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 second
Around 58% of Bulgarians oppose adoption of the Euro as their country’s currency, according to a poll conducted by Trend Agency. Just 21% would back their country joining the Eurozone, while the same percentage are undecided on the matter, the Bulgarian pollster found. Some 71% of respondents said Euro
President Vladimir Putin brushed off accusations that Russian-state-owned Gazprom is responsible for soaring energy prices across Europe at an energy conference in Moscow this week. European energy commissioner Kadri Simson says Gazprom has not boosted short-term supplies of natural gas that could bring down prices. Putin insists that Gazprom is
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
US authorities were called by European airlines on Wednesday to set a date for reopening and to agree a list of mutually recognized coronavirus vaccines. Earlier in September, US president Joe Biden promised to make the reopening reality in November, primarily for EU citizens. Washington is planning to check full
While Fintech and Big Tech firms make incursions into the financial services sector, data is becoming the real commodity in a world of hyper-connections and open banking. Cryptocurrencies appear on the horizon and credit card companies are morphing into tech firms. Meanwhile banks are incorporating open banking into their services,
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. Instead of
To date, on Tuesday the European Commission issued the world’s largest green bond package worth EUR 12 billion, raising funds from the financial markets to finance the green parts of its EUR 800 billion coronavirus recovery fund. The latest bond issuance is the fifth in a row since June
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
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