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The Regions This Week
January 25, 2019 www.intellinews.com I Page 6
Central Europe
European Commission Vice-President Maros Sefcovic will run for the Slovakian presidency. Announcing his plans, Sefcovic stressed the need for modernisation, changes in health care, education and social affairs, as well as the need to fight corruption. He also promised to be a guarantee that Slovakia will be anchored in the European Union.
Poland’s Foreign Minister Jacek Czaputowicz suggested a time limit on the Irish backstop so as to move the Brexit process forward. The proposal surprised Czaputowicz’ EU colleagues and was promptly rejected by Ireland as running counter to the EU’s agreed position on the backstop.
Lithuania wants to turn its Klaipeda LNG import terminal into a regional hub. LNG volumes handled by the terminal will more than double after gas pipelines to Poland and Finland open from 2021.
Penny Market will invest CZK1bn (€38.9mn) in the next four years into the complete rebuilding of its stores. Penny Market is the largest retail chain in the Czech Republic with 380 shops.
Latvian startup Giraffe360 received venture capital funding. The Latvia-based company, which gives buyers a 3D virtual reality tour of properties, raised €1.1mn from Change Ventures.
Wage talks between the trade union of carmaker Audi Hungaria (AHFSZ) and management collapsed, after which unions called a one week strike starting on Thursday at the plant in Gyor, western Hungary. The union is seeking an 18% hike to the basic wage which amounts to at least HUF75,000 (€233), among other salary demands.
931 people moved to Estonia on the country’s startup visa programme since its launch two years ago. Startup Estonia reported that the
most popular sectors for startups are fintech, business software/software as a service, medtech,
consumer goods and hospitality.
Czech energy group CEZ Group bought eight French wind farm projects with a capacity of 116.5MW from the German renewable energy developer ABO Wind. The “eight projects
located across the country are in the advanced development phase and have operational support in form of a guaranteed purchase price for 15 years,” CEZ spokesman Martin Schreier told E15. cz.
Hungarian-American film producer Andy Vajna died. Vajna, who produced blockbuster movies such as Terminator 3, led the revival of Hungary’s film industry but was recently criticised for his involvement in Hungarian pro-government media.
Lithuanian industrial production grew 4.9% y/y in December on a calendar-adjusted basis, according to data from Statistics Lithuania. The reading marks an uptick in the growth rate after output grew just 2.8% in annual terms in November.
Polish retail sales grew by a disappointing 3.9% y/y in constant prices in December, the statistics office GUS announced. The reading marks a slowdown of full 3pp in retail turnover growth in comparison to sales in the preceding month.
Benzina, the biggest petrol station chain in the Czech Republic, will re-enter the Slovak market and open its first petrol station in Malacky near the Slovak-Czech border in the spring of 2019. Benzina, returning to Slovakia after more than 30 years, is the leader on the Czech market, where it operates 406 service stations and holds a nearly 25% share in fuel sales.
Latvia's producer price index (PPI) grew 5.4% y/y in December, data from the Central Statistical Bureau (CSB) showed. The annual expansion came in at the same rate as in November, pushing the duration of the PPI growth series to 23 months straight.