in spring 2020, the four Visegrad countries criticised the EU for not providing member states with masks and other equipment when the coronavirus pandemic started. Now they are blaming Brussels for the slow vaccine roll-out. At the same time, they h
The process of drafting national recovery plans under time pressure seems to be a handful for Visegrad countries. Frequent issues include a lack of stakeholder involvement, problems with streamlining different requests and ensuring transparency in the process.
In at least one global economic ranking, Slovakia consistently occupies first place - car production per capita. The sector accounts for 13% of Slovakia’s GDP, almost 50% of its industrial production, and 46% of the country’s exports, but this reliance is also fraught with risks, particularly in times of growing digitisation and green ambitions.
The Slovak government has emphasised the need to support the digital sector, where the country is lagging behind, but the first plans of the "reform menu", presented in October, do not specifically address it.
The recovery of European economies after the coronavirus pandemic may become - thanks to national recovery plans financed by the EU funds - a prelude to catching up with climate goals. Are the Visegrád countries ready to seize the opportunity?
Visegrad countries are waiting for the new Digital Services Act. According to the V4 countries, the regulation is necessary but Europe must avoid censorship and any other forms of violation of the right to freedom of expression.
EU candidate Montenegro is holding a crucial parliamentary election on Sunday (30 Aug). Slovak MEP Vladimír Bilčík, who leads the European Parliament's delegation for relations with the country, said it is "essential" that they are conducted safely, peacefully and freely, recalling a coup d'etat attempt that marred the previous ballot in 2016.
Europeans have started to realise what it means to have an absence of American leadership on the international stage. The “opportunity” that this crisis brings is the emergence of different kinds of leaders, Harvard Kennedy School’s Cathryn Cluver Ashbrook told EURACTIV Slovakia.
The conservative movement Ordinary People (OĽaNO) party won Saturday’s (29 February) parliamentary elections in Slovakia and will be the dominant player in a likely government coalition of opposition parties. Its leader Igor Matovič promises zero tolerance for corruption.
The new government in Vienna will aim for “an end to nuclear energy” in the EU, Thomas Waitz told EURACTIV Slovakia. The MEP-elect and Green Party negotiator also calls on the EU to acknowledge that Poland will need financial support in the transition away from coal.
You can never reach a decarbonised economy by making the combustion engine perform better and become more efficient, says Hans Bruyninck. Breakthrough technologies, not incremental efficiency gains, will bring Europe to its 2050 objectives, he argues.
European policies on tackling agricultural emissions are insufficient, according to auditors. Although solutions do exist, the cost and time factors often mean farmers are not capable of implementing them.
EU cohesion funding for environmental measures has not been spent as planned and EU member states are reluctant to apply the “no environmental harm” principle. EURACTIV Slovakia reports. “If you think the economy is more important than environment, try holding...
Slovakia will not ratify the Istanbul Convention on preventing and combating violence against women, the country's parliament decided, adding that any decision at EU level needs to be made unanimously. EURACTIV Slovakia reports.
Industry, agriculture and transport were asked to decrease air pollution at a high-level EU forum in Slovakia on clean air but the responsible ministers and new Commissioners were absent from the Bratislava event.
The European Parliament's transport committee head, Karima Delli (Greens), spoke about the need to completely overhaul the transport industry to combat climate change, the next transport Commissioner and France's pick for EU internal market chief, in an interview with EURACTIV Slovakia.
States need to be prepared and equipped to tax what cannot be seen, but also to increase the fairness and effectiveness of the collection of tax revenues, a panel of experts has agreed. The Focus Group ‘Smart taxation in a...
Harmonisation of tax rates across the EU should be conducted cautiously, leaving member states the flexibility of setting rates in order not to jeopardise a healthy competition at the national level, says Grzegorz Poniatowski from the Polish think-tank Centre for Economic and Social Research.
Europe’s competitiveness in a world characterised by disruptions has been in the spotlight of the GLOBSEC Tatra Summit. The Green New Deal, sustainable finance and leveraging the EU budget were identified as the keys to help Europe resist the global...
The European Union needs to show “concrete evidence” that the Chinese tech giant Huawei is a security threat, China’s Ambassador to Slovakia Lin Lin told EURACTIV Slovakia in an interview.
France wants to make access to European funds conditional on the European minimum wage and respect for the rule of law, the state secretary for Europe, Amélie de Montchalin, told EURACTIV Slovakia in an interview.
The EU does not have a real 'European foreign policy' because every country works on its own and member states do not want to give full responsibility to the EU's High Representative, a former senior French and EU diplomat told EURACTIV Slovakia in an interview.
Marine Le Pen will be very cautious in doing business with parties who clearly are anti-Semitic and “she probably had even more red lines than [Italy's Matteo] Salvini on this”, Dr Christian Lequesne told EURACTIV Slovakia in an interview.
