Category Archives: Eastern Europe

More EU Students Coming to the UK

Interestingly, Ucas data shows that higher education providers in England have 20,430 EU learners from outside the UK. This is a 14% increase from the same point last year. This shows a significant acceleration, as the 2014-15 English universities EU recruitment was 8% higher than the year before that. As Nick Hillman, the director of…

EU Offering Aid to Bulgaria

The European Commission has proposed a grant to give Bulgaria EUR 10 million in aid for flood damage. The EU’s Economic and Financial Affairs Council is expected to approve of this proposal. The vote on the EUR 10 million aid package for Varna and Dobrich districts will take place on Friday, according to the Bulgarian…

Banning High Powered Hair Dryers & Other Appliances in the EU

If you live in the EU, you might want to grab that high powered hair dryer and hide it now. That’s because the hair dryer is on the list of 30 appliances that the EU is considering banning in order to curb energy consumption. A study that was commissioned by the EU has identified these…

200th Anniversary Commemorative Coin in Malta

The Central Bank of Malta will issue €2 commemorative coin marking the 200th anniversary of the creation of the Malta Police Force on Wednesday July 16th. The Governor of the Central Bank of Malta, Professor Josef Bonnici, presented the coin to the Acting Commissioner of Police, Raymond Zammit. At the Central Bank of Malta there…

Launch of New EU Financial Instrument and Advisory Service

A new EU financial instrument and advisory service has just been launched to help firms to access finance more easily. The agreement was just signed by European research, innovation and science commissioner Máire Geoghegan-Quinn on behalf of the EU in Greece. The goal, over the next seven years, is for InnovFin – EU Finance for…

Portugal Looks To Meet Its Budget-Deficit Targets

The Portuguese government will continue cutting spending to try to meet budget-deficit targets. This includes cutting spending in ministries and lowering the number of public workers. As explained in the Wall Street Journal, “Portugal will exit a three-year, €78 billion ($108 billion) bailout program next month, but lenders—the International Monetary Fund and the European Union—want…

Problems in Portugal

Portugal is certainly going through a great deal of upheaval and heading for political crisis. Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho held meetings recently with the leader of the rightist CDS-PP party. The recent resignation of finance minister Vitor Graspar and foreign minister Paulo Portas have threatened the government’s majority in parliament. The economy is at…

EU Copyright Protection Extended

The EU has just helped the economic situation of musicians by extending the current copyright protection laws from 50 to 70 years.  During the vote, 17 voted in favor of the extension out of the 27 member states; Belgium, the Czech Republic, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia and Sweden voted against; Austria and Estonia…

Poland Positioning Itself Well in the EU

As one of the new kids on the block, Poland is hoping to get in with the popular kids. Poland was one of the biggest of the 8 post-Communist countries that joined the EU in 2004. Now, they have their sights on being an influential policy-maker alongside heavyweights like France, Germany and the UK. EU…

Clamping Down on Belarus

The EU is showing its strength as it adds more harsh measures to its list against Belarus.  They will be imposing a travel ban and freezing assets on another 15 or so officials from Belarus.  The new names will be added to an existing list that already has about 175 names on it from Belarus. …