Hungary will not be obliged to participate in military actions outside its territory or send money or troops to Ukraine, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said after he met NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg in Budapest on Wednesday, 12 June, ahead of the treaty organisation’s Washington Summit next month.
The EU elections, which will be held from on 6-9 June, involve nearly 400mn voters across 27 countries deciding on 720 seats in the European Parliament (EP).
The vote will decide who will lead the European Commission (EC), with EC President Ursula von der Leyen vying for a second term,
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken travelled to Chisinau, Moldova and Prague, Czechia, from May 28-31, to discuss energy, defence and the NATO summit in Washington DC scheduled for early July.
In Chisinau, Blinken met with Moldovan President Maia Sandu to show support for the European country’s progress on
Lithuania’s President Gitanas Nauseda secured re-election on Sunday 26 May, according to official results, in a vote heavily dominated by defence concerns regarding neighbouring Russia.
The electoral commission reported that Nauseda garnered 74.6% of the vote, with 90% of ballots counted following the polls’ closure on Sunday. His
Slovakia’s head of state and president-elect jointly called for calm in the wake of the assassination attempt on Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico on Wednesday 15 May.
Fico was shot five times by Juraj Cintula in Handlova, central Slovakia, on Wednesday, at 2:30 pm, in the highest profile
Hungary will focus on key issues for central Europe during its upcoming EU presidency, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto claimed at a press conference with Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky in Budapest on Friday, 26 April.
According to Szijjarto, the key issues for the region are enlargement for countries in
US nuclear firm Westinghouse Electric Company has signed memorandums of understanding (MOUs) with 17 Bulgarian suppliers to support the construction of two AP1000 reactors at the nuclear power plant in Kozloduy, north Bulgaria, and received a permit to begin transitioning to using fuel it has produced.
As well as Bulgaria,
Romanian President Klaus Iohannis has approved the transit of Finnish equipment and supplies to Ukraine as well as the relevant training of around 50 Ukrainian pilots, the Romanian parliamentary press service announced on Monday, 18 March.
The training of the pilots will take place in the second half of the
The prime ministers of the Visegrad Four (V4) countries met in Prague, Czechia, for the first time in eight months, on Tuesday, 27 February.
Created back in 1991, the V4 comprises around 65mn EU citizens, but for the last two years differences of opinion about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine
Prime Minister of the Netherlands Mark Rutte is reportedly likely to succeed NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg in October, as the US on Wednesday 21 February joined the group of two-thirds of member countries who back his nomination.
Although US President Joe Biden has not publicly backed Rutte, one of
Ukraine is planned to be added to the Trans-European TEN-T transport corridor, enabling access to the rest of Europe for trains from Lviv, west Ukraine.
The Mediterranean Corridor will be the only TEN-T line that completely links western and eastern Europe, starting from the southern coast of Spain, through Almeria,
German defence industry group Rheinmetall has acquired a 72.5% stake in Automecanica Medias from Romania, estimating that it will have an annual sales potential of up to EUR 300mn. The rest of the company’s shares will remain in private ownership. The contract still requires approval from the relevant
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban agreed to a EUR 50bn, 4-year package for Ukraine on Thursday, 1 February, after vowing to block the funds since December.
The package is designed to financially keep afloat Ukraine’s hospitals and schools, as well as civil servants’ wages and pensions.
Oban was reportedly
EU leaders voted to begin accession negotiations with Ukraine and Moldova, at a historic summit in Brussels on Thursday 14 December. The EU meanwhile designated Georgia – also a former Soviet republic – as a candidate for membership, a significant shift in the EU’s level of engagement with post-Soviet states.
President
Donald Tusk was elected as Poland’s prime minister as his government won a vote of confidence in the parliament on Tuesday, 12 December. “Poland is back in Europe,” the country’s new prime minister, Donald Tusk, said in Brussels. “This is the most important moment of my political career.