After the IMF has formally accepted huge loan requests from Hungary and Ukraine (and also Iceland on the other periphery of the European economic area), Belarus, Bulgaria, Latvia, Romania, Poland, Serbia are in the waiting line -  not to forget our almost forgotten EU-applicant Turkey, too. I think the French presidency should send out another [...]

Oleg Deripaska - the Russian aluminium king, who is supposed to meet the latest British party finance scandalists in Corfu this summer - may shut down Aluminium Plant Podgorica, which gives a half of Montenegro’s export capacity. It’s not only his business.
Here is the story from the new Montenegrin Blogactiv blog. I believe in private [...]

Since the Schengen Treaty has eliminated border control among most old a new member states, a few municipalities tried to erect new barriers. Three Austrian and Hungarian MEPs demonstrated against the illegal barrier between Fertörákos and St. Margarethen on the Austrian-Hungarian border.
This is not a unique case: the municipality of Slovensko Nové Mesto has even [...]

The financial and money markets have closed with a huge plus today after news came out that the IMF has reached a broad agreement with the Hungarian government. The scheme will involve the EU and possibly some EU member states, too.
“A substantial financing package in support of these strong policies will be announced when the [...]

After the killing of two high-profile journalists, the Croatian government has declared war on organized crime and quickly set up a new police unit. Deputy parliament speaker Vladimir Seks, a senior member of Sanader’s ruling HDZ party, said the country was facing a grave emergency.
Highly organized crime has been an heritage of war and transition [...]

The Economist magazine has an excellent analysis of Eastern Europe’s vulnerability to the current financial crisis. These countries have recently been (re-)integrated into the global economy and this will be their first encounter with a global economic crisis. They seem very vulnerable due to some common patterns of their transition to market economy.
The article cleverly [...]

Not waiting until the banks will plea for government bailout, the cornered government turned the tables in a preemptive threat to the banks: give your money before we start to legislate against you.
Hungary has not had a mortgage crisis yet, but the country’s public finances are a mess. Since the accession to the European Union [...]

The Hungarian president has vetoed the ratification of the Hungarian-American visa waiver agreement due to concerns about data protection issues. The new American visa waiver scheme that involves six European Union members has been the cause of unpleasant debates within Europe.
Obtaining an American tourist visa is costly, and the procedure is at least unpleasant, probably [...]

The Foreigner’s Guide to Living in Slovakia blog tries to enumerate the most famous Slovaks around the world. Most of them are emigrants from the former Czechoslovakia and earned their world fame abroad. According to the subjective and interesting blog post, the most famous Slovaks today who were born and raised in Slovakia are Peter [...]

Hungary sold the right to emit 2 million tons of CO2 to Belgium. The contract is not available to the public.
After a parliamentary questioning and media inquiries, the Hungarian ministry responsible for environment started to publish some details of the deal, claiming, that it would harm Hungary’s negotiation position in other deals under way if [...]