The Danube has fallen to a record low in Budapest at 23 centimetres, forcing Central European nuclear plants to cut output and exposing climate risks to nuclear power. Hungary and Romania have reduced reactor power, while French reactors were also constrained by heat.
Hungary’s Paks plant, which produces almost half of the country’s electricity, has cut capacity to less than 50 percent. If the river stays low and warm, the plant may shut down completely. An outage at Hungary’s largest gas-fired plant has added to the strain, so Budapest is importing more electricity and asking businesses and households to limit use during peak hours.
Romania’s Cernavodă has switched off one reactor and was preparing to stop another. The plant supplies about one fifth of Romanian power, and the interruption may last one to two weeks during hot weather that raises air-conditioning demand. In France, high river temperatures in mid-July cut output by 6.3 gigawatts in eight reactors, about 14 percent of demand; at another point this year, curbs reached around 9 gigawatts.
The issue is not a physical lack of water. Reactors cannot discharge water that is too warm into rivers without harming ecosystems. The warmer and shallower the river, the less heat can be safely returned, and the lower the output must be. Nuclear power emits little carbon dioxide and runs steadily, but these events show that its resilience to extreme weather is limited.
Eurozone grows faster than the US, Ireland distorts the picture
The eurozone grew 0.4 percent in the second quarter from the previous quarter, twice the 0.2 percent forecast. The United States expanded at an annualised 1.5 percent, below the expected 2.1 percent. Converted to annualised terms, the eurozone’s 0.4 percent is roughly 1.6 percent, making Europe slightly faster than America, a rare outcome in recent years.
Ireland contributed heavily, with GDP up 3.9 percent after a 7 percent slump in the first quarter; multinational tech and pharma giants can swing Irish figures through intellectual property and asset transfers. Still, Germany, France and Italy all grew 0.2 percent, and Germany beat expectations, a positive signal for Poland because Germany is Poland’s main export market.
Hungary grew 0.4 percent, below forecasts and slower than the first quarter’s 0.8 percent. Czech annual growth eased to 2 percent from 2.2 percent. Poland’s flash estimate will appear in mid-August, with economists expecting around 3.7-3.8 percent, which would keep Poland among the fastest-growing large EU economies.
Russian fuel export ban and diesel above 8 zlotys
Russia extended its ban on exports of petrol, diesel, marine fuel and other oil products until 31 January 2027 after Ukrainian drone attacks on refineries caused domestic shortages and price rises. From September, some Russian producers may resume diesel exports, but intermediary sales remain banned; intergovernmental and humanitarian deliveries stay exempt. The Ryazan refinery, one of Russia’s largest, was completely shut after an attack.
This explains why European fuel prices have not followed oil down. Brent fell from over 100 dollars to around 85 dollars, but refinery margins remain high because the bottleneck is not crude but working refineries and finished products. Outages at Saudi Arabia’s Jizan and Kuwait’s Al-Zour complexes added pressure. Russia was the world’s second-largest diesel exporter; even if EU countries do not buy directly, Turkey, Brazil and North African states compete with Europe for scarce supplies.
Polish diesel has again crossed 8 zlotys per litre, last seen in late March before the CPN tax cut. Petrol 95 averages about 7.51 zlotys, the highest since June 2022, according to Reflex. Diesel rose 24 groszy in the past week and petrol 12; smaller rises are expected next week. Warsaw is considering restored reduced VAT and maximum prices for the last two weeks of August, after the prime minister said millions of Poles would be returning from holidays. A tax cut would hide the global shortage, not add refinery capacity, and the bill would return in lower state revenue and a higher deficit.
Investors reward AI-driven growth, Apple misses out
Microsoft showed that huge spending on artificial intelligence can pay off. Net profit rose 31 percent to 35.8 billion dollars, Azure grew 43 percent, and shares jumped 15.5 percent, the biggest one-day gain since 2008, adding 450 billion dollars to market value. The optimism lifted the Warsaw exchange, with WIG at a record 146,779 points and WIG20 up 1.6 percent to 3,907.
Amazon confirmed the trend with revenue of 200.6 billion dollars and AWS sales up 37 percent to 42.2 billion dollars, the fastest growth in 18 quarters; shares rose 10.4 percent. Apple also posted records, with revenue up 16 percent to 109.4 billion dollars and earnings per share of 2.02 dollars, but China sales at 18.8 billion dollars and services at 30.7 billion missed forecasts, sending shares down 6 percent. Investors now want proof of accelerating cloud and AI revenue rather than plain headline growth.
Źródło: WNP.PL, Fot. PAP/EPA/ZOLTAN BALOGH
