Hauliers associations in Poland and Hungary say their members are not interested in the UK government’s offer of three-month work visas as an attempted solution to its growing petrol queues and lorry driver shortage. Over a million Poles and hundreds of thousands of Hungarians have lived and worked in
Hungary has signed a long-term agreement with Russia’s Gazprom, which will supply 4.5 billion cubic meters (BCM) of natural gas over a 15-year period at a significant discount from what the country has been paying – a situation which has created tensions between Hungary and Ukraine, whose gas pipeline
Estonia’s one-billion-euro recovery plan was approved by the European Commission on Sunday, the country’s finance minister Keit Pentus-Rosimannus announced. The funds will be spent on digital and environmental projects as part of the EU’s Green New Deal and Next Generation schemes. Of the money, 200 million euros
Uncertainty could loom over Europe for some time following this past weekend’s German elections, which did not produce a clear winner. Although the center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD) won by a narrow margin of 1.5% ahead of the center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU), a long and wary period
The average price of energy for households in Budapest is 10.63 eurocents / kWh, which ranks the Hungarian capital first – the cheapest – among the EU capitals. Electricity prices were even lower in Belgrade, Serbia. The highest prices among EU capitals were registered in Copenhagen and Berlin, with rates three times
Getting more women involved in the workforce in Central & Eastern Europe (CEE) could reap huge benefits – billions of euros – for the region’s economies and even address its labor shortages. That’s according to a report recently released by McKinsey entitled “Win-win: How empowering women can benefit Central and
A dispute between Czechia and Poland over the shut-down of a brown coal mine has turned into diplomatic spat. Media in Hungary have reported that Polish prime minister Mateusz Morawiecki decided to cancel his appearance at this week’s Demography Summit in Budapest, where his Czech counterpart Andrej Babiš is
On a visit to Poland this week, the US secretary of Energy, Jennifer Granholm, launched the Partnership for Transatlantic Energy and Climate Cooperation, emphasizing the development of nuclear power as a way for Poland and others in Central & Eastern Europe to achieve their carbon reduction targets. Granholm said that
The citizens of EU’s richest and most populous country go to the polls on September 26, and no foreign election is as important to Central Europeans as Germany’s. With Chancellor Angela Merkel set to stand down as leader of the bloc’s economic engine after 16 years, the
While most Europeans believe a new ‘Cold War’ between the United States and China and Russia has begun, they do not think their own country is involved, a new poll by the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) concludes. European citizens consider EU institutions more likely to enter a global
The high number of EU citizens from Romania stopped and questioned before entering the UK during the first half of 2021 has prompted one MEP from Romania to call for an investigation. Freedom of movement rules changed after Brexit and in the first six months of this year around 60%
The contentious Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline will commence gas transits from Russia to Europe next month, according to the Russian state-owned Gazprom. This massive infrastructure development will not only impact European energy supplies, but could also have geopolitical effects. After years of debate and delay, the final sections
Western Balkan countries lose around 5.5 billion euros each year through the emigration of young citizens, a new report by the Westminster Foundation for Democracy found. The research, which looked at Serbia, Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro and North Macedonia, concluded that the education of a child into adulthood costs
The European Union’s Court of Justice is forcing Poland to pay a huge daily fine – EUR 500,000 – for continuing to operate a lignite mine which had been ordered to cease extraction in May of this year. Calling the fine exorbitant, Poland’s government says it has no plans
The US administration of president Joe Biden is hoping the integration of the Western Balkan countries in the the EU can speed up from its snail-like pace – and Washington will push to reinvigorate the process, a senior US State Department official has said. Gabriel Escobar, the recently named acting deputy
Slovenia received its first €231 million fund payment from the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) of the European Commission (EC) on Friday. The transfer equates to 13% of the country’s total RRF allocation. The Western Balkan EU member will receive €2.5 billion in total – €1.8 billion in
This summer six Western Balkan countries abolished mobile phone roaming charges, in what is seen as a positive step towards the eventual expansion of the European Union. Since July 1, roaming citizens of the south-east European region have been able to call text and surf online for the same fees
Taiwan has signaled its readiness to do business with Europe: the government in Taipei is eager to begin trade talks with the European Union, which has recently announced plans to become more active in Southeast Asia. Such negotiations between Taiwan and the EU have been in the works since 2015,
The world’s largest aircraft manufacturer Airbus is seeking EU approval for using one-pilot technology on its A350 jets, opening up a whole new debate on flight safety. EU regulations currently require two pilots to be present in commercial flight cockpits at all times. However Airbus argues that its new
How will Bulgaria phase out its coal-fired power plants, and what’s the exact deadline for doing that? Those are the questions the European Commission would like an exact answer to from Sofia. Following that, Brussels can start deliberations on the country’s Recovery Plan and Partnership Agreement. It presents
President of the European Commission (EC) Ursula von der Leyen called on Europe to be “bold again” as she addressed climate change, pan-continental security and digital issues in her annual State of the European Union speech on Wednesday. Von der Leyen urged China to be more transparent regarding its carbon
Developing trade and economic opportunities is the objective of an official delegation from Taiwan set to visit several countries in Central & Eastern Europe (CEE) this October. According to Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, over several days starting on 20 October a group of over 60 Taiwanese officials and
On Saturday, 11 September, Bulgaria’s president Rumen Radev announced he would call snap general elections on 14 November to coincide with the first round of presidential elections in which he will be seeking a second 5-year term. Radev, whom pollsters see as the current front-runner in the presidential race,
Start-ups in Central & Eastern Europe (CEE) are just beginning to dip their toes into the “space tech” business, a domain once reserved for governments and one which has high barriers to entry and requires deep know-how, but the region could provide fertile ground for developing a space tech industry.
According to a recent poll conducted by a TV news channel in Poland, 81% of those surveyed believe the country should remain in the European Union, in contrast to sentiments expressed by ruling party politicians. And only 7% of survey participants said they opposed Poland staying in the EU, according