A collection of 140 posts
US rating agency Moody’s Investors Service has increased its outlook for Czechia from negative to stable, meaning a rating deterioration is not expected in the foreseeable future. Moody’s justified this as mainly due to Czechia’s significant reduction of risk in connection with gas supplies from Russia. The
Incoming Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico did not waste time to state his positions on the war in Ukraine when he spoke to members of the press in Brussels on Thursday, 26 October. “The conflict in Ukraine is not our affair, and we are not involved in it,” the Slovak
Pressure to resign is building on Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas amid revelations that her husband part-owns a company that is still active in Russia. A staunch Kremlin critic, Kallas has consistently advocated for Europe to sever business ties with Russia and Belarus. Last year she even went beyond official
Only 6% of Ukrainian diesel imports come from Hungary, the head of Hungarian energy giant MOL said at a conference on Saturday, 29 July. MOL CEO Zsolt Hernadi was responding to a recent article by Netherlands daily Handelsblatt, which said MOL’s oil deliveries to Ukraine have doubled in the
Polish President Andrzej Duda outlined five key areas for action for NATO on Tuesday, after international consultations in The Hague, The Netherlands, ahead of the upcoming summit of the alliance in Vilnius, Lithuania, on 11-12 July. To help prepare for next week’s summit, Duda met NATO Secretary General Jens
An apparent attempted coup d’etat led by the head of a mercenary group in Russia over the weekend set off emergency responses across Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) on Sunday, 26 June. Mercenary fighters of the Wagner private army, run by former Putin ally Yevgeny Prigozhin, pressed on across
Russian bank Sberbank announced its complete withdrawal from the European banking market with the sale of its remaining shares in a EU member country on Friday, 16 June, state news agency TASS reported. As recently as the end of 2020, the bank’s total assets in the bloc totalled EUR
The EU’s official statistics office Eurostat details the effects of the bloc’s sanctions and trade restrictions regarding Russia in the wake of its invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, in its latest report. Eurostat notes that exports and imports both remain below pre-invasion levels. In terms of
Hungary has vetoed EUR 500mn worth of arms funding from the EU to Ukraine, Italian media first reported on Monday, which the government spokesperson’s office then confirmed. The funding would be the eighth transfer from the European Peace Framework (EPF) to finance arms shipments to the country since Russia
Sharply falling energy prices are good news for the population and almost all market segments and the population alike, but large energy companies can be less happy, Hungarian business website Portfolio reported. The explains the price falls as due to an “exceptionally mild” winter and European’s successful decoupling from
Poland’s state-controlled oil company, PKN Orlen, is facing significant losses due to the EU banning Russian crude oil. The company is struggling to find alternative supplies for its Czech refinery and is losing millions of dollars every day, Polish daily Gazeta Wyborcza reports. PKN Orlen CEO Daniel Obajtek told
Bulgaria’s conservatives and liberals were practically neck and neck with votes still being counted after the country’s fifth election in two years on Sunday, 2 April. Early projections put former premier Boyko Borisov’s conservative GERB party at 24-26%, slightly ahead of the liberal We Continue The Change
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki called on Germany to up its support for Ukraine as Europe continues to search for ways to arm Kyiv following the EU leaders’ summit in Brussels on Friday 24 March. Morawiecki urged Germany, the EU’s largest economy, to step up and lead by revising
Hungary could realistically replace Russian gas imports, according to local analysts, who say its dependence is reliant on the will of Hungarian politicians and economic players. Gas supply already shifting away from Russia Hungary’s procurement of sources has broadened and the partial replacement of Russian gas has begun, local
Montenegrin President Milo Djukanovic took around one-third of the votes in Sunday’s presidential election ballot, well below the majority needed to avoid a second-round vote, according to the Centre for Monitoring and Research (CeMI) data based on 95.5% of processed votes. Djukanovic, 61, is one of Europe’s