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Regional Update

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Regional Update Regional Update CEE Covid-19 & Political Overview 31 MARCH – 28 APRIL 2021 Table of Contents CROATIA ................................................................................................................................ 3 CZECHIA ................................................................................................................................ 5 HUNGARY .............................................................................................................................. 8 POLAND ............................................................................................................................... 10 ROMANIA ............................................................................................................................. 13 SLOVAKIA ............................................................................................................................ 16 2 CROATIA (prepared by CEC's Croatian partner - Vlahovic Group) COVID-19: • Croatia is ranked the fourth out of 30 EU/EEA countries regarding the COVID-19 active cases per 100,000, but there have been no substantial changes to COVID measures in place. The strategy is to take measures regarding local hotspots rather than at the national level. PM Plenkovic expects that 55% of the adult population should be vaccinated before the end of June. Croatia and 12 other EU Member States have reached an agreement on the criteria for issuing the COVID „Green Passport“ that will facilitate the flow of tourists during the pandemic. The list of criteria has been submitted to the European Commission for approval. The government established a working group to develop a technical solution for cross-border interoperable digital green certificates. The Minister of Tourism announced that the government would cover part of the cost of the antigen test for foreign tourists who return to their countries after the end of their vacation in Croatia. Vaccination of almost 80,000 employees in the hospitality sector is has started. The Minister of Health is under fire over vaccination failures, especially related to the online vaccination registry. Business and economy: • The consolidated public debt in 2020 reached 88.7% of GDP, from 72.8% in 2019. In the same period, investments rose by 19.2%. Employment in March saw a 1.5% drop compared to March 2020. The Croatian National Bank revised its economic growth projection for 2021 from 4.9% to 5.9%, while the IMF lowered its estimate to 4.7%. • PM Plenkovic announced that the government is extending the job preservation measures in May, emphasizing that many Croatian companies work normally, which is evident from tax revenues and several other indicators. • The tender submission deadline for granting a Concession for the development and economic use of the container terminal in the Port of Rijeka is extended until 10 May. The concession will be issued for a 50-year-period. A previous tender advertised in December, for which two bids were received, was cancelled. While one bid came from the Chinese Ningbo Zhoushan Port Company Limited, Tianjin Port Overseas Holding Limited and China Road and Bridge Corporation, the other was submitted by the Dutch APM Terminal BV in cooperation with the Enna Logic company from Croatia. • Bids for currently one of the most significant infrastructure projects in Croatia have been opened. Estimated costs for the reconstruction of the existing and construction of the second railway track on the section Hrvatski Leskovac – Karlovac on the ZagreB-Rijeka corridor amounted to almost EUR 270 million. Fifteen bids were received, ranging from EUR 173 million to EUR 386 million. The most favourable offer was submitted by a Chinese consortium led by China Railway Eryuan Engineering Group, and the largest number of tenders were submitted by companies and consortia from Turkey, five out of the total number. A contract shall be awarded on the sole basis of the award criterion for the most economically advantageous tender. 3 Politics and legislation: • The National Recovery and Resilience Plan was presented before the Parliament and the opposition slammed it. The Croatian Employers’ Association and the Croatian Chambers of Commerce who were not involved in preparing the Plan, claim they are not satisfied with the Plan since too much emphasis is placed on public sector projects. Finance Minister Maric said the Plan is a generational opportunity for Croatia and announced that the government would enact the document on Thursday and send it to the European Commission for final approval and evaluation by the end of the week. • The government and representatives of drug wholesalers had reached an agreement on a debt settlement scheme; the Finance Minister urged the Health Minister to comprehensive reform efforts in preventing any further accumulation of liabilities. 4 CZECHIA (prepared by the CEC Government Relations office in Prague) Diplomatic Crisis in Czech-Russian Relations: • The announcement that Russian intelligence agents caused the deadly 2014 explosion in an ammunition warehouse in Vrbetice has dramatically shaken Czech-Russian relations and became a top story of the end of April. The findings of an investigation of the Czech intelligence agency (BIS) show that two Russian agents from GRU secret service behind the Czech explosion were also responsible for poisoning Sergei Skripal in 2018 (more in our Special Report). According to the latest findings brought by Bellingcat and Czech weekly Respekt, at least six operatives including a Senior Deputy of GRU were involved in the Czech depot explosion and other secret operations in the CEE region. • On April 22, new Minister of Foreign Affairs Jakub Kulhanek (CSSD) announced that effective June 1, 2021, the number of Russian diplomats in Prague’s embassy will be based on strict parity with the numbers of Czech diplomats based in Moscow. This bold move came after Russia declined the Czech request to reinstate all of the diplomats expelled on April 18. After his controversial comments softening the seriousness of the scandal (labeling it as an “attack on goods”), PM Andrej Babis stated that the massive explosion that killed two Czech citizens was in fact, an act of state terrorism. He also added that the government will be seeking financial compensation from Russia for damages from the explosion. Minister Kulhanek expressed his willingness to continue with the negotiations in order to stabilize and restore Czech-Russian relations in a diplomatic manner. President Zeman commented on the issue with a week-long delay. In an interview on April 25, he relativised Russian involvement in the case, saying that there is a second scenario, which indicates the explosion was caused by bad handling of the munitions. The president’s long-anticipated address stirred strong criticism among experts, opposition politicians and even high ranking constitutional officials. COVID-19: • 51 739 active cases, 1 541 963 recovered, 29 075 deceased (as of April 27) • Petr Arenberger has become Czechia’s fourth Minister of Health since the outbreak of the pandemic, replacing Jan Blatny who was dismissed on April 7. Arenberger is a doctor and professor by trade, specializing in dermatology and venereology. From October 2019, he served as the director of the Vinohrady faculty hospital in Prague, a role which he was appointed to by then Minister of Health Adam Vojtech. • The pandemic situation in Czechia continues to improve and Covid-related hospitalizations are declining, currently at 3 693, of which roughly 850 are in serious condition, according to the latest data from the Ministry of Health. • The Ministry of Health issued a new travel regulation effective April 5, according to which it will be necessary to undergo a Covid-19 test before entering Czechia only when returning from countries with a very high risk of infection (i.e. those that fall into the "dark red" category, ie. all countries not listed at a lower risk level, e.g. France, United Kingdom or Italy). People 5 returning from medium or high-risk countries, newly from Germany or Slovakia for example, do not have to undergo a test prior to their return unless they travelled by public transport. • With the recent improvements, the Ministry of Health has unveiled a six-phase reopening plan (or exit strategy) for the upcoming months. The first phase already began on April 12, with travel between districts resuming, curfew lifting, and certain primary schools and business establishments such as office supply stores, zoos, outdoor Botanical gardens and farmers’ markets reopening. According to the Ministry’s plan, the six phases will take place as follows: o April 12 - as mentioned above o April 26 - focused on a further reopening of schools including practical teaching in secondary schools and senior years of university, as well as the rest of kindergarten grades in selected regions: Karlovy Vary, Hradec Kralove, Plzen region o May 3 - remaining stores (nationwide) with a limit on the number of people according to the size of the store, hairdressers, spas and gallery, as well as a second level of elementary schools, rotationally based on regional incidence o Likely mid-May pending the number of infected is less than 100 per 100 thousand (daily reported cases should be somewhere around 1 500) o Likely end of May pending the number of infected is less than 75 per 100 thousand; this phase should include outdoor restaurants, indoor hotels, and sports centres o Likely mid-June pending the number of infected is less
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