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Organized by Mastercard for the second year in a row, the Central Europe (CE) Digital Payments Summit 2022 on 20 October will provide an industry forum for discussion and an exchange of ideas on the region’s pressing financial market issues, such as ongoing disruptions and innovation in the financial
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North Macedonia and Albania nominally began their EU accession negotiations in Brussels on Tuesday, with detailed discussions slated to begin in the autumn. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said “right after the Intergovernmental Conference today, the Commission and the negotiation teams from Albania and North Macedonia will start
Croatia
The EU formally approved on Tuesday Croatia joining the Eurozone on New Year’s Day 2023, and proclaimed the development as the end of an “amazing journey” for the Balkan country. Croatian Finance Minister Zdravko Maric declared Tuesday an “historic day” for the nation of 3.9 million people, which
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Albania may be about to announce the findings of exploratory fossil fuel drillings of such a magnitude that they will change Europe’s energy landscape, Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama announced Tuesday. “The signs show that we may be close to a very important discovery of gas and oil underground,
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Fossil fuel prices in Europe have increased notably since the onset of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the Mercator Research Institute (MCC) writes in its new report. Higher prices affect households across EU countries differently, it adds. Financial impacts would constitute average additional ‘overnight’ costs for households of more than
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The European Commission (EC) adopted a EUR 300bn proposal for the 27-country bloc to be entirely independent of Russian energy by 2027, on Wednesday 18 May. “We must now reduce as soon as possible our dependency on Russian fossil fuels. I’m deeply convinced we can,” EC President Ursula von
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The EU failed to agree on its latest sanctions against Russia on Tuesday, as Hungary refused to drop its threat to torpedo the package. Consensus on a blanket embargo of Russian oil remains elusive and could take another “week or two”, EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell said on Monday,
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G7 ministers expressed their concern about the “deepening political crisis” in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) and support for the commencement of EU accession negotiations with Albania and North Macedonia, following a meeting in northern Germany at the weekend. In a strongly worded joint statement, the foreign ministers of the US,
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MEPs on the environment committee of the European Parliament (ENVI) will vote on a tranche of environmental proposals early next week. On Monday and Tuesday (16-17 May), the ENVI will decide on around half of the regulations detailed in the European Commission’s Fit for 55 package to cut greenhouse
Featured
The war in Ukraine is a further nail in the coffin of the Pax Americana. Donald Trump began the dismantling of the US-dominated world order and post-WWII security apparatus, and now the job is being completed by Joe Biden. After last year’s withdrawal from Afghanistan, the Western response – or
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A group of four European budget airlines have allied to lobby against them shouldering the bulk of the cost of the EU’s Emissions Trading System (ETS) aviation fuel reform. Ryanair, easyJet, Jet2 and Wizz Air say they support climate goals for every flight from Europe – not just internal EU
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EU Commission Vice-President Maros Sefcovic laid out the bloc’s plans how to build capacity in critical raw materials for batteries along the value chain after a meeting of the Competitiveness Council this week. “We know that the broad deployment of clean and digital technologies will lead to a rising