A collection of 162 posts
The European Commission (EC) is assessing whether the EU can ramp up its renewable energy target for 2030 from 40% to 45%, Reuters reported on Thursday. Russia is the EU’s biggest gas supplier, and in the wake of its invasion of Ukraine, the EC is keen to decrease its
The EU banned Russian seafaring vessels from entering European ports, as it approved its fifth tranche of sanctions against Russia on Friday. The bloc also embargoed Russian coal supplies from August and enforced restrictions on all transactions with four major Russian banks. “We are proposing a fifth package of sanctions,
Ukrainians are going through a “living hell”, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Tuesday, in what he termed an unwinnable war in Ukraine, the Guardian reported. “Sooner or later it will have to move from the battlefields to the peace table”, Guterres said of the war. “That is inevitable. The
In an emergency General Assembly meeting on Wednesday, the United Nations condemned Russia’s attack on Ukraine and called for complete withdrawal, with 141 out of 193 members supporting the resolution. Those opposed included Belarus, Syria and North Korea. Addressing the press, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said, “The message of
Slovakia’s failure to approve judicial reforms and a “court map” could curtail its access to EU recovery plan funds, writes Euractiv. Out of the four proposals considered by the country’s lawmakers, only one, having to do with district courts’ headquarters, made it to a second reading in the
From next week a new tool may empower the EU to suspend funds to member states over rule of law breaches. That decision, to be made by the European Court of Justice (ECJ), could allow the European Commission (EC) to block EU funds to Budapest and Warsaw, EU Reporter writes.
Poland is predicted to have the highest level of inflation of 6.8% in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) – and the EU as a whole – this year, according to a new European Commission (EC) forecast. The EC’s prediction for Poland is way over the average predicted rise in the
The European Commission (EC) will withhold approximately EUR 15 million in EU funding from Poland for its refusal to pay fines issued by the European Court of Justice (ECJ). For months Warsaw ignored an ECJ order to pay a daily fine of EUR 500,000 for its refusal to shut
EU Commission Vice-President Maros Sefcovic laid out the bloc’s plans how to build capacity in critical raw materials for batteries along the value chain after a meeting of the Competitiveness Council this week. “We know that the broad deployment of clean and digital technologies will lead to a rising
Here in Hungary, company cultures that effectively reduce gender discrimination are taking root, helping women to gain access to management positions. These pioneering initiatives are part of a European effort that is still only just beginning to take shape at an EU level. In March 2020, the European Commission adopted
The European Commission (EC) has greenlit Hungary extending EUR 24 million in state aid towards the expansion of a South Korean firm’s factory that makes copper foil for electric vehicle (EV) batteries. Volta Energy Solutions is investing EUR 206 million in upping the operational capacity of its plant in
Aspirant EU-member Moldova could receive EUR 150 million from the bloc after the European Commission approved funding on Tuesday. The EU will extend EUR 30 million in grants and EUR 120 million in preferential loans over the next two years if the Chisinau government fulfils commitments to improve governance and
The European Commission (EC) is considering classifying investments in nuclear and natural gas as sustainable under its new “green taxonomy” regulations , it said in a statement on 1 January. Brussels aims to cut Europe’s carbon emissions to zero by 2050. While green stock and bond portfolios do not currently
French President Emmanuel Macron underlined that energy policy is now a major priority for Europe when he met the leaders of the Visegrad Four countries – Poland, Czechia, Hungary and Slovakia – in Budapest this week. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban agreed that securing Europe’s energy independence is one of the
EU lawmakers overwhelmingly adopted a position in favour of the Digital Markets Act on Wednesday, which would put constraints on “gatekeeper” tech companies such as US tech giants Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google and Microsoft. MEPs voted 642 in favour and 8 against, with 46 abstentions. Under the new rules big