Mar 19 2011
Tweet The critical situation at the Japanese Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant has already influenced European energy policies but may have limited impact in Central Eastern Europe. The Japanese nuclear crisis is in its early days, but is characterized by the attempt to prevent massive amounts of radiation being unleashed from damaged nuclear reactors, destabilized …
Feb 10 2011
Tweet According to a report over at Portfollio.hu, the government may be considering additional tax measures that are unimaginable. One particular tax goes beyond my earlier blog posting about the creativity shown in Hungarian tax policy, to that resembles the diversity of cabbage dishes in the country. I mainly was referring to the different crisis …
Feb 10 2011
Tweet The great thing about following the energy sector is that projects take a long time to get up and running. This means commenting on a project or policies resembles play-by-play on the golf course. With all this reflection time sometimes you hope to have some deep thoughts on ‘big developments’. But sometimes, few thoughts …
Jan 25 2011
Tweet An ‘expression of concern’ letter was sent last week by the EU Digital Agenda Commissioner Neelie Kroes to the Hungarian government concerning Hungary’s new Media Law. The sustained response by the government (if you eliminate sound bites that they will change the law if asked – they will only do this if other EU …
Jan 21 2011
Tweet Quote of the day This is from a project that I’m working on right now. It is from one of the participants. It really goes to the heart of why the energy sector is so important and why there needs to be transparency and predictability in the sector. Both things that are being eroded …
Jan 04 2011
Tweet “I firmly reject that these taxes would be against foreigners … it is not true that this regulation is discriminative and against foreign (firms),” Hungarian EU affairs state secretary Eniko Gyori told reporters. (Reuters article). My only response is to repost the following graphs displaying the nationality of companies affected by the ‘crisis tax’. …
Dec 23 2010
Tweet If there is ever an excuse that could be used for greater government intervention it is the bankruptcy of a company. I don’t think I need to go into great detail, but only to refer to the current players in the economic crisis. The pending bankruptcy of Emfesz gives the Hungarian government the excuse …
Dec 22 2010
Tweet “Our liberty cannot be guarded but by the freedom of the press, nor that be limited without danger of losing it.” –Thomas Jefferson to John Jay, 1786. Hungary passes contentious new media law Tweet
Dec 22 2010
Tweet In the spirit of the internet and of Christmas I’m embedding the following video to link the two. My apologies for not finding one energy related. Buy may the gas continue to flow for all over the yee olde holiday. Have a great New Year, Michael LaBelle Tweet
Nov 16 2010
Tweet The difficult transition to a low carbon energy sector is strikingly apparent when looking at the Polish market. However, as the participants at the 5th Energy Forum, held this year in Sopot, Poland, displayed – some market actors are more willing to make this transition than others. The reason that I mention Poland as …
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