News about EU

The exchange rate of the Hungarian forint rose sharply after Orbán’s election defeat. A convincing victory for the pro-European opposition is expected to help unlock billions of euros of European Union funding.

Moldova is waiting for the acceleration of partnership with Hungary. Moldovan President Maia Sandu said this in a message posted on social network X (Twitter) after the announcement of the results of the parliamentary election in Hungary.

Moldova plans to introduce European safety standards for road tunnels over 500 meters long. There are no such facilities in the country yet, but the bill has been drafted as part of the requirements of European Union integration and applies to tunnels in operation, under construction or in design.

The number of Europeans considering buying Chinese-branded cars has increased markedly.

Over the past 16 years, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, the longest-serving head of government in the European Union, has taken all sorts of actions to tip the electoral scales in favor of his ruling Fidesz party. However, that party may well lose Sunday’s election, raising the question of next steps.

Parliamentary elections are being held in Hungary on April 12. It is no exaggeration to say that the whole world is watching their outcome.

This week’s plenary session of parliament was marked by intense debate on the draft law on amending the mechanism of voluntary unification of administrative-territorial units, but there were also issues related to the transparency of the decision-making process, which affected a significant part of the drafts considered.

Increasing crime detection and identification of personalities, speeding up the collection of evidence in the investigation of complex cases. All this was made possible thanks to the state-of-the-art DNA laboratory of the Forensic Technical Center at the General Inspectorate of Police, the official presentation of which took place this week.

The European Commission at the end of the week officially supported the initiative of a number of EU countries to introduce a tax on excess profits for large energy companies. The decision was caused by a sharp jump in energy prices due to geopolitical instability and the conflict in Iran.

In Germany at the beginning of 2026, the rental housing market has fallen. According to the results of the first quarter, the demand decreased by 3-4%. In annual terms, the decline was more noticeable: in the largest cities of the country it amounted to 14%.

The consequences for the EU if the U.S. tariff regime remains in place are not uniform. Most noticeably, trade wars will continue to hit Germany and Belgium as export-oriented economies. As an alternative to such a scenario, analysts see the EU using the window of opportunity to restructure its trade strategy.

The CIS remains an important market for certain categories of Moldovan products. This was stated by Inna Voicu, Secretary General of the Ministry of Economic Development and Digitalization.

The European Commission is preparing to lower its growth forecast for this year because of the conflict in the Middle East.

The summer season is under threat: airports in Europe risk systemic fuel shortages if the Strait of Hormuz is not fully opened within three weeks.

The national list of restrictive measures to which the Republic of Moldova has acceded includes 5,696 entities. As the existing data storage platform does not ensure full integration and convenient processing of information, the authorities plan to implement an Information System for recording international restrictive measures.

Starting August 12 of this year, the European Union will begin implementing new rules on food packaging and packaging waste. The changes will be implemented in accordance with Regulation UE 2025/40. The new rules will be applied in phases until 2040. The regulation applies to all products entering the European market, including those from outside the EU.

On April 10, the entry/exit system (EES) became fully operational at the EU’s external borders (land border crossings, airports and seaports).

A draft feasibility study (FS) of the Straseni-Gutinas power transmission line will be presented in Chisinau at the end of April. The documents have been developed by Black & Veatch. The construction is scheduled to start in 2027 and to be completed in 2030.

The Government is preparing a decision on the transfer of a plot of land for the construction of the national road R1 Chisinau-Ungheni – border with Romania (sector Zagarancea – border).

According to an April report by the World Bank (WB), Moldova’s GDP growth forecast for 2026 was revised downward from 2.7% to 1.9%. Nevertheless, the economy is expected to recover with growth of 3.8% in 2027. These data reflect the adjustment of the country’s economic outlook within the framework of the updated forecast.