A collection of 156 posts
Corruption is considered a very serious problem by 59% of business leaders in Romania, the highest percentage in the EU, according to a recent survey from Ipsos European Public Affairs. Perceptions of graft vary greatly across the continent and business sectors, according to the pollster, which was commissioned to carry
Estonia is top in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) and seventh in the EU as a whole in the new European Commission (EC) Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI) rankings for 2022. The Baltic country, often nicknamed e-Estonia, was also placed first in the EU for its digital public services.
Lithuanian Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte reacted to criticism on Thursday over her country’s acceptance of the transport of civilian-use goods from Russia to Kalingrad across its territory. “It would be irrational to continue to argue with EU partners” Simonyte said, after the European Commission (EC) on Wednesday clarified its
The Czech, Polish and Hungarian currencies all weakened against the major global currencies this week, as recession fears intensified globally, impacting emerging markets. As investor sentiment became more risk averse, investors have turned to the dollar, and the Polish zloty and the Czech crown both weakened against the greenback. However
The European Commission (EC) will cut Croatia’s maximum share of the EU’s Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) stimulus programme by around 13% due to the country’s unexpectedly strong economic performance last year. Croatia’s economy shrank 8.1% in 2020, the year that COVID:19 reached Europe,
Austria’s foreign and European affairs minister said he expects the countries in the Western Balkans (WB) to join the EU, after he met Serbian government officials in Belgrade on Monday, 13 June. Alexander Schallenberg added that he hopes Serbia and other WB states will align their stances on Russia
Inflation is endangering EU-funded infrastructure constructions across Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), and affected countries say the European Commission (EC) is not reacting fast enough. The EU’s structural investment scheme – which is widely distributed around CEE in seven-year cycles – has been hit hard by inflation, and the soaring prices
The European Innovation Council (EIC) will award grants or equity investments of up to EUR 17.5mn to six “high potential” startups from Poland, Estonia and Bulgaria, it announced Wednesday, 8 June. Poland had three grantees announced on Wednesday: Ecoplastomer, which develops technology for plastic and rubber waste, Camino Science,
MEPs are planning to protest the transfer of a EUR 35.4bn EU stimulus package to Poland, arguing that the country has not adequately addressed disputes over judicial independence and Rule of Law in the country. The European Commission (EC) last week approved Poland’s COVID recovery plan, despite a
Croatia has been given the go-ahead to adopt the euro from the start of next year, when it will become twentieth country to do so, and the first since Lithuania in 2015. Having received positive assessments of the ECB and the European Commission, the path for euro adoption is now
Croatia is ready to enlarge the capacity of the Adria oil pipeline as part of a long-term energy cooperation agreement to transit oil to Hungary and Slovakia, the countries jointly announced. Adria, also known as the Yugoslav or JANAF, is a crude oil pipeline in Croatia, Serbia and Hungary, which
In a letter to be sent to EU finance ministers, Slovakia, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia jointly call for frozen Russian assets to be used towards the reconstruction of Ukraine in the aftermath of its invasion by Russia. The letter written by the four Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries, seen
Austrian energy group OMV announced on Friday that it was opening an account with Russian Gazprombank for ruble conversion. The development came after repeated Austrian assertions that it would not pay for gas in rubles, as Russia demanded in response to EU sanctions over its invasion of Ukraine on 24
The European Commission (EC) adopted a EUR 300bn proposal for the 27-country bloc to be entirely independent of Russian energy by 2027, on Wednesday 18 May. “We must now reduce as soon as possible our dependency on Russian fossil fuels. I’m deeply convinced we can,” EC President Ursula von
The European Commission (EC) is about to release the EUR 36bn Recovery and Resilience Plan (RRP) funds to Poland that were suspended over disagreements regarding the independence of the country’s judiciary. The EU will release the grants and loans on condition that Poland dismantles its disciplinary judicial chamber and