A collection of 244 posts
Croatia will become the Schengen zone’s newest member on 1 January, the Council of the EU announced on Thursday, 8 December. Croatia will “take two important steps in its European integration, by joining both the euro and the Schengen areas”, noted Czech Interior Minister Vit Rakusan, whose country has
Wizz Air will serve 31% more passengers than Ryanair in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) and the Caucuses this winter, according a new report that cites Official Aviation Guide (OAG) data. While the Hungary-headquartered airline runs 651 routes to, from and in CEE, this figure is 514 for Ryanair. That
Orlen Unipetrol, owned by Poland’s leading energy company PKN Orlen, will take over 143 petrol stations in Hungary and 39 in Slovakia, the Budapest Stock Exchange announced on Thursday, 1 November. The regional shake-up of retail fuel operators involves all of the Visegrad Four (V4) countries, Poland, Czechia, Hungary
Robotisation has risen sharply in CEE, according to a new report entitled “How do Economies in EU-CEE Cope with Labour Shortages?” released by the Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies (wiiw). As robotisation levels mainly depend on the automotive, electrics and electronics industries, they have spiked in recent years in
The meeting of the parliamentary speakers of the Visegrad Four (V4) countries scheduled for this Friday (25 November) has been cancelled after legislative leaders from Czechia and Poland announced they would not attend the event, citing Hungary’s friendly relations with Russia, Czech new website Seznam Zpravy reported. Czech Speaker
For the ninth consecutive year, Estonia has the best tax regime of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries, according to the latest International Tax Competitiveness Index (ITCI). Of the index’s top ten countries, five from Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) were included. Estonia’s top ITCI
“Now we have decided to atomise Polish energy: two nuclear power plants will be built, one in cooperation with the USA and the other with South Korea,” Poland’s ruling party PiS Chairman Jaroslaw Kaczynski announced in Suwalki, north-eastern Poland on Saturday. A third reactor is also planned, Kaczynski revealed,
Household electricity prices rose year-on-year in the first half of 2022, from EUR 22 per to EUR 25.30 per 100 kWh on average, according to the latest report by Eurostat. Meanwhile households across the bloc saw gas prices climb from EUR 6.40 to EUR 8.60 per 100
Czech-founded WAG Payment Solutions PLC announced on Tuesday that it has agreed to fully acquire Grupa Inelo SA, a leading fleet and work time manager in Poland and Slovenia, for up to EUR 306mn. FTSE 250 company WAG, also known as Eurowag, runs a digital platform that processes fuel and
The loan-book performance of banks in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) is set to worsen as interest rate hikes take their toll on the loan repayment capacity of borrowers, according to a report released by Moody’s on Thursday. The credit rating agency notes that although CEE region’s inflation
Czechia and Qatar signed bilateral agreements on Wednesday, as the Gulf state announced that it will open its first embassy in the Czech capital of Prague in the next few months. Qatar ruler Sheikh Tamim met Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala in Prague, and said mutual relations will be explored
Polish officials symbolically commissioned the Baltic Pipe natural gas pipeline with Norway on Tuesday, a day that turned out to be epochal for energy in Europe. With an annual capacity of ten billion cubic metres, the pipeline opens a new North Sea channel for Norwegian gas imports via Denmark. “The
German carmaker Volkswagen (VW) may close its plants in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) if the natural gas shortage persists beyond this winter, procurement manager Geng Wu said. Volkswagen will consider bringing factories closer to the point of sales, in the medium-term, Wu added, citing the worldwide shortage of microchips
Hungarian Sinologist Tamas Matura argued in his recent report for CEPA that China wields little influence in Hungary, despite the Hungarian government’s decade of support for Beijing in the EU. However, shortly after the release of the CEPA report, China’s CATL announced plans to build a EUR 7.
Onsemi inaugurated the expansion of its silicon carbide (SiC) semiconductor fabrication plant in Roznov, east Czechia, on Wednesday. The USD 450mn investment will create 200 jobs and increase onsite SiC production capabilities 16-fold over the next two years. The Arizona-based semiconductor supplier makes SiC power devices for electric vehicles and