Hungary has decided against a plan to expand the country’s ownership of agricultural land in some of its neighbors like Slovakia, through a EUR 400 million fund. The government said the land purchases were designed to support the agricultural activities of ethnic Hungarian minorities in Hungary’s immediate neighbors.
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’
Germany’s VW is planning on building six battery factories in Europe by 2030, and one of those facilities is likely to land in one of the Visegrad 4 (“V4”) group countries – the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland or Slovakia – but the actual decision hasn’t yet been made. Wherever the
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the Biden administration have brokered a compromise on the plan to introduce a global corporate tax regime with the three low-corporate tax states that had been holding out on the agreement. With Ireland, Estonia and Hungary now onboard, the ambitious measure
Protesters chanted “No to Polexit” at pro-EU rallies in Warsaw and across Poland over the weekend after the country’s highest court ruled that domestic law takes supremacy over the European Union treaties. Led by former prime minister and one-time European Council president Donald Tusk, tens of thousands protested Thursday’
Czechs voted for a conservative shift in last weekend’s elections on Friday and Saturday. The conservative coalition SPOLU (“Together”) formed by the Civic Democrats, Christian Democrats, and TOP 09 parties, narrowly beat the ruling ANO party of current prime minister Andrej Babis. His coalition partner Social Democrats and the
Alexander Schallenberg is expected to be sworn in “within days” as Chancellor of Austria following the resignation of Sebastian Kurz over the weekend. It would be an “enormously challenging task,” said 52-year-old Schallenberg, who has been Austria’s foreign minister since 2019. Kurz, 35, stepped down on Saturday amid claims
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 Photo
Due to the global shortage of microchips the Czech Republic’s biggest exporter, auto manufacturer Skoda, has announced a significant production cut – starting in October – which could last until the end of 2021. According to economists, it could exert a significant effect upon Czechia’s overall economy by cutting into
Poland’s highest court ruled Thursday that some parts of the EU treaties are incompatible with the country’s own Constitution. Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki originally took the case to Poland’s Constitutional Tribunal, asking whether the EU could block Poland’s judiciary reorganisation. In his verdict, judge Bartlomiej Sochanski
On Wednesday, Russia’s president Vladimir Putin offered to deliver record amounts of natural gas to Europe to address rising prices and avoid an energy crisis just before the winter heating season, which sees higher demand. Recently, Europe has seen a shortage of gas supply, driving up energy prices. Some
EU leaders reaffirmed their commitment for six Western Balkan countries to join the Union, but held off opening full negotiations with Albania and North Macedonia at a one-day EU Summit in the Slovenian city of Brdo. “The Western Balkans are part of the same Europe as the European Union. The
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 to visit Hungary
Zagreb has come out in support of the G20 political agreement based on a proposal to tax multinational companies. It will bring greater tax fairness, according to Croatia’s finance minister, Zdravko Marić, who said his country is in favor of the global mechanism that is planned to be enshrined
With hopes of Bulgaria lifting its veto on North Macedonia’s potential bid to join the European Union, today Bulgaria’s president, Rumen Radev, will get a chance to meet with the prime minister of North Macedonia, Zoran Zaev, at a high-level gathering in Slovenia including Chancellor Angela Merkel and
Corruption allegations against prime minister Andrej Babis are dominating the headlines in Czechia as its citizens prepare to go to the polls on Friday and Saturday. Already reeling from his ANO party’s fall in support during September – from 32.4% to 27.3%, according to pollster STEM – the oligarch
With the country seeing a massive surge of the COVID-19 pandemic and having to deal with a tenuous international credit rating, now Romania’s government has failed to pass through a no-confidence vote today, 5 October. Romanian prime minister Florin Citu and his minority-led coalition had only been in power
Vice President of the Hungarian Energy and Utilities Regulatory Authority, Pál Ságvári, expects high gas and energy prices to stay high over the next few months. He compared the situation to a “perfect storm,” given that in recent months there were temporary supply disruptions on both the Russian and Norwegian
Czech prime minister Andrej Babis is one of the most prominent active politicians featured in the so-called Pandora Papers, a massive trove of information from offshore services firms totaling 11.9 million secret files – published on 3 October by the International Consortium of Investigate Journalists. According to the revelations, Babis,
Leaders of EU member states and six countries in the Western Balkans – known as the WB6 – will renew vows of a “shared future” at Brdo Castle near Slovenia capital Ljubljana on 6 October. President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen travelled to all of the WB6 capitals in
At the first meeting of the newly founded EU-US Trade and Technology Council (TTC) the EU and the US governments have set the stage for closer technological cooperation and a sharing of progressive trade rules. The aim of TTC is two-fold: simultaneously support domestic industries and achieve a higher level
MEP Klara Dobrev emerged as the frontrunner in Hungary’s first ever primary election to select a united-opposition candidate to stand against Prime Minister Viktor Orban, on Wednesday. Dobrev, an MEP for the left-leaning Democratic Coalition party that was founded by her husband, ex-premier Ferenc Gyurcsany, won around 34% of
Electric car sales more than doubled in 2020 in the European Union, and are up by 130% for the first half of this year. That’s why electric auto manufacturers from China are looking to make inroads into Europe, where the European Union is pushing to reduce greenhouse gas emissions
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 Press
If licensing doesn’t hold things up, the construction of an interconnector designed to help countries around the Baltic Sea diversify their sources of natural gas is scheduled to begin deliveries in the second half of 2022, according to Lithuania’s energy minister, Dainius Kreivys. Once completed, the pipeline will