The prime ministers of all three Baltic States declared they had stopped buying Russian gas. This happened just as Gazprom halted deliveries to Poland and Bulgaria. Are other countries in the region ready to end their reliance on Russian supplies?
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A massive level of inflation in Hungary created the need to issue the highest-nominated banknote ever.
No more dependency on Russia for vessels crossing the Vistula Spit.
At first sight, this village near the town of Popovo in northeastern
In September 2022, The Three Seas Initiative Investment Fund (3SIIF) acquired a significant interest in BMF Port Burgas, a major port operator in the Port of Burgas on Bulgaria's Black Sea coast.
A tragic accident left a 15-year-old girl with no arms, but Romanian doctors succeeded in reattaching both, performing a rare, almost impossible 20-hour surgery - the first bilateral arm reattachment surgery in Romania.
In Central Europe, the acceptance of traditional EU policies is high. The situation is already different in Western European countries. These two trends will determine the future of the EU.
Ten years, ten editions, and over 100,000 visitors. These are the stats of Central and Eastern Europe's most influential comic book convention in numbers. But what does it like behind the doors?
Central European countries are increasingly aware that developing their own IT capabilities will determine their position in the modern world.
There are 35 million digital nomads globally. Three Seas Initiative countries are fighting hard to gain a significant share of this community.
Since 2016, Romania has sat at the top of a very important poll regarding equality in the workspace. What is Romania's secret to achieving a nearly zero gender pay gap, and what is the reality?
The Czech population is gradually aging, and pension reform is nowhere in sight. Will the state be able to cope with the wave of pensioners, or will the title of the Cohen brothers' film apply: "No Country for Old Men"?
With over 95% of the population owning their homes, Romania leads Europe - and possibly the world - in home ownership. How did this happen, what role did communism play, and how is the trend still going strong, even 34 years after the fall of the regime?
Bulgaria hasn’t been blessed with limitless supplies of natural gas, but the country is still looking to play an important role on the gas market.
Businessman, Olympic athlete, or polar explorer. All of them are dressed by Czech companies. And as the old Czech song says: "It's an age-old truth, clothes make the man."
An inconspicuous product from the Czech suburb of Pardubice became the terror of the whole world and was the basis of the armament of the entire Eastern Bloc. What is the story of Semtex?
The countries in the Central European region are very serious about economic freedom and supporting entrepreneurship. This is confirmed by the Index of Economic Freedom.
Yes, the Austrian Post has a special stamp that says "Missent to Austria" for Australian packages. One recent package was finally delivered with five such stamps all lined up in a nice row.
Czechia has one of the lowest unemployment rates in the whole EU. Is it a curse or a blessing in disguise?
The attitude to history very much distinguishes Central Europe from Western Europe. The war in Ukraine means that these differences will remain present for many years to come.
Two years ago, there were claims that the Polish Solidarity Transport Hub was unnecessary since the infrastructure of Western Europe is sufficient to transport people and goods over long and short distances. It turns out that the opposite is true.
For the last three years, two driverless buses have been operating on the outskirts of Vienna. The project has so far been a success and a source of inspiration for other potential models in the 3 Seas region, as well as elsewhere.
Slovenia has renewed its interest in playing the role of gas hub using the same resources that were abandoned in 2012 due to economic reasons in favor of cheap Russian fuel.
Central European countries are successful in attracting investment from abroad. But they are also increasingly becoming exporters of capital for investment themselves.
The past year of the war in Ukraine was also a year of forging an awareness of the common destiny of Central Europe.
Bulgaria and Romania share 609 kilometers of border. And yet, despite the fact that the Danube River forms as many as 470 km of that border, the two countries are linked only by two bridges. Is this about to change?
Many countries have their own versions of one-ounce gold coins treated as a form of investment. But globally, the most important commemorates Vienna’s dedication to music.
The people of Central Europe dream of becoming ordinary, average inhabitants of Europe, its middle class. This dream is driving CEE countries - but it is also coming true more and more.
Three Seas countries are attractive investment destinations for global corporations. Can it also result from the fact that people in the region can work longer hours than their Western European counterparts?
CEE countries keep their taxes lower than Western states. In this way, they effectively bridge the gap in economic development between the two parts of Europe.
We know – pockets are getting smaller, and wallets are only becoming heavier. This would be no problem for the world’s tiniest print money – which measured a mere 27.5 x 38 mm. How much could you fit in your pocket?
Bulgarian businesses need more help from foreign workers. As challenges persist, how can Bulgaria fix its labor shortages?
People living in Three Seas countries are much less prone to taking loans than citizens of Western European countries. This division is so strong that it goes beyond simple economic choices.
Central Europeans have bigger trust in international institutions than in their own national ones. The best evidence of how slowly social stereotypes evolve.
Households in our region have to allocate relatively high shares of their budgets to basic needs. Their ability to buy non-essential items is limited. The consumption structure in our area will converge to the western European average in line with closing the income gap.
Flying to Bulgaria is easy, but that is not exactly the case when it comes to flying within the country. But work is underway to add six much-needed small facilities to Bulgaria’s minuscule airport network.
The countryside is the bread and butter of every nation. Undoubtedly, a vast part of Polish cultural heritage originates in Polish villages and fields. It could not be so if it weren’t for the women!
The new railway network will connect all of Poland’s larger cities with a mega-airport near Warsaw as well as connect Poland with neighboring countries.
Households in Central & Eastern Europe are still in the process of building financial wealth. It makes these economies vulnerable to adverse shocks, but it also makes the region an attractive investment destination.
The architecture MasterPrize award is open for entries from architects at every stage of their careers. It is considered the second most important out of the five leading international awards in architecture. This year, Poles were among the winners.
The Czech Republic has recorded a gradual increase in the number of children born in the country - proof that an effective pro-natalist policy can be pursued. It seems that the key is maintaining respect for the value of the family.
While Bulgaria hasn't exactly been the first country to come to mind when one thinks about the most fertile ground for startups, that is all about to change.
Hungarian-American startup SignAll has been intensely working for over a decade to invent the SignAll Lab tool, which translates American Sign Language (ASL) into American English.
The Hungarian startup SEON Technologies, currently based in London, has introduced an app that determines the risk of online internet profiles. The product became very popular among companies and casual users as the world went online during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Bulgaria might not be known for its fashion brands, and yet one local company is keeping Europeans fashionable.
In the past, people were grateful if there was a qualified doctor in their town or village. These days, it is doctors who are grateful for 5-star reviews.
Generation after generation of Bulgarians was raised with eyes on the prize: Owning a home. With prices in Bulgaria reaching new heights, has the time come to let go of that dream?
Did you know that you are probably a proud user of the same app as Barack Obama’s barber and Beyonce’s hairstylist?
Fish farming in Czechia has a tradition dating back to the early Middle Ages. It helped the landlocked country to secure enough fish supply. What started as a food variety necessity became part of national identity and Czech culture.
Beautiful lavender fields are the perfect Instagram photo-op. Just pay attention to the location tag: You’re not in the south of France but in Bulgaria. In fact, lavender is so prevalent in Bulgaria that it has been competing with France for years now for the title of top producer.
Over the last several years, the Three Seas countries have seen astonishing success in exports. In order to continue that success, what is needed now is diversification.
There are many things the Czech Republic is very well known for, one of them being Czech Glass. To be more specific, Bohemian Crystal. The production of Bohemian Crystal, from the Bohemia and Silesia regions, is a rich centuries-old tradition that is still thriving today.
CEE countries lost almost 50 years stuck on the wrong side of the Iron Curtain. Although the Berlin Wall fell more than three decades ago, they still have not managed to make up for the years wasted by communism.
Countries with the right balance between services and manufacturing economies are more resilient to various shocks. This is the lesson from the crises in the last two years, and Central Europe has done its homework.
3SeasEurope sits down for an interview with the Deputy Secretary-General of the OECD Jeffrey Schlagenhauf.
Innovativeness is a glamourized factor that is supposed to cure all the economic problems of the countries and the world. But do all countries need to be innovative to grow their economies?
Most of the Three Seas countries are not heavily indebted. However, they are importers of capital, which must be taken into account when making economic policy decisions.
It would be an understatement to say that Polish company Creotech Instruments has been moving at light speed since its founding in 2012. The company has grown from startup to space giant in a mere decade, with plans to go public on the Warsaw Stock Exchange this summer.
Central and Eastern European countries observe relatively low rates of unemployment, which are generally lower than in “Old EU” countries. While this might be seen as a success, the reality is not as optimistic as the data suggests.
The RPG game “This War of Mine” about civilian life in under-siege Sarajevo was the first videogame in the world to ever make it into school curriculum.
Central European countries have become hubs for the automotive industry in recent years. Now, we are entering an era of turbulence when traditional business models will be deeply reshuffled, creating challenges and possibilities in the automotive sector.
For many years, post-communist Central Europe could only watch other regions of the world prospering thanks to the rapid development of the digital market. Oh, how times have changed.
A vital part of Romanian-Polish trade depends on the automotive industry. Consequently, the automotive industry's evolution and how the two countries adapt to industry transformation will significantly influence the future trade structure of goods between the two countries.
One of the global challenges related to the Russian invasion of Ukraine is food security. Are Three Seas countries food secure?
With two million citizens and a whopping 1.5 thousand kilometers squared, the Silesian Conurbation is a much larger urban area than the Polish capital – Warsaw. It consists of multiple cities that grew to meet each other’s borders.
The beginning of the war in Ukraine overlapped with the annual seasonal increase in gas consumption and the diminishing amount of gas in storage. Could a lack of supply of this valuable natural resource mean an unusually cold winter for millions of Europeans?
A report authored by the International Monetary Fund in late 2020 remains the most detailed account of the size of the infrastructure gap between the western and eastern parts of the EU.
The UK may not be an EU member state anymore, but even so, Albion has interests in the region that seem set to strengthen in connection with the increased focused security issues connected to Ukraine and NATO's eastern flank.
Who would have guessed that the Damask rose, brought from Persia through Syria to Bulgaria back when the country was part of the Ottoman Empire, would one day acquire cult status? It's so essential that Bulgaria is even called the "Land of Roses." And for good reason.
Economic relations between Three Seas countries and Ukraine before the war were strong compared to other EU countries. This provides a solid foundation on which future relations can be strengthened.
At the end of March, Poland announced it would halt imports of Russian oil by the end of 2022, and the European Commission followed suit, proposing a ban on 4 May.
Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, countries are scrambling to get their hands on massive vessels that can regasify Liquified Natural Gas into regular gas. These floating LNG terminals will be a big part of the solution when the EU moves away from Russian gas, but will Finland and Estonia be able to put them to good use?
Thanks to significant economic growth in the Three Seas region over the last few decades, housing prices have risen accordingly. In today's housing market, where can you find the best deals, and which cities are the most expensive?
Against a background of consumer inflation already on the rise, the Russian invasion of Ukraine has only added more fuel to the fire, driving inflation sharply higher.
The government in Sofia is taking measures to replace Russian gas ahead of the warming season this winter while also helping Ukraine to survive the Russian’s Army’s onslaught in the Donbas.
The Polish and Czech governments have agreed to restart work on the Stork II gas pipeline, a project of key importance to Czechia’s ambition to rid itself of dependency on Russian gas.
The new GIPL gas pipeline has connected Finland and the Baltic states to the EU’s gas transmission system just as Russia cuts off gas supplies for Poland and Bulgaria.
The Port of Gdańsk, as the leading container terminal on the Baltic Sea, is slowly becoming a key transport hub in the development the 3Seas Initiative (3SI). In fact, the entire Polish coast, with its key transshipment ports. is turning into a so-called Northern Gateway.
Natural gas will now arrive in Lithuania from across the world to a floating regasification unit fully owned by the state.
The Baltic-Adriatic Corridor rail freight corridor will speed up with the opening of two major tunnels.
2022 is expected to be the year in which Romania takes the final step to launch major extraction of Black Sea gas.
The Ionian-Adriatic gas pipeline is entering a crucial planning phase. If everything goes according to plans, Azeri gas will soon start flowing to countries in the Western Balkans and further north.
The construction of the BRUA gas pipeline has received another permit, making it more likely that Europe will be able to increase the diversification of its energy supplies.
For a little over a year, Croatians and others living in Central Europe have had access to natural gas from a new source. Gas shipped in from across the world will help our planet from overheating and provide more supply security.
Ever since European countries experienced a sharp drop in Russian gas supplies through Ukraine to Europe in early 2006, people in Central Eastern Europe have been aware of the need to diversify the imports of natural gas.
COVID has created chaos in global supply chains - but Central Eastern Europe can paradoxically profit.
FAIRway Danube project returns hope to areas around the revered river
More than 30 years after the fall of communism, Central Eastern Europeans will finally be able to travel north and south in comfort.
A reform of EU debt rules is on the horizon, so the question will be in which direction Central Eastern Europe can swing it.