A collection of 28 posts
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
On the evening of Sunday, 27 February, as Russian President Vladimir Putin had put his nuclear forces on high alert, Ukraine’s government agreed to talks in Belarus with Russian officials. Al Jazeera reported that President Volodymyr Zelensky said Kyiv would send a delegation of officials to Ukraine’s border
On early Friday, Al Jazeera reported that Russian forces had sent missiles into Kyiv and other locations in Ukraine. Stating that Putin “must and will fail”, the European Union has agreed severe sanctions on Russia. Namely, this means the EU will freeze Russian assets within the Union. Also, Russian banks’
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and Russian President Vladimir Putin talked for almost five hours in Moscow on Tuesday, although only a small amount of their conversation was made public, according to local outlets. After the meeting, Orban said Hungary aims to negotiate an increase in the volume of natural
Taiwan has signaled its readiness to do business with Europe: the government in Taipei is eager to begin trade talks with the European Union, which has recently announced plans to become more active in Southeast Asia. Such negotiations between Taiwan and the EU have been in the works since 2015,
The Belarusian government is trying to “instrumentalize human beings for political purposes,” interior ministers of the European Union warned in a joint statement after a video meeting on Wednesday. The emergency meeting requested by Lithuania was scheduled after the government there published a video of 12 Belarusian police officers armed
The newly elected 46th National Assembly of Bulgaria held its inaugural meeting last week. Bulgarian MPs took the oath of office and elected Iva Miteva of “There Is Such a People” (TISP) as Parliament Chair by 137 votes and 99 abstentions. Miteva was supported by the parliamentary groups of TISP,
On Monday, Belarus’s government announced the suspension of its participation in the European Union’s Eastern Partnership, which is a cooperation vehicle between Brussels and ex-communist countries in the region. The Eastern Partnership is perceived by many countries in Eastern Europe and Central Asia as a precursor to
Two European airlines, Austrian Airlines and Air France, have had to cancel flights to Moscow after Russian authorities denied permission for them to divert around Belarus to be in line with new EU sanctions. Russia’s ambassador to Austria, Dmitry Lyubinsky, justified the move on Facebook, writing that the “politicization”
After what is being called the hijacking of a Ryanair flight from Athens-Vilnius on Sunday, heads of state and governments of the European Union on Monday rushed to agree a fresh wave of economic sanctions against Belarus. The European Council meeting document “strongly condemns the forced landing of a
Despite its historical dominance in Eastern Europe and geopolitical proximity to the EU, Russia remains a low-key trading partner for Europe, except when it comes to energy. Relations between Moscow and most EU member countries are best characterized as pragmatic, with both sides looking for mutual benefits and avoiding
Changes to how multinational companies and giant tech firms are taxed globally may be on the horizon, resulting in a curbing of investment in lower corporate tax jurisdictions. In the wake of the US Treasury secretary’s recent proposal to introduce a global corporate tax rate, now finance ministers from
Germany has long backed Nord Stream II (NS2), which will provide it with more natural gas from Russia – and is nearing completion. Still, in a meeting this week with NATO’s secretary general, US secretary of state Antony Blinken listed reasons why the Biden administration is against the natural gas