from northern Europe, accession candidate Serbia has agreed a medium-term gas deal