Page 39 - bne magazine September 2021_20210901

bne September 2021 Central Europe I 39
volumes within Lithuania," Skuodis said on August 12.
Mantas Bartuska, CEO of Lietuvos Gelezinkeliai (Lithuanian Railways), the country's state-owned railway company, says some trains going to Lithuania from China "might face problems", but they should be minor.
"So far, Chinese transit freight has
been going successfully to Kaliningrad towards Germany, and the volumes are even growing. There certain trains going to Lithuania that, we see, might face problems. There are certain obstacles but these are insignificant amounts," Bartuska was quoted by Lithuanian media on August 12.
The firm is also bracing for a potential blow from the loss of Belarusian freight, following the new US sanctions on Belarus.
Bartuska says the state railway group may need around €60mn in state aid to maintain infrastructure when shipments of Belarusian potash fertilisers and other products sent via Lithuania come to a halt.
"It seems that the moment is approaching when shipments will stop, which means that we will lose around €60mn in annual revenue and Lithuania's entire logistics chain will not receive over €100mn in revenue," Bartuska said.
Previously, Lithuania broke ranks with its neighbours to become the first EU country to exit China’s 17+1 collaboration format for the Central, Eastern and Southeast Europe region.
"There is no such thing as 17+1 anymore, as for practical purposes Lithuania is out," Gabrielius
Landsbergis, the country’s foreign minister, explained in May.
The Lithuanian foreign minister called on other EU countries to also abandon the initiative. “From our perspective,
it is high time for the EU to move from a dividing 16+1 format to a more uniting and therefore much more efficient 27+1," Landsbergis said. "The EU is strongest when all 27 member states act together along with EU institutions."
Also in May, the European Parliament voted overwhelmingly to freeze the legislative process for ratifying the EU's investment pact with China, unless Beijing lifts sanctions against EU lawmakers that were imposed after the 27 EU countries slapped Xinjiang officials with sanctions over mass internment of the Uyghur minorities.
North Macedonia’s fugitive ex-PM Gruevski now flogging tableware and cleaning products in Hungary
Valentina Dimitrievska in Skopje
North Macedonia’s former prime minister Nikola Gruevski, who fled to Budapest to avoid serving a prison sentence, has set up a company in Hungary, Hungarian media reported on July 28.
Gruevski fled to Budapest in November 2018 after he was sentenced to two years in prison for influencing officials to buy a luxury Mercedes from state funds causing damage to the budget
of €600,000. He disappeared a few days before he was supposed to go to prison and was granted asylum
in Hungary.
The company called I.C.I.C. Kft is headquartered in Pecel, a suburb of Budapest. Gruevski is the owner and director of the company, which was
registered on July 15, according to Hungary’s 24.hu.
The main activities of the company include business management and consulting, but also wholesale of porcelain, glassware and cleaning products, and event organising.
Although Gruevski has been living in Hungary since November 2018 after receiving asylum there, he gave his home address in Skopje as his place of residence.
In 2019, Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjarto admitted that he meets regularly in his office with Gruevski to consult on Western Balkan issues.
Gruevski was a former leader of the conservative VMRO-DPMNE party and prime minister from 2006 to 2016, one year before the Social Democrats came to power. He is also on trial on other corruption charges in North Macedonia.
In May 2019, the mandatory immunity
“North Macedonia’s former prime minister Nikola Gruevski fled to Budapest to avoid serving a prison sentence is now living and working in Hungary"
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