Central Europe is being lined up as the site for a storage facility for nuclear waste from across the European Union, the UK’s The Times reported last Wednesday. The eight members of the European Repository Development Organisation – the Netherlands, Italy, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Lithuania, Slovenia and Bulgaria – are discussing the transport and storage of waste. Most member states only have one or two reactors and would like to cut costs by building a common store. Neil Chapman of the Association of Regional and International Storage, which is involved in the talks, said whichever county agreed to host the site would be paid but added that none had so far publicly stated a willingness to accommodate it. Very few countries operating atomic power stations have so far constructed permanent sites to store the waste by-products of nuclear power generation. Slovenia is building a storage facility for low-level waste in Vrbina in the east of the country and has accepted payment to do this. The United Kingdom, France and Germany store their own waste and oppose permanent exports. Continue »

The European Union’s new foreign policy head last week ruled out the break-up of Bosnia, Serbia’s B92 radio station reported. Catherine Ashton, the 27-member bloc’s Foreign and Security Policies chief, told the newspaper Dnevni Avaz, “The EU is completely dedicated to the territorial integrity and sovereignty of this country and its current borders defined by the Dayton Peace Accord.” The Dayton peace deal ended the war in Bosnia in 1995. Fears that the Serbian half of the federation, known as Republika Srpska, might be planning to secede increased earlier this month after its parliament passed a law regulating referendums. The two halves of the country – the  Republika Srpska and the Muslim-Croat Federation – enjoy large-scale autonomy with only weak federal institutions uniting the country at the national level. Ashton said she was concerned about the former Yugoslav republic. “The lack of progress, reforms, and local political dialogue are reasons that Bosnia-Herzegovina is lagging behind the rest of the region,” she said, adding that Bosnia had a great chance of moving towards the EU this year. Continue »

A court in the Czech Republic last Wednesday banned a political party for the first time in the country’s history, Radio Prague reported. The Supreme Administrative Court in Brno justified its verdict against the far-right Workers’ Party on the grounds of its racism. The court accepted a case brought by the government in which it argued that the party posed a threat to democracy and advocated hatred of minority groups and heard expert witness evidence that the party used symbols and language similar to those used in Nazi Germany. It was the government’s second attempt to ban the party; the previous one failed due to a lack of evidence. Chairman Tomas Vandas said the Workers’ Party would appeal against the court’s decision and contest the elections due in May. Continue »

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin last Monday criticised outgoing Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko for declaring a controversial wartime leader a national hero, the RIA Novosti news agency reported. Putin accused Yushchenko of “spitting in the face” of supporters for awarding Stepan Bandera the title of Hero of Ukraine. Opponents see Bandera as a Nazi collaborator, but his supporters consider him a freedom fighter. Putin said Bandera was “a man who not only collaborated with the Nazis, but was also peculiarly cruel when doing away with Jews and Poles”. Polish President Lech Kaczynski echoed Putin’s comments. Bandera headed the Organisation of Ukrainian nationalists in the Second World War and declared an independent Ukrainian state shortly after the start of the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941 and was accused of being involved in the killing of large numbers of civilians. A KGB agent assassinated him in Munich in 1959. Continue »

According to Slovak employees at Suzuki’s Esztergom factory, their Hungarian colleagues are using every opportunity to force them out of the plant in order to fill the vacancies with their fellow countrymen. The 24  October issue of the Slovak daily Új Szó reported that the attitude of “Hungarian Suzuki belongs to the Hungarians and the Slovaks should go home” began to emerge as the effects of the crisis became more apparent, and unemployment began to grow. Sources of the Hungarian-language paper said numerous Slovaks had not been able take the pressure and eventually quit their jobs, while others had taken sick leave. “Management has not received any  complaints,” PR director Viktória Ruska said, adding that workers who feel discriminated against should take the issue to the shop committee, which frequently meets with the company executives. Continue »

TALLINN – A British submarine which was lost in action over 90 years ago in the Baltic sea has just been found. The submarine HMS E18, taking part in an extraordinary naval operation authorised by Winston Churchill during the First World War, never returned from a routine patrol in May 1916. As no one witnessed her sinking, no trace was ever found – until now. The submarine was one of a handful sent to the Baltics during the First World War by Churchill, who was First Lord of the Admiralty.– The Baltic Times Continue »

As winter approaches, expect to see more and more clearings in Hungary’s forests. Somewhere between 3 and 3.5 million cubic metres of wood are stolen annually in Hungary, according to data from the Regional Energy Research Centre. This equates to roughly one in three logs burned. Commercial forests are often targetted, but environmental protection areas are also at risk. Police have increased patrols in the Gemence National Park in a bid to prevent illegal logging. Continue »

An anti-psychotic drug jointly developed by the Hungarian Richter and the American Forest Laboratories has successfully cleared its second trial phase, Richter announced last Thursday. The third phase of clinical trials is expected to last 12-18 months. Richter’s share rose after the announcement, but had slumped back to close to its original value by the closing bell on Friday.  Continue »

Finance Minister Péter Oszkó told Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov last Thursday that the Hungarian state is willing to provide financial assistance in flag-carrier airline Malév’s day-to-day operations in exchange for ownership rights. Malév is currently run by the Russian Vneshekonombank. According to the Ministry of Finance, the Russian partner welcomed the declaration and the parties agreed that further negotiations will be necessary. The simplest way for the state to acquire a stake in the airline would be to exchange Malév’s debts toward the central budget – as a result of certain non-compliances with the privatisation contract – for minority ownership. Continue »

Former KGB spy Andrei Lugovoi, who is wanted in the UK in connection with the murder of Russian dissident Alexander Litvinenko, is considering running to be mayor of Sochi, the host city of the 2014 Winter Olympics. Litvinenko was poisoned in London in November 2006 with a radioactive isotope. British police want to question Lugovoi about the killing but Russia refuses to extradite him, citing a constitutional bar. Lugovoi currently sits in the Duma as an MP for the Liberal Democratic party, led by the ultranationalist Vladimir Zhirinovsky, which is now pondering his candidacy for the post of mayor. Marina Litvinenko, the murdered man’s widow, has called for a boycott of the Olympics if Lugovoi is elected. Continue »