A collection of 226 posts
There were mixed messages from Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) on Wednesday, when the European Commission (EC) announced plans for a Russian oil embargo. In CEE, two of the countries that would be most affected by the import ban had markedly different reactions to the announcement. While Slovakia merely requested
Estonia has the healthiest media environment in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) according to the Reporters Sans Frontiers/Reporters Without Borders (RSF) 2022 World Press Freedom Index released on Tuesday 3 May. The RSF meanwhile singled out two CEE countries as showing marked promise for press freedom: “Moldova (40th) and
The combination of a rise in demand for renewable energy sources and supply-chain issues is causing problems for manufacturers in Czechia and other countries in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). Companies in Czechia cannot meet the increasingly high demand for renewables due to a shortfall in both materials and
The European Commission (EC) may allow Hungary and Slovakia to opt out of the Russian oil embargo currently being drawn up, Reuters reports. The EU will on Tuesday finalise its sixth package of sanctions against Russia, and is aware of how dependent the two countries are on Russian crude oil,
The commercial flight numbers of several Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries are closing in on their pre-pandemic levels faster than the EU average, according to new data reported by Eurostat. When the EU’s official statistics office compared the number of flights made in March 2022 to those
New sanctions on Russia’s oil and gas currently being discussed by EU leaders would impact several Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) countries much harder than their Western neighbours, a French government economic research institute estimates in its latest report. In CEE, Lithuania, Bulgaria, Slovakia and Czechia could experience national
Estonia is providing the most aid to Ukraine by far in relation to its economic output, according to a new data tracker set up by the Kiel Institute for the World Economy. The Baltic country has promised aid worth nearly 0.8% of its GDP, way ahead of Poland on
Czechia’s Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky says one of his country’s goals when it heads the EU Council is to clarify the EU’s relationship with China. In an interview with Politico, Lipavsky spoke of Prague’s objectives in its 6-month stint in the rotating presidency, which begins
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
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”
NATO troops have begun arriving at the Sliac military base in Slovakia to deploy US-made “Patriot” anti-missile defence systems in various places to maximise Bratislava’s airspace defences, according to a report by Slovak Spectator. The Patriots are primarily for beefing up Slovakia’s airspace protection, and will
Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Friday that Slovakia providing air defence systems to Ukraine is a no-go, according to an article on Euractiv. This week Bratislava said it was considering sending Soviet-era S-300 missile systems if it received Western replacements from its NATO allies.
Czechia’s Ministry of Defence says 100,000 Czechs have coughed up over EUR 27 million through a crowdfunding campaign which began last month to send weapons to Ukraine, writes Prague Morning. Funds from the campaign, intended for weapons and military supplies, are being sent directly to Ukraine’s embassy
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