A collection of 144 posts
European Commission (EC) President Ursula von der Leyen announced further EU flood recovery funding and reiterated the EU’s commitment to addressing climate change, in Slovenia on Monday, 2 September. On a tour of the Balkans, von der Leyen visited northern Slovenia, which was hit by flooding in November 2023.
Transport was on the agenda when Lithuanian Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte, Latvia Prime Minister Evika Silina, and Estonian Prime Minister Kristen Michal met in Klaipeda, west Lithuania, at the weekend. The Rail Baltica, a high-speed rail connection across the Baltic states, is encountering significant challenges and rising costs, drawing concern
As tens of thousands of Serbians rally in opposition to the contentious lithium mining project planned by company Rio Tinto in Jadar, west Serbia, an alternative is being investigated elsewhere in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). A crucial material for enabling the EU to meet its 2030 climate goals may
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk advised caution to European politicians calling for Hungary’s expulsion from the Schengen area, as it could in turn lead to its departure from the EU, on Friday, 9 August. Schengen member Hungary’s unilateral easing last month of visa requirements for citizens of Russia
The new report on rule of law and governance by the European Commission (EC) gives a mixed picture on Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) anti-corruption efforts, judicial independence, media freedom, and legislative practices. The EC’s Rule of Law Report 2024, its 5th, included assessments of developments in Bulgaria, Czechia,
Hungary has borrowed EUR 1bn (approximately USD 1.1bn) from Chinese banks earlier this year, according to the country’s debt management agency, AKK, local business website Portfolio reported, based on public data. The loan, taken on 19 April, is a 3-year, floating-rate agreement with the China Development Bank, the
Several CEE countries including Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland will only send officials to the meetings being arranged in Budapest to mark Hungary’s EU six-month stint at the rotating presidency this month. Discussions are ongoing in several other countries. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has received a lot of
Estonia has climbed into a higher innovation category according to new data from the European Innovation Scoreboard (EIS). Estonia became a Strong Innovator in 2024, after enjoying steady growth since 2017, the European Commission (EC) wrote in a statement released on Monday 8 July. The EC wrote that “Strong Innovators
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban was accused of mission creep by the international community after he opened his first week hosting the six-month EU rotating presidency with unannounced trips to Kyiv, Moscow and Beijing. Orban’s final destination after a busy week was Washington DC, for the long-planned NATO summit
The EU formally opened accession negotiations with Moldova and Ukraine on 25 June. The agreement of the EU’s 27 members was secured the previous week, despite efforts from Hungary to block the move. “These are truly historic moments. Ukraine is and will always be part of a united Europe,
Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas was nominated on Friday, 28 June as the EU’s foreign policy chief (High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy), subject to agreement from the European Commission (EC) president. Kallas will succeed Spain’s Josep Borrell and become the first politician
Serbia has said it is looking to give global mining group Rio Tinto the go ahead to create Europe’s largest lithium mine two years after Belgrade shelved the project following huge environmental protests. President Aleksandar Vucic told UK daily the Financial Times that “new guarantees” from the British-Australian company
The European Commission (EC) published a draft package on battery electric vehicles (BEVs) imported from China, including tariffs of between 17.4% and 38.1% on manufacturers, in addition to the 10% they already pay, on Wednesday, 12 June. The EC wrote that it has “provisionally concluded that the battery
The EU will close its Article 7 procedure over democratic backsliding against Poland that was initiated in 2017 against the country’s nationalist government led by the former ruling party Law and Justice (PiS), European Commission (EC) President Ursula von der Leyen said on Monday, 6 May. The EC could
Romania and Bulgaria partly entered the Schengen free movement zone at midnight Sunday, 31 March, meaning air travel and freight, and sea freight in and out of the Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) countries no longer requires document control. The two countries’ partial Schengen membership does not include land routes