Covid is just first hurdle as CEE braces for ‘dynamic’ year

This year promises to be dynamic for the CEE countries with, at the strategic level, the battle against Covid taking centre stage and a race on to vaccinate people and to be the first out of lockdown.

But as Marek Matraszek, chairman, of public affairs firm CEC Government Relations, told Real Asset Media’s Richard Betts, the worry is that some countries might still be in lockdown in 2022.

Another major influence this year will be the EU’s €750 billion Covid rescue package. While the figure looks large, it is spread over a long cycle and there are worries about possible linkages to factors such as rule-of-law issues, Matraszek said.

There will be impacts resulting from Brexit too. “Poland and Central Europe lost a member state that, on many policy issues, especially competition and digital policy, was favourable to central Europeans and without Brits on the Commission there’s going to be a tougher struggle for some Central European countries making their case in a number of areas of policy.”

But even bigger influences are in play too, such as the change of power in the US, another due in Germany, and a forthcoming election in France.

Click on the video above to watch the full interview or listen to the podcast below.