A collection of 354 posts
The war in Ukraine is set to inflict twice the amount of economic damage that the COVID-19 pandemic did, the World Bank says in its new report that includes detailed outlook analyses for Poland, Bulgaria, Croatia and Romania. According to the Washington-based lender’s ECA Economic Update Spring 2022 report,
Russia’s Sberbank has sold its 43% stake in Fortenova to Hungarian-US investment fund Indotek Group, Croatian daily Jutarnji List reported. The deal came as the EU and US unveiled new economic sanctions on Russian banks in response to the country’s invasion of Ukraine. Fortenova is Croatia’s largest
The Hungarian Ministry of Finance took the unusual step of issuing a public statement aimed at international investors on Friday. After Sunday’s celebrations, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban woke up to a grim domestic economic reality that includes a plummeting forint, rocketing prices and rule of law disputes that
The EUR 12.5 bn expansion of Hungary’s only nuclear power plant at Paks remains viable, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban told members of the press on Wednesday afternoon. Russian state nuclear company Rosatom’s addition of two blocks at the facility, can still go ahead, according to the
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán secured his fourth consecutive term with a landslide victory in Hungary’s national elections on Sunday. Orbán’s Fidesz party secured 53% while the United for Hungary six-party opposition alliance received only 35%. The margin of victory was beyond predictions, as the opposition alliance had
Hungary cancelled a scheduled summit of defence ministers from the Visegrad 4 (“V4”) group of EU member states – Czechia, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia – on Tuesday. The defence ministers of both Czechia and Poland signalled they would not attend the gathering, scheduled for 30-31 March, due to Hungary’s stance on
NATO representatives meeting on Thursday will consider boosting the strength of the defence alliance’s eastern flank even further given Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine. While NATO has already bumped up troop numbers, which now number 40,000 on its eastern border, Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia could see
Russian forces using chemical weapons in Ukraine would not only be a violation of international law, but have “far-reaching consequences”, warned NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg at the defence alliance’s headquarters in Brussels on Wednesday, writes Al Jazeera. He also said Moscow could not “win a nuclear war”, according to
While the Hungarian forint was hardest hit, all the currencies of the Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) region are suffering adverse effects as a result of the war in Ukraine. Proximity to the war zone, dependence on Russian gas and the impact of EU sanctions combined to commence the CEE
The European Commission said it planned to cut its reliance on fossil fuels from Russia by 2030, reducing dependence on Russian sources of energy by two-thirds by the end of the year. But it turned out there will be no ban on imports of Russian oil and gas imports to
Hungary’s Parliament elected Fidesz Vice President and Family and Youth Affairs Minister Katalin Novak as the country’s next President on Thursday, succeeding President Janos Ader, according to Hungary Today. She was elected with 137 out of 188 votes. The united opposition’s candidate Peter Ronai received 51 votes.
The Guardian reports that on Wednesday morning US time Vice President Kamala Harris was travelling to Poland, where she’ll meet Poland’s President and Prime Minister, on a trip to “further support to our allies and is also an extremely important opportunity to collaborate with them on next steps
Hungary will now allow NATO troops to deploy into the west of the country, reversing an earlier stance of not allowing additional troops from the defence alliance other than its own to be stationed within its territory. Prime Minister Viktor Orban signed a decree to admit the NATO Response Force
French President Emmanuel Macron spoke to Russia’s President Vladimir Putin by telephone for one-and-a-half hours on Thursday. He told his Russian counterpart that he was making a “major mistake” by continuing his Ukraine offensive and that Moscow would remain isolated and under sanctions for a long time. Speaking to
Though united in their commitment to European and NATO positions on the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries differ on their potential exposure to Russian gas supplies – a CET analysis. At time of writing, the Russian army is intruding into the heart of Kyiv and residents