Page 5 - bne_newspaper_June_08_2018

The Regions This Week
June 8, 2018 www.intellinews.com I Page 5
Central Europe
Poland’s Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki took over supervision of state-controlled oil and gas companies PKN Orlen and Lotos. Stripping the Energy Minister Krzysztof Tchorzewski of supervising the pair of strategic companies is
a reflection of differences between him and Morawiecki over details of the upcoming takeover of Lotos by Orlen, media speculate.
Lithuania and Romania hosted CIA detention centres known as “black sites”, where terrorism suspects were held illegally and subject to torture and other violations of human rights, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) said last week.
Wizz Air aims to be among the top five airlines of Europe within the next decade, CEO Jozsef Varadi said after the Budapest-registered no- frills airline took delivery of the company's 100th aircraft on June 4, an Air Airbus A321. It currently ranks number ten in terms of passengers carried.
Estonia is introducing free bus travel for its citizens across the country. The move, intended to stimulate rural economies, follows the decision to make public transport in the capital Tallinn free back in 2013.
The Czech economy grew by 4.4% in the first quarter of 2018 from 5.5% growth of GDP in Q1, 2017. The growth is slightly lower than the preliminary results of 4.5%, which was already at the very bottom of the Czech National Bank’s (CNB), the finance ministry’s and the market’s expectations.
Hungarian listed holding companies Opus Global and Konzum will acquire Budapest-listed IT
company 4iG. The two holding companies owned by Prime Minister Viktor Orban's friend Lorinc Meszaros agreed to acquire just over 50% of the IT companyʼs shares.
Poland’s labour shortage spurred a top construction firm to call on the government for help. Poland should reform its visa system to let in more workers from countries like Ukraine or Georgia in order to tackle severe labour shortages in the construction industry, the CEO of Poland’s biggest construction company, Budimex, told Reuters.
Opposition groups filed two separate no- confidence motions against Latvia’s Justice Minister Dzintars Rasnacs. The opposition is blaming Rasnacs for Latvia's flawed insolvency laws, and the motions follow the murder of insolvency administrator Martins Bunkus in what appears to have been a contract killing.
UK hypermarket chain Tesco remained the largest retailer in Hungary with a gross revenue of HUF809bn (€2.53bn) in 2017, according to
the annual listing from Trade magazine. Tesco operates 112 hypermarkets across Hungary, multifold that of its rivals, and has opened dozens of new convenience stores in the past few years.
Belgian technology company Umicore will build a factory for cathode materials for electric car batteries in the Polish town of Nysa. Poland has long been an important location for automotive industries because of its still relatively cheap yet skilled labour as well as for a location enabling efficient logistics to markets such as Germany.
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