Polish photovoltaic company RPower has signed with Polish State Development Bank (BGK) a loan agreement worth PLN 231mn (EUR 54.17 mln) for solar farms with a combined capacity of 72 MWp, the company announced. This is the third finance loan agreement RPower has signed this year. The projects will
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban was accused of mission creep by the international community after he opened his first week hosting the six-month EU rotating presidency with unannounced trips to Kyiv, Moscow and Beijing. Orban’s final destination after a busy week was Washington DC, for the long-planned NATO summit
Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico on Friday 5 July gave his first public appearance since being seriously injured in an assassination attempt. Fico was shot by Juraj Cintula, a 71-year-old writer and political activist after a government meeting in Handlova on 15 May, since when he has had two operations.
The EU formally opened accession negotiations with Moldova and Ukraine on 25 June. The agreement of the EU’s 27 members was secured the previous week, despite efforts from Hungary to block the move. “These are truly historic moments. Ukraine is and will always be part of a united Europe,
Romania reported the highest inflation rate in May, of 5.8%, driven by significant increases in housing and utilities prices, according to the latest data from the EU’s official statistics agency Eurostat. Croatia experienced the second highest inflation in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), of 4.3%, driven primarily
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, Austria’s Freedom Party FPO leader Herbert Kickl and ANO party leader and former Czech prime minister Andrej Babis declared a “new era” as they announced a European Parliament political alliance named Patriots for Europe at a joint press conference in Vienna on Sunday, 30
Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas was nominated on Friday, 28 June as the EU’s foreign policy chief (High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy), subject to agreement from the European Commission (EC) president. Kallas will succeed Spain’s Josep Borrell and become the first politician
Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) is becoming increasingly vital to the EU’s manufacturing landscape, the German Marshall Fund of the United States writes in a new report entitled “Rethinking Industrial Policy for Central and Eastern Europe”. Current industrial policies in the EU are pivoting towards high-tech, capital-intensive industries, as
Serbia has said it is looking to give global mining group Rio Tinto the go ahead to create Europe’s largest lithium mine two years after Belgrade shelved the project following huge environmental protests. President Aleksandar Vucic told UK daily the Financial Times that “new guarantees” from the British-Australian company
Romanian companies are now obliged to offer customers the possibility to pay for purchased goods and services with credit and debit cards, under new regulations, effective Sunday, June 16. The law does not yet specify that a merchant must have a point of sale (POS) payment machine, as there is
Hungary will take over the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union on Monday, 1 July with the slogan “Make Europe Great Again,” a nod to the populist and nationalist politics of Donald Trump, who will run for US president again in November, during Hungary’s own tenure.
Despite an overall downturn, the Central and Eastern European (CEE) start-up scene showed resilience in the first quarter of 2024, when it secured USD 11.8bn in investor funding. AI continues to attract significant interest, representing about 17% of global funding. Other key industries receiving investments in CEE include enterprise
Hungary will not be obliged to participate in military actions outside its territory or send money or troops to Ukraine, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said after he met NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg in Budapest on Wednesday, 12 June, ahead of the treaty organisation’s Washington Summit next month.
The European Commission (EC) published a draft package on battery electric vehicles (BEVs) imported from China, including tariffs of between 17.4% and 38.1% on manufacturers, in addition to the 10% they already pay, on Wednesday, 12 June. The EC wrote that it has “provisionally concluded that the battery
Budapest Mayor Gergely Karacsony retained his post at last Sunday’s election, the Hungarian National Election Committee (NVB) confirmed on Friday evening after a recount of invalid votes. Last weekend the Hungarian capital’s liberal incumbent mayor received 371,466 votes, just ahead of LMP-Greens candidate and transport expert David
One-third of the EU-27 member states held local or national elections in tandem with the European Parliament ballot on June 6-9. Of these, three were countries in Central and Eastern Europe: Bulgaria, Hungary and Romania. Romania’s June 9 local elections saw 41 county council president and 3,176 mayor
Hungary’s state-owned MVM Group has signed an agreement with Azerbaijan to acquire a 5% stake in the Shah Deniz natural gas field. The acquisition will propel Hungary’s gas security into a “new dimension,” Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said at a joint press conference in Baku with Azerbaijani
Pro-European centrist parties performed well in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) at the European Parliament (EP) elections held from 6-9 June, in contrast to elsewhere on the continent, where far-right parties surged. Tusk consolidates lead in Poland In Poland, the Civic Coalition (KO), led by Prime Minister Donald Tusk, gained
Slovakia’s Prime Minister Robert Fico faced an unexpected setback in the EU elections against the opposition liberals on Sunday, following a recent assassination attempt that left him severely wounded, according to his party. An opponent of military assistance to Ukraine in its conflict against Russian forces, Fico, 59, had
The EU elections, which will be held from on 6-9 June, involve nearly 400mn voters across 27 countries deciding on 720 seats in the European Parliament (EP). The vote will decide who will lead the European Commission (EC), with EC President Ursula von der Leyen vying for a second term,
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken travelled to Chisinau, Moldova and Prague, Czechia, from May 28-31, to discuss energy, defence and the NATO summit in Washington DC scheduled for early July. In Chisinau, Blinken met with Moldovan President Maia Sandu to show support for the European country’s progress on
Czech companies signed memorandums of understanding (MOUs) in connection with Korea’s Daewoo concerning the construction tender for a nuclear power plant in Dukovany, south Czechia, on Monday, 27 May. Daewoo Engineering & Construction (E&C) President Baek Jung-wan made the announcement at the Czechia-Korea Nuclear Engineering & Construction
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who recently described the current European Commission (EC) as “the worst one” ever, framed the June 7-9 elections as a decisive moment between peace and the spectre of war looming over Europe, at a large demonstration in Budapest on Saturday, 1 June. Orban called for
Countries from Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) made up five of the seven signatories states of a letter expressing concern over recent developments in Georgia to its Parliamentary Chairman H.E. Shalva Papuashvili sent on Friday, 24 May. In recent months, Georgia has witnessed political and social upheaval, as anti-government
Lithuania’s President Gitanas Nauseda secured re-election on Sunday 26 May, according to official results, in a vote heavily dominated by defence concerns regarding neighbouring Russia. The electoral commission reported that Nauseda garnered 74.6% of the vote, with 90% of ballots counted following the polls’ closure on Sunday. His