After being halted in April due to environmental concerns, the construction of 2 km of the Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline has been given the go-ahead by the German maritime authority (BSH) with the continuation of works in Danish waters. Two German environmental NGOs, Nature And Biodiversity Conservation Union
Public opinion in the EU strongly supports more ambitious national climate targets, according to a poll conducted in 12 European countries. The online poll commissioned by Transport&Environment from leading institute YouGov reveals that 68% of respondents would support their country’s climate target to be increased. The survey
According to a new draft law, Hungary’s Atomic Energy Authority – also responsible for the Paks 2 nuclear power plant investment – will no longer be under direct government control starting in 2022. Government politicians argued that the European Commission had long demanded the “independence” of the Authority, but critics are
Slovakia now has plans for a drastic reduction of the emissions of its steel mill in the city of Košice, following Slovakia’s finance minister (and former PM) Igor Matovič’s high-level visit to the US owner of the facility, US Steel. The plan would replace the operation’s hydrocarbon-powered
Central and Eastern Europeans were forced to live under a communist regime for four decades, which hindered their development and broke them off from Western European progress. However, the former Soviet block has been reviving, growing twice as fast as the Western part of the continent for years, which has
Bulgaria’s president’s Security and Defence Secretary, Stefan Yanev, will be the prime minister of Bulgaria’s caretaker government. President Rumen Radev has appointed the government by decree. Gulub Donev will be deputy prime minister for Economic and Social Policy and Minister of Labor and Social Policy, Boiko Rashkov
More than 60% of Hungarian start-ups are using some sort of “deep tech,” according to the Hungarian Start-up Report conducted by Microsoft among 232 local start-ups. The top verticals were AI, Big Data, Fintech, Analytics/BI, IoT, and Medtech. The study strengthens a preconceived notion that Hungary has better resources
As head of the new Luxembourg-based European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO), Laura Codruta Kovesi is poised to lead a Europe-wide effort to curtail losses due to corruption, which she estimates amount to EUR 60 billion each year. From 2015-18, she led similar efforts in her native Romania, where she
Exiled businessman Mikhail Khodorkovsky at a public hearing of the European Parliment told to MEPs: Russia has recruited allies in Angela Merkel’s German chancellor’s “inner circle” so as in the Austrian intelligence services. One of the earliest and most well known Russian ologarch, Khodorkovsky with his UK-based pro-democracy
So far, the Baltic States, Romania, and Slovakia have all expelled Russian diplomats to show their solidarity with the Czech Republic, but Czechia’s prime minister, Andrej Babiš, is hoping for more. At last weekend’s gathering of EU leaders for the “Social Summit” in Portugal, Babiš asked other counterparts
The battle between Washington and Beijing over the rollout of 5G networks in Europe just scratches the surface of a broader conflict between the global superpowers. The actual “war” is over which country, China or the United States, will be able to consolidate its dominance over the technologies of the
The Hungarian government is working on its National Clean Development Strategy, which would set frameworks for achieving the 2050 climate targets, sais Attila Steiner, State Secretary for the Development of the Circular Economy, Energy and Climate Policy of Hungary’s Ministry of Innovation and Technology (ITM). He underlined that Hungary
Ahead of the EU foreign ministers council meeting on Monday, a working document entitled “EU reinforced engagement in the Western Balkans” details the region’s disillusionment with the slow, stop-and-go European Union enlargement process. The diplomatic paper comes in the wake of a political storm over a series of phantom
E-health, urban traffic management, self-driving cars, security services, energy networks, industrial facilities and the media – all industries and services in which 5G telecommunications networks will make up the basic critical infrastructure in the short term. Security of the network and supplier selection have become divisive geopolitical issues. Concurrently, from a
Welfare and unemployment are on the agenda in Porto, Portugal, where this weekend EU leaders are getting together for the first time in 5 months for a 2-day summit that started today. The leaders gathered in Portugal – minus German Chancellor Angela Merkel and the Netherlands’ prime minister Mark Rutte – will
Eleven of the 27 member states want the EU to stop funding cross-border fossil-fuel energy projects. The related provisions are currently under review in Brussels. The group of countries lead by Denmark also includes Austria, Belgium, Germany, Estonia, Ireland, Luxembourg, Latvia, the Netherlands, Spain and Sweden. They argue that to
EU sanctions being in place against China, and vice versa, have doused the approval prospects for a massive investment deal between the two sides, says European trade commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis, who said the issue is not conducive for ratification. Observers point out the deterioration of the relations between Brussels and
From conspiracy theories through trade wars and espionage, debate regarding the political and social effects of 5G next-generation mobile network technology is polarized, dividing European citizens on the matter long before 5G becomes reality. General Political Framing of 5G in the EU “Internet-of-things”-driven smart services are part of our
On Tuesday, the benchmark EU Allowance (EUA) price for carbon hit EUR 50.05 /ton for the first time since it was introduced back in 2005. Analysts argue this is a sign that carbon prices will be at the price levels needed to trigger investments in innovative clean technologies. The
Kyiv and Beijing both remain cautious towards full-scale cooperation despite a number of successful cooperative actions and the increasing trade seen in recent years. Still, some plans seem to be up in the air, or very little information is available on whether or not they are being implemented. 5G’s
Russian news agency Ria Novosti has reported that Hungary will start repaying a loan to Russia of EUR 9 billion for the Paks nuclear power facility investment in 2031, five years later than the original 2026 deadline. The delay might mean that new reactor units may not be nearing completion
Poland’s relationship with China has undergone a significant shift in recent years. Yet the economic opportunities that were supposed to come with a closer partnership have not materialized. Below, we look into the causes. A very sensitive issue: 5G Poland, where Huawei has been operating since 2004, is where
The European Commission has now received 13 national plans for how EU countries plan on spending pandemic recovery funds from the EU, which has allotted EUR 672.5 – roughly half grants, half loans – to help economies recover and foster zero-carbon public investment projects. While such plans have been received from
Budapest Airport, the Chinese Henan Airport Group, and the Chinese-Hungarian business and logistics development company, CECZ/Utlink, have signed a cooperation agreement aimed at establishing an “aerial Silk Road” between Hungary and China. The deal is expected to bring important economic opportunities and foster a significant expansion of air freight
It’s said that when times are tough one knows who their friends are. For Greece, it was Chinese interests (and credit) that came to the rescue of an economy that had been on the brink of disaster, and investment by China into a Greek port has turned it into