The heads of governments of the three Eastern Partnership countries at the front of the queue for EU membership are jointly urging a speeding up of the integration process. The visits of officials from Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine precedes the regular EU-Eastern Partnership (EaP) summit scheduled for 15 December 2021
The Slovak government announced plans to the build the country’s largest solar park on Monday. State nuclear company JESS will construct the renewable energy development near the Jaslovenske Bohunice nuclear reactors. The EUR 60 million investment will result in Slovakia’s largest solar power plant, spread over a105-hectare site.
Production of “green” hydrogen produced with renewable energy sources may be coming into focus for the European Union as a way to reduce CO2 emissions. EU officials say the cost of producing it should fall, if the gigawatt capacity of electrolysers is ramped up sufficiently. At an event in Brussels
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 candidacy to
Czechia’s President Milos Zeman officially appointed Petr Fiala as prime minister to lead a broad coalition of right-wing and centrist parties on Sunday, after his predecessor Andrej Babis lost the national elections in October. Fiala said his new coalition, expected to form mid-December, hopes to be a government of
In a surprise move on Thursday, Slovenia’s government, which holds the EU presidency, ended months of delays in appointing the country’s delegates to the European Public Prosecutors’ Office (EPPO). EU institutions had heavily criticised the hold-up. The Slovenian government is now arguing that the delay was “temporary” and
Romanian MPs overwhelmingly approved a grand coalition that includes historically bitter rivals the National Liberal Party (PNL) and the Social Democratic Party (PSD) on Thursday. Former army general Nicolae Ciuca was also voted in as prime minister and will lead the three-party government, which also includes ethnic-Hungarian minority party the
Taiwan could help alleviate Europe’s semiconductor shortage by setting up manufacturing operations in central Europe. With a reputation as a tech heavyweight, the autonomous island claimed by mainland China is host to numerous electronic component manufacturers. In October, the head of Taiwan’s National Development Council, Kung Ming-hsin, said
Natural gas shipments should continue to flowing to Moldova, as Gazprom has given Chisinau two more days to pay off what the country owes the giant Russian gas supplier. Earlier, Gazprom had threatened to close off the taps because of Moldova’s debt of EUR 74 million, an amount covering
So dominant was German capital in the Czech media in 2003 that the European Federation of Journalists considered it no longer able to influence public discourse, as diversity and pluralism of opinion were in such steep decline. Meanwhile in Hungary, German media giants Axel Springer Verlag AG, Bertelsmann AG, and
Hungarian porn baron Gyorgy Gattyan has announced plans to found a party and field candidates in all of Hungary’s constituencies in the upcoming national elections. The reclusive Gattyan, who is worth around EUR 663 million, according to Forbes Hungary, this week told TV presenter Sandor Friderikusz’s podcast of
Poland’s currency, the zloty (PLN), saw a 12-year low against the euro, while the Hungarian forint (HUF) also plunged to a new historic low this week. On Monday, one euro was worth PLN 4.72 at the zloty’s weakest point, while one euro equaled HUF 370.24 in
The European Commission (EC) has ordered Hungary and Poland to account for alleged rule of law violations that may significantly affect funding to two of the bloc’s biggest recipients. Poland has been given two months to clarify what ruling party PiS calls a “streamlining” of its judicial system, but
Serbia and Hungary are the Eastern European countries most exposed to Russia and China, a new study found. Czechia and Romania are most resilient CEE states regarding Russo- and Sino-influence , according to the Globsec Policy Institute report. Over two years and in eight countries, the Bratislava-based think-tank looked at five
Although the six Western Balkan countries aspiring to join the European Union, referred to as the WB6, are expected to have economic growth well above the EU average this year, the economic gap with member states remains large. In GDP per capita per purchasing power terms, all of the WB6
The formation of a new governing coalition in Czechia could be set to stall after President Milos Zeman reportedly threatened to veto Pirate Party member Jan Lipavsky’s appointment as foreign minister. Last week prime minister-elect Petr Fiala met Zeman to discuss the formation of a new governing coalition of
Strengthening energy sovereignty and energy security, maintaining affordable energy prices and decarbonising energy production can only be achieved through the combined use of nuclear and renewable energy, according to a joint declaration signed by János Süli, Hungary’s Minister without Portfolio responsible for the country’s Paks 2 nuclear facility
The swearing-in of the Czech Republic’s new prime minister looks to be a done deal, scheduled for Friday, 26 November. President of the Czech Republic, Milos Zeman, has invited Petr Fiala, who won the popular vote in Czechia’s October elections, for talks on putting together a new cabinet.
Taiwan has opened what it calls its Representative Office in Lithuania, defying China’s attempts to dissuade Vilnius from allowing what could be considered a de facto embassy for the self-governed island. Taiwan’s foreign ministry says that via the opening of the office, Taipei and Vilnius will deepen economic
The European Commission is proposing that soils are given the same legal status as air and water as part of the EU’s “Soil Strategy for 2030”. The plan, which still requires the approval of the European Parliament and EU member states, would create the first European regulation to allow
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
Lawmakers in Brussels have taken a step back from pursuing their plan to unveil a new strategy for EU trade and economic dealings with Taiwan, presumably hoping that sour relations with China won’t become worse. For months, EU and Beijing have been spatting due to bilateral sanctions instated by
Tier, a German shared mobility company with a presence in Hungary, Slovakia, Poland, is buying the bicycle sharing company Nextbike, it announced. The news comes after Tier’s USD 200mn funding round at the end of October. Tier is present in 148 cities in 16 countries, and combined with Nextbike
Henry Ford once said: “I am ready to account for any day in my life, but don’t ask me how I made my first million.” The billionaires of Central and Eastern Europe, many of whom began to build their empires during the “wild privatisations” of the 1990s, would no
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