-The Court of Justice of the European Union ruled to uphold the European Commission’s 68.5 million euro fine on Poland that was levied on the country for failing to uphold EU law by not suspending the operations in the Turów mine despite the interim decision of the Court.
-Czech billionaire Daniel K?etínsky is about to acquire the Royal Mail – according to the agreement the 500 years old postal service would not be rebranded nor would the location of its headquarters be changed.
- A couple of years ago Poland was ordered to pay a daily fine for failing to suspend the operations of the Turów coal mine. Warsaw, however, refused to pay 68.5 million euro in fines. This week the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) upheld the European Commission’s order to levy the fines on Poland. In its complaint, that is now rejected, Poland argued that the EC had no right to punish it due to its agreement about the mine with the Czech Republic with whom the dispute initially started in 2021. Due to Czechia’s complaint that the mine close to its border pollutes the environment, the CJEU ordered as an interim measure to close down the mines. Poland, however, refused to do so, which was motivated by the fact that the plant produces 7% of the country’s electricity. In turn, the court levied a fine on Warsaw for non-compliance.
- Half of Poles oppose the introduction of the euro as the currency of their country. 49% of respondents opposed introducing the euro, and only 45% were in favour of it – according to an opinion poll recently conducted by CBOS. Among those who think that the European currency should be adopted by Poland 10% believes that it should not happen earlier than 2034. The electoral base of the conservative PiS is strongly against introducing the euro, 75% of its supporters are committed to their national currency. Ahead of the elections Poland’s finance minister from KO Andrzej Domański also came out opposing the European single currency.
- The German firm Evonik recently launched its new biosurfactant plant in Slovenská ?up?a, Slovakia. The biosurfactants that will be produced by the plant can be used in cleaning agents, shower gels or even petroleum products. In the year of 1993 when Evonik arrived at Slovakia and set up the foundations of its plant in Slovenská ?up?a it was the largest foreign direct investment into the country.
- EP Group, the Czech billionaire’s Daniel K?etínsky’s interest, recently announced that it is buying the International Distribution Services which owns the Royal Mail in the UK. The Czech businessman is acquiring the Royal Mail for about 3.6 billion GBP. The 500 years old postal service was privatised by the British conservatives in 2013 and has been struggling to make end meets ever since. Under the new ownership the Royal Mail would not be rebranded nor would it change its headquarters. The Royal Mail is not the only large interest of Daniel K?etínsky on the UK market; he also has stakes in the Sainsbury’s supermarket chain as well as the Premier League football team West Ham.
- The holding of one of Slovenia’s power stations, HSE recently paid back the capital injection totaling 492 million euro it received from the Slovenian state in 2022. The company not only returned in full the money it received amidst the energy crisis, but throughout the repayment period it was also able to supply Slovenian households with electricity at a regulated rate.
- Nofar Energy is about to finalize a 26 MW solar park in Serbia by the end of the year. Once it’s completed the project which is valued at 25 million EUR will put Serbia’s combined capacity of solar power plants above 100 MW. The Israeli firm, Nofar Energy has recently secured a loan from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development to invest in Romania too.
- Ahead of the upcoming European elections the Romanian government decided to increase the minimum wage to 3 700 lei. In addition, the government also unlocked 3 000 more healthcare posts to cover staff shortages in hospitals, clinics and ambulance services. According to the Prime Minister this is the third time this year that new positions are opened to the healthcare industry.
- Bulgaria is considering turning to foreign workers to ease some of its labour shortages in the tourism industry. According to the Acting Minister of Tourism Evtim Miloshev the industry is in need of 27 000 workers – the minister disclosed plans to seek labour from Nepal and Bangladesh to meet with the labour needs of the tourism sector.
