Search Results for: Russia

While beer consumption in Slovakia is not as high as neighbouring Czechia (which has the world’s highest per-capita beer drinking), it is still the 13th highest worldwide at 79.9 litres per person annually (2022 figures) (1).

So, it is no surprise that Crown Holdings, one of the world’s largest producers of metal packaging, continues to invest in its beverage can plant in Kechnec, eastern Slovakia.…

While the global footwear market is always buoyed by the basic human need for shoes, the supply chain difficulties caused by Covid-19 and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and the recent wave of inflation, has challenged the industry, especially high-end brands.

With inflation abating, manufacturers and retailers are starting to relax, however, with market researchers bullish about the footwear industry’s medium-term prospects.…

Ukrainian authorities, with the support of their European counterparts, are working to rid Ukraine of its former corrupt past – they are having mixed success. Dylan Carter reports.

While Ukraine battles an invading Russian enemy currently occupying approximately 18% of Ukrainian territory (1), it is also focused on its battle with the ‘enemy within’, namely elevated levels of corruption and other commercial crime.…

The European Union (EU) Council of Ministers has given its final approval to an EU directive insisting that EU member states criminalise and impose dissuasive punishments on the deliberate evasion of sanctions (1).

This law has been drafted amidst rising concern that Russia and Russians are effectively bypassing the slew of sanctions ordered following their country’s ongoing full-scale invasion of Ukraine (2).…

The future of the European Union’s (EU) energy system will be electric, the European Commission said in its February 6 (2024) ‘Communication’ on a 2040 climate target (1) – a significant challenge for the electricity sector, industry association Eurelectric secretary general Kristian Ruby has told New Energy World.…

Accountants and their clients within the European Union (EU) have had to avoid trading with an increasing number of sanctioned individuals and companies, especially in Russia, following its invasion of Ukraine. Now, with sanctions evasion being criminalised across the EU under a new proposed law, the risk of exposure to sanctions for EU companies and their accountants and auditors has risen further – both when dealing with actors subverting these measures and when undermining sanctions themselves, of course.…

In August 2022 Germany’s finance minister Christian Lindner famously labelled Europe’s biggest economy a “money laundering paradise” and pledged to restore Germany’s AML reputation. The subsequent reforms are now picking up steam, with Mr Lindner’s finance ministry in November 2023 (1) proposing a Combatting Financial Crimes Act (Finanzkriminalitätsbekämpfungsgesetzes – FKBG) to reorganise Germany’s AML efforts, which was given first reading approval in the Bundestag in December (and is now under consideration in committee.…

The effectiveness of cross-border collaboration between national and international law enforcement agencies has been demonstrated by recent raids and arrests in the European Union (EU). The European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) in February (2024) and Swedish police worked with EU judicial agency Eurojust in February (2024) to breach a large-scale cross-border carousel VAT fraud.…

While the Baltic States’ metal can industry relies largely on imported packaging, the two industries which routinely utilise local production are the beverage (specifically beer), and canned fish industry. While there were far more production facilities today within independent Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania than when these countries were part of the Soviet Union until 1991, the sector has been declining.…

Central Asia’s five countries are mitigating climate change challenges by adopting more efficient water management practices and greener energy technologies. But regional fossil fuel usage remains high, despite all their governments’ stated goals to become carbon neutral, (except gas-rich Turkmenistan).

Three of the region’s five countries – Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan – are rich in oil and natural gas, so are actively exploiting these deposits, which demand remains high as trading partners transition to green energy.…