A collection of 11 posts
Two countries in Central & Eastern Europe (CEE), Bulgaria and Croatia, are on track to introduce the European common currency. In Sofia, politicians on both the left and right endorse the euro despite the looming government crisis, while Zagreb has even decided on its national symbols to be portrayed on
The European Commission took Bulgaria to the European Court of Justice after four years of Sofia refusing to link its national business register to the EU Business Registers system (BRIS). BRIS is an information system that allows users to search company-specific data simultaneously in all EU countries with the purpose
In the EU’s Summer 2021 interim Economic Forecast, European Commission experts predict that the economies in the EU and euro area are set to expand by 4.8% this year and 4.5% in 2022. This growth outlook is significantly higher in the EU (+0.6 pps.) and the
To curb inflation, the Central Bank of Hungary (MNB) on Tuesday raised its base rate by 30 basis points to 0.9% from 0.6% – slightly exceeding forecasts. Via this move, Hungary may be the first EU member state to initiate a cycle of rate hikes aiming to combat growing
As its first attempt to test financial markets, the European Commission on Tuesday announced it had raised EUR 20 billion in 10-year bonds successfully. The EU wants to finance the EU27’s COVID-19 crisis recovery. Speaking to the press, EC president Ursula von der Leyen said that the inaugural transaction
Poland says that closing down its open-pit brown coal mine in Turow would be an “energy disaster.” Even so, the European Commission is lining up behind the Czech Republic in an ongoing fight with its neighbor against the expansion of the mine, which is run by Poland’s state-run company
Hungary’s OTP Bank has acquired a 100% stake in Slovenia’s Nova KBM after signing a purchase agreement with former shareholders of Apollo Global Management (former 80% owner) and the European Bank For Reconstruction and Development (20% owner). The deal is the most significant acquisition in the history of
In a global effort against “tax avoidance,” finance ministers from the G7 countries meeting in London last weekend have agreed on overarching rules that will oblige multinational corporations to pay a greater share of their global tax obligations. As part of their deal, the G7, a grouping of some of
A so-called “digital identity wallet,” which would grant access for all European citizens to public and private services through their mobile phones, was proposed by the European Commission on Thursday. The EU body argues the COVID-19 pandemic showed the need for more user-friendly online services. Via the proposal, the Union
European investments in artificial intelligence (AI) and blockchain technologies are way behind Chinese and American investments. In a report related to such competition, the European Investment Bank (EIB) has concluded that the EU has an annual investment shortfall of up to EUR 10 billion. The EIB reports that China and
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