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Fossil fuel prices in Europe have increased notably since the onset of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the Mercator Research Institute (MCC) writes in its new report. Higher prices affect households across EU countries differently, it adds. Financial impacts would constitute average additional ‘overnight’ costs for households of more than
Baltic countries
In a letter to be sent to EU finance ministers, Slovakia, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia jointly call for frozen Russian assets to be used towards the reconstruction of Ukraine in the aftermath of its invasion by Russia. The letter written by the four Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries, seen
Austria
Austrian energy group OMV announced on Friday that it was opening an account with Russian Gazprombank for ruble conversion. The development came after repeated Austrian assertions that it would not pay for gas in rubles, as Russia demanded in response to EU sanctions over its invasion of Ukraine on 24
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The European Commission (EC) adopted a EUR 300bn proposal for the 27-country bloc to be entirely independent of Russian energy by 2027, on Wednesday 18 May. “We must now reduce as soon as possible our dependency on Russian fossil fuels. I’m deeply convinced we can,” EC President Ursula von
Hungary
The Slovak government approved a proposal to impose an extra import tax on Russian-processed crude oil on Wednesday. The levy would impact Slovnaft, a subsidiary of Hungarian energy firm MOL that has a refinery in the Slovak capital of Bratislava, Hungarian-language Slovak daily Uj Szo wrote. Slovak Finance Minister Igor
Poland
The European Commission (EC) is about to release the EUR 36bn Recovery and Resilience Plan (RRP) funds to Poland that were suspended over disagreements regarding the independence of the country’s judiciary. The EU will release the grants and loans on condition that Poland dismantles its disciplinary judicial chamber and
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The EU failed to agree on its latest sanctions against Russia on Tuesday, as Hungary refused to drop its threat to torpedo the package. Consensus on a blanket embargo of Russian oil remains elusive and could take another “week or two”, EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell said on Monday,
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G7 ministers expressed their concern about the “deepening political crisis” in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) and support for the commencement of EU accession negotiations with Albania and North Macedonia, following a meeting in northern Germany at the weekend. In a strongly worded joint statement, the foreign ministers of the US,
Bulgaria
The EU on Monday failed to make headway on finalising a sixth package of sanctions against Russia in response to its invasion of Ukraine, which includes a complete embargo on oil imports from the country. The first five rounds of EU sanctions included asset freezes and travel bans on Russian
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MEPs on the environment committee of the European Parliament (ENVI) will vote on a tranche of environmental proposals early next week. On Monday and Tuesday (16-17 May), the ENVI will decide on around half of the regulations detailed in the European Commission’s Fit for 55 package to cut greenhouse
Bulgaria
The European Commission (EC) could channel funds to countries in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) to help reduce their dependence on Russian fuels, in the wake of Hungary threatening to veto the planned EU embargo on Russian oil imports. The financial compensation would be disbursed via the new RePowerEU strategy
Czech Republic
Czechia will participate in the UN Human Rights Council meeting on Thursday 12 May, after being elected as Russia’s replacement in the 47-member body earlier this week. The special session from 10am will address the deteriorating human rights situation in Ukraine including reported atrocities in Mariupol, at the request