US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg discussed the importance of strengthening Transatlantic unity at the NATO Foreign Ministerial in Riga, Latvia on Wednesday. NATO billed the summit as “30 Allies (meeting) to discuss the situation in and around Ukraine, Belarus, lessons learned from NATO’
Prime Minister of North Macedonia Zoran Zaev officially stood down as leader of the country’s ruling party SDSM on Saturday, in the wake of right-wing opposition VMRO-DPMNE’s landslide victory in local elections earlier this month. So far only Deputy Finance Minister Dimitar Kovacevski has announced a
Belarus will limit the pumping of oil to Poland through its section of the Druzhba pipeline for three days from Thursday, Transneft official Igor Demin announced yesterday. Gomeltransneft, the Belarusian subsidiary of Russia’s Transneft, is carrying out “unscheduled repairs”, Demin said, adding that its planned transit target for November
The US national public health agency yesterday began advising American tourists against visiting Hungary or Czechia, two of the world’s leading destinations for winter tourism. The countries were raised from the third to the top “Level 4: COVID Very High” category by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Polish Climate and Environment minister Anna Moskwa appeared to reverse Poland’s commitment to cutting coal power by 2030 on Thursday, just hours after her government had signed up for the policy at the COP26 climate conference. More than 40 major fuel-burning countries including Poland and Ukraine pledged to
Russian state-owned Gazprom has offered Moldova a new and improved gas-supply contract on condition that it drops its tariff-free trade deal with the EU and postpones the energy market reforms it has agreed with the bloc, the Financial Times wrote, citing sources familiar with the negotiations. Russia,
The European Court of Justice (ECJ) on Wednesday ordered Poland to pay EUR 1 million on a daily basis for not suspending national legislation, particularly the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court’s disciplinary chamber, which critics say is being used to punish independent judges. The row over the rule of
After years of circling Hungary’s main airport, Prime Minister Viktor Orban finally declared the state’s intention to purchase Budapest Liszt Ferenc International this week. “This could happen at any moment”, he said. “It is only right if our sole major international airport is in Hungarian ownership (and can
House prices have more than doubled in Estonia and Hungary over the last decade, according to a Eurostat survey that puts seven CEE countries in the top ten of the European Union member states. The average cost of a home in the EU-27 rose 34% from 2010 to the
Digital bank Revolut is in talks with the Hungarian National Bank (MNB) about entering the central European country’s market, deputy CEO Andrius Biceika announced on Wednesday. The Hungarian regulator is not opposed to the move, Biceika said in a keynote speech at the Banking Technology conference in Budapest. The
Czech politics is currently in a state of paralysis after President Milos Zeman was hospitalised on election weekend. The head of state officially oversees the handover of power after national elections in Czechia. However the 77-year-old fell ill after a meeting with Prime Minister Andrej Babis on Sunday.
President Klaus Iohannis has invited Save Romania Union (USR) leader Dacian Ciolos to form a government in Romania, which is in the midst of a political crisis. The country has been without a prime minister since last week, when MPs dismissed Florin Citu of the National Liberal Party (PNL). Ciolos’
Tamas Revesz has organised the World Press Photo (WPP) exhibition in Hungary - the homeland of Robert Capa and Joseph Pulitzer - every year since the fall of communism. “It's over 30 years - quite incredible,” the Hungarian photographer tells CET as he launches his 31st exhibition in Budapest. World Press
The government is currently discussing investments with 14 South Korean companies, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said after meeting his opposite number Chung Eui-yong and Trade Minister Yeo Han-koo in Paris on Wednesday. President Moon Jae-in will next month become the first South Korean head of state
How do you organise a major global exhibition in the Covid-era? Exhibitions manager and curator at World Press Photo, Sanne Schim van der Loeff, told CET how she and her colleagues have kept the show on the road, as it opened at the Hungarian National Museum in Budapest. World