Tag: Poland

The European Union has frozen about €890 million in aid earmarked for building Polish roads because of a suspected fraud by contractors, a Commission spokeswoman said on Wednesday (30 January).

Energy ministers from the 27 EU countries pledged to maintain momentum for a post-2020 renewables policy framework after a meeting in Brussels yesterday (3 December), but behind the formulaic words, old divisions remained.

Poland took a decisive step yesterday (20 November) towards building a liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal on its Baltic coast, a project that could significantly reduce Central and Eastern Europe's reliance on Russian imports.

Polish environmentalists say that they are operating in a ‘climate of fear’ involving harassment by the country’s security police, and denunciations from government ministers for “working against the public interests of the state”.

Bulgaria has abandoned plans to adopt the single currency in response to deteriorating economic conditions and rising uncertainty over the prospects of the European Union, Finance Minister Simeon Djankov said in a newspaper interview.

Two entrepreneurs are breathing life into news media in some of the EU's newer members, including Slovakia and Slovenia, writes Marius Dragomir.

The Polish Chamber of Commerce (PCC) threw its weight behind Warsaw’s campaign against the EU’s decarbonisation goals for 2050 yesterday (26 June), launching a study which claims that Polish jobs, growth, inflation and the environment are under threat.

With European delegates preparing to push a low-carbon agenda at the Rio Earth Summit this week, coal-reliant Poland has prevented EU governments from speaking with a single voice in the bloc's debate on a low-carbon energy future.

A Ukrainian diplomat yesterday (5 June) slammed a BBC documentary depicting the presence of racism and hatred at stadiums in his country. The documentary was released just days before Friday's start of the Euro 2012 football cup, which Ukraine is co-hosting with Poland.

Central and Eastern European countries, long lands of emigration to the West, are beginning to see these flows reverse as economic growth and opportunity shift eastwards, argues Stratfor.

The environmental group Food & Water Europe has accused the Polish author of a European Parliament report on shale gas extraction of resorting to "Cold War" rhetoric against Russia to support the industry's development.

A recent meeting in Berlin between Russia, Poland and Germany revealed Poland's delicate position in the debate between Russia and NATO over missile defence, according to Stratfor.

By stubbornly rejecting the EU’s shared vision to move towards a green energy future, Poland is vetoing modernisation of its own economy and further isolating itself, argues Julia Michalak from Climate Action Network Europe.

Germany benefits greatly from the EU's regional policy in Central and East European nations through increased commerce, says a study commissioned by Poland that also says French companies are benefiting.

Polish Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski threw down the gauntlet to Germany with a major political speech yesterday, calling on Berlin to avoid splitting the EU over tackling the eurozone crisis. EurActiv asked researcher Piotr Kaczyński to decipher its major highlights. 

Polish rural communities largely depend on low-cost but dirty coal for their heating, but under pressure from Brussels to provide cleaner energy, Warsaw is proposing controversial shale gas wells as an alternative.

Brussels will host a high-level conference in late October devoted to the EU's next long-term budget for 2014-2020, European Commission President José Manuel Barroso announced today (30 August) after a meeting with Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk.

Poland's optimism and Europhilia will be a boon to the EU in this time of crisis. But calendar constraints may limit Warsaw's achievements during its six-month presidency of the bloc, which is going through its most difficult period since its inception after the Second World War, writes Arsim Mulaku of the Kosovo Public Policy Centre.

Poland wants to draw up a new 'contract' for the EU that would highlight the benefits of EU membership and redefine the joint responsibilities of member states, says Paweł Świeboda in an exclusive interview with EurActiv Poland.

Under pressure from nationalist parties, many EU member states have led attacks against the European budget and the Schengen border-free area, said Commissioner Janusz Lewandowski, denouncing the "arrogance" of some countries. The Polish budget commissioner spoke to EurActiv Poland in an interview.

Jarosław Kaczyński, the leader of Poland's main opposition party, said yesterday (30 June) that Russia bore the main responsibility for a plane crash last April in which his twin brother and Poland's then-president Lech Kaczyński died.

Paving the way for an "ambitious" agreement on the 2014-2020 budget, energy security and the European Union's Eastern neighbourhood are all key priorities of the Polish EU Presidency during the second half of 2011. The Poles, for their part, have pulled all the stops to ensure that the Union remains committed to redistributive policies at a time of economic austerity.

The presidents of Serbia, Romania and Slovakia threatened to boycott a summit of Central and South-Eastern European countries, to be held in Warsaw over the two next days (27-28 May) with the presence of US President Barack Obama, over the participation on an equal footing of Kosovo's president.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said today (20 May) that Leszek Balcerowicz, architect of his country's 'shock therapy' reforms in the early 1990s, could be a good candidate to become the new head of the International Monetary Fund.