Europeum

Aktuálně.cz | No pensions on a burnt planet. What will the world be like when we stop working in 40 years?

June 27, 2023

Klára Votavová, our researcher, has written a commentary on the current government pension reform. According to Votavová, it is alarming that the reform does not take into account climate change and the impact of technology on the labour market.

iDNES.cz: Gas pipeline from Poland, oil pipeline from Italy. Czech Republic to borrow billions for projects

June 08, 2023

The Czech Republic wants to borrow tens of billions through the National Recovery Plan for projects such as the gas pipeline from Poland or the strengthening of the oil pipeline from Italy. The money will come from the European Recovery and Resilience Facility, which should make the loan profitable. Not all projects have been given the green light by the European Commission. Funding for the Dukovany hot water pipeline has been put on hold. Our Senior Research Fellow Vít Havelka commented on this topic.

Prague Climate Academy

February 22, 2023

In 2023, the Green Europe team of EUROPEUM Institute for European Policy introduced a series of workshops aimed at communicating the topic of green transformation to the Czech public. The aim is to support journalists and civil society in developing public discourse on climate change and climate policies. Last year, the Prague Climate Academy focused on sustainability in transport. The topic of the first workshop was the decarbonisation of car transport in the context of electromobility. The second workshop focused on transport sustainability in the city of Prague. In 2024, we are following up with the topic of city adaptation to climate change. We will offer a series of discussions and workshops with experts on public space adaptation, blue-green measures, and public participation.

Voxpot: Will we let Ukraine bite piece of our pie? The grain dispute is the first indication of her thorny journey to the EU

May 04, 2023

At least until next summer, Ukrainian grain will continue to flow duty-free to the European market. The agreement reached by the EU with the member countries thus lifted the ban lasting several weeks. Despite the averted crisis, however, it became fully apparent how fragile the vision of Ukraine's future accession to the Union is and what challenges await it on this path. This is how Žiga Faktor, head of the Brussels office, begins his commentary for Voxpot.

National Convention on the EU | Recommendations: Energy market review

April 17, 2023

Our Senior Research Fellow Vít Havelka elaborated recommendations resulting from the roundtable discussion of the National Convention on the EU held on 31 March 2023 on the topic "Energy Market Review". Among the recommendations made for the Czech Republic are, for example, to define its energy concept well in the light of the regional context and European energy policy. Another recommendation is that the Czech Republic should continue to incentivise energy savings as a key part of its preparedness for next winter, in line with the extension of the Regulation on coordinated measures to reduce gas demand.

National Convention on the EU | Background paper: review of the European energy market

March 30, 2023

Vít Havelka, Rebeka Hengalová, and Katarína Svitková prepared a background paper for the National Convention on the EU Round Table on the Review of the European Energy Market. How can the EC proposal for the revision of the European electricity market be assessed from the Czech Republic's perspective? How can the revision of the internal gas market rules be assessed in the context of the energy crisis? How should the EU prepare for the coming winter?

Show more PDF

Studio ČT24: Second day of European Council's summit

March 27, 2023

Our researcher Vít Havelka for Studio ČT24 evaluated the second day of the EU summit in Brussels. The most important topics were the consecration of the supply of ammunition to Ukraine financed by the European Union, as well as the discussion of the shape of the single market and the reaction to the American package to limit inflation.

Finmag: An unequal fight with the USA. Czech industry must turn green to survive

March 13, 2023

Relatively unnoticed, in August of last year, the Congress of the United States of America voted to pass the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). This decision may be one of the most important steps in the fight against climate change this decade. Inflation Reduction Act is a massive investment package that can fundamentally affect the current approach of Europe and other countries to green transformation. The transition to clean technologies, research, development, and production, can no longer be perceived purely as a question of reducing emissions, but also as a question of maintaining competitiveness on the global market. The green race has started and the Czech Republic should step up.

Český rozhlas Plus: Couriers of the delivery company Wolt protested against the change of the pay system

February 15, 2023

This is the second time the delivery company's couriers have gone on strike since the beginning of the year. Our researcher Klára Votavová explained the reasons for the strike on Český Rozhlas Plus. The couriers are bothered by the drop in earnings and describe the remuneration system itself as non-transparent. The European Parliament is also concerned with increasing the protection of couriers and so-called platform workers in response to the emergence of a new market segment.

iDNES.cz: Cheap electromobility has been pushed back by Brussels. Batteries must be eco

December 27, 2022

Electric cars that do not emit dangerous emissions should slowly replace cars with combustion engines. An environmentally friendly replacement. But what about the production of their batteries? According to the EU, the entire life cycle of these batteries should be environmentally friendly, from production to use to disposal. What measures will be introduced, how will the sale of batteries be regulated and how will this affect their price? Our research fellow Michal Hrubý comments on the topic.