A collection of 174 posts
As head of the new Luxembourg-based European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO), Laura Codruta Kovesi is poised to lead a Europe-wide effort to curtail losses due to corruption, which she estimates amount to EUR 60 billion each year. From 2015-18, she led similar efforts in her native Romania, where she
Exiled businessman Mikhail Khodorkovsky at a public hearing of the European Parliment told to MEPs: Russia has recruited allies in Angela Merkel’s German chancellor’s “inner circle” so as in the Austrian intelligence services. One of the earliest and most well known Russian ologarch, Khodorkovsky with his UK-based pro-democracy
Ahead of the EU foreign ministers council meeting on Monday, a working document entitled “EU reinforced engagement in the Western Balkans” details the region’s disillusionment with the slow, stop-and-go European Union enlargement process. The diplomatic paper comes in the wake of a political storm over a series of phantom
Welfare and unemployment are on the agenda in Porto, Portugal, where this weekend EU leaders are getting together for the first time in 5 months for a 2-day summit that started today. The leaders gathered in Portugal – minus German Chancellor Angela Merkel and the Netherlands’ prime minister Mark Rutte – will
Eleven of the 27 member states want the EU to stop funding cross-border fossil-fuel energy projects. The related provisions are currently under review in Brussels. The group of countries lead by Denmark also includes Austria, Belgium, Germany, Estonia, Ireland, Luxembourg, Latvia, the Netherlands, Spain and Sweden. They argue that to
EU sanctions being in place against China, and vice versa, have doused the approval prospects for a massive investment deal between the two sides, says European trade commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis, who said the issue is not conducive for ratification. Observers point out the deterioration of the relations between Brussels and
On Tuesday, the benchmark EU Allowance (EUA) price for carbon hit EUR 50.05 /ton for the first time since it was introduced back in 2005. Analysts argue this is a sign that carbon prices will be at the price levels needed to trigger investments in innovative clean technologies. The
The European Commission has now received 13 national plans for how EU countries plan on spending pandemic recovery funds from the EU, which has allotted EUR 672.5 – roughly half grants, half loans – to help economies recover and foster zero-carbon public investment projects. While such plans have been received from
Croatia’s prime minister says a soon-to-be constructed bridge ensures his country’s borders. Set for completion in October, the Pelješac Bridge, which is being built by the China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC), will allow travelers to go to the southern part of Croatia without having to cross a
While Czechia has shown signs of interest in growing trade and cooperation with China, at the same time Prague is the loudest critic of Huawei in the region and is likely to continue to follow Brussels’ lead related to any further US-China trade disputes. 5G: A voice critical of Huawei
A global trade war between the US and China may turn Central & Eastern Europe (CEE) into a battleground. The region, which has become a springboard for Chinese expansion, is now torn between its political and security allegiances to the US and its hunger for fresh capital. In the last
According to an audit by the European Commission, the Agrofert business empire of Czech prime minister, Andrej Babis, has broken conflict of interest rules through his control of company trust funds and could be forced to pay back EU subsidies it had received after 2017. A report by EU auditors
The Hungarian government has published a 432-page program with details on 68 investments to be implemented from the EU’s HUF 5.9 trillion recovery program. Interestingly, the government plans to devote 51% of the total sum to environmental protection goals, compared to the mandatory minimum of 37%. It will
After 14 hours of negotiations concluded Wednesday in the early hours, representatives of the member states agreed to cut emissions 55% by 2030 compared to 1990 levels. Europe aims to become climate neutral by 2050, and by reaching an agreement they found a legally binding way to enshrine that objective
651,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines will be donated from the European Union’s joint procurement to vaccinate healthcare workers in six countries in the western Balkans. The announcement comes weeks after China and Russia distributed millions of doses of their domestic jabs in the region. “With this initiative, we