A collection of 174 posts
Slovenia, which holds the EU presidency, has released a progress report on the European Union’s draft artificial intelligence act (‘AIA’) on 29 November. Among the suggested modifications, EU member states would like to retain their national competence over AI affairs in terms of national security and military matters, and
In an unprecedented development, the EU will make significant investments in new small and medium-sized enterprises as part of the “Accelerator” programme launched by the European Innovation Council (EIC). Previously the EU has previously only issued grants or backed private investors, without taking ownership stakes. EIC director Jean-David Malo told
Production of “green” hydrogen produced with renewable energy sources may be coming into focus for the European Union as a way to reduce CO2 emissions. EU officials say the cost of producing it should fall, if the gigawatt capacity of electrolysers is ramped up sufficiently. At an event in Brussels
Prime Minister of North Macedonia Zoran Zaev officially stood down as leader of the country’s ruling party SDSM on Saturday, in the wake of right-wing opposition VMRO-DPMNE’s landslide victory in local elections earlier this month. So far only Deputy Finance Minister Dimitar Kovacevski has announced a candidacy to
Natural gas shipments should continue to flowing to Moldova, as Gazprom has given Chisinau two more days to pay off what the country owes the giant Russian gas supplier. Earlier, Gazprom had threatened to close off the taps because of Moldova’s debt of EUR 74 million, an amount covering
The formation of a new governing coalition in Czechia could be set to stall after President Milos Zeman reportedly threatened to veto Pirate Party member Jan Lipavsky’s appointment as foreign minister. Last week prime minister-elect Petr Fiala met Zeman to discuss the formation of a new governing coalition of
The European Commission is proposing that soils are given the same legal status as air and water as part of the EU’s “Soil Strategy for 2030”. The plan, which still requires the approval of the European Parliament and EU member states, would create the first European regulation to allow
Tier, a German shared mobility company with a presence in Hungary, Slovakia, Poland, is buying the bicycle sharing company Nextbike, it announced. The news comes after Tier’s USD 200mn funding round at the end of October. Tier is present in 148 cities in 16 countries, and combined with Nextbike
A total of six Central and Eastern European countries were public signatories to the agreement to transition to zero-emission vehicles at the COP26 summit on climate change which ended at the weekend. In a non-binding declaration Austria, Poland, Croatia, Slovenia, Lithuania and Ukraine pledged to “work towards all sales of
A group of investors who collectively manage EUR 9 trillion has written a joint statement to the EU urging it not to classify natural gas and nuclear power as sustainable under its new system. The Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance comprises 60 international finance companies, including Allianz SE, Banco Santander, Barclays,
The Balkans are in danger of instability as the multi-ethnic state of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) looks at risk of disintegration, according to regional observers. UN High Representative in BiH Christian Schmidt told Reuters on Saturday that the peace deal brought an uneasy peace to the country after the Balkan
North Macedonian Prime Minister Zoran Zaev announced his resignation after his party, the Social Democratic Union of Macedonia (SDSM), suffered a heavy defeat in the country’s municipal elections on Sunday. “I take responsibility for the outcome of the elections and therefore am resigning as prime minister and SDSM president,
Russian state-owned Gazprom has offered Moldova a new and improved gas-supply contract on condition that it drops its tariff-free trade deal with the EU and postpones the energy market reforms it has agreed with the bloc, the Financial Times wrote, citing sources familiar with the negotiations. Russia, which supplies and
Despite the European Union’s explicit plans to prepare a subsidy package for the microchip industry that matches with United States investments in the sector – preliminary figures don’t add up. Politico writes that the EC’s plans will collide with the EU competition rules and too time-consuming decision-making. The
Italy has blocked the purchase of global seed producer Verisem by a Chinese-owned group. As part of Prime Minister Mario Draghi’s so-called “golden power” veto to prevent strategic assets from being sold off to foreign interests, a source told Reuters that the Italian government had prevented Swiss-based Syngenta, from