Business activity in the euro area at the end of 2025 grew weaker than expected amid a deepening recession in manufacturing and slower growth in the dominant services sector, according to preliminary data from the business activity index (PMI) prepared by HCOB and S&P Global.
According to the assessment, the HCOB Flash Eurozone Composite PMI declined to 51.9 points in December from 52.8 points in November, falling to its lowest level in three months and below the forecast of analysts polled by Reuters. The value above 50 points still indicates an increase in business activity.
The situation in industry continues to drag the index down: the eurozone manufacturing PMI in December fell to 49.2 points, the lowest since April, reflecting the continued decline in output and a steeper new orders slump, the largest since February. Deepening weakness in German industry was cited as the main factor, while France showed cautious signs
In the services sector, business activity is still picking up but the pace is slowing, with the services PMI down to 52.6 points from 53.6 points in November. Meanwhile, companies continue to increase employment, but business optimism fell to its lowest level since May, indicating that businesses are cautious about the outlook for 2026.
According to a Reuters poll of analysts, rising cost pressures and output prices at the end of the year do not change the overall picture: inflation in the eurozone has moved closer to the 2% target on average, and the market in the baseline scenario expects the European Central Bank’s key rates to remain unchanged until at least 2027.
Over 2 million customers fill up their cars with high-quality Euro-5 fuel using the convenient UKRNAFTA app, which is now two years old.
Every day, thousands of people join the big UKRNAFTA family and get access to a loyalty program that allows them to buy fuel at a discount every month and access all our activities.
During this time, people who visited gas stations and used the UKRNAFTA app:
• filled up with 484 million liters of the best European-quality fuel;
• purchased 2.8 million liters of fuel for their wallets;
• tasted 95,000 burgers and 193,000 hot dogs;
• drank almost 3 million hot drinks.
We are especially proud that it was the people who refuel at UKRNAFTA who helped raise UAH 104.7 million in aid for the Second Corps of the National Guard of Ukraine “Charter”, the ‘Boriviter’ military school, and the National Children’s Specialized Hospital “Okhmatdyt”.
Thanks to additional discounts on fuel, food, drinks, and other goods, the military was able to save more than UAH 94 million.
We remind you that thanks to the UKRNAFTA app, everyone can get an immediate discount of UAH 2 per liter of gasoline and diesel fuel, as well as UAH 0.5 per liter of LPG for 200 liters per month.
JSC Ukrnafta is Ukraine’s largest oil production company and operates the largest national network of gas stations, UKRNAFTA. In 2024, the company entered into an asset management agreement with Glusco. In 2025, it completed an agreement with Shell Overseas Investments BV to purchase the Shell network in Ukraine. In total, it operates 663 gas stations.
The company is implementing a comprehensive program to restore operations and update the format of its network of gas stations. Since February 2023, it has been issuing its own fuel vouchers and NAFTAKarta cards, which are sold to legal entities and individuals through Ukrnafta-Postach LLC.
The largest shareholder of Ukrnafta is Naftogaz of Ukraine with a 50%+1 share.
In November 2022, the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine decided to transfer to the state the corporate rights of the company that belonged to private owners, which is now managed by the Ministry of Defense.
The National Bank of Ukraine has applied to PJSC “European Insurance Alliance” (Kiev) a measure of influence in the form of a fine of UAH 100 thousand for submitting reports to the regulator with violation of deadlines. Such decision was taken by the Committee for Supervision and Regulation of Non-banking Financial Services Markets on December 15, 2025, based on the results of the on-site supervision of the non-banking financial services market.
The company is obliged to pay the fine within one month from the date of entry into force of this decision.
PJSC “European Insurance Alliance” was founded on September 22, 1994. The Company is a member of the Motor (Transport) Insurance Bureau of Ukraine, the League of Insurance Organizations of Ukraine and the Nuclear Insurance Pool of Ukraine.
The company has a license of the NBU dated April 25, 2024 to carry out insurance activities in 16 classes, in particular property insurance, car insurance, liability insurance, health insurance and the like.
The authorized capital amounts to UAH 55 mln.
By 2035, Europe may face street protests and conflicts between people and service robots amid mass robotization of the service sector and the displacement of some workers from the labor market, according to a new Europol analytical report, The Unmanned Future(s): The Impact of Robotics and Unmanned Systems on Law Enforcement.
According to the British newspaper The Daily Telegraph, citing the document, Europol estimates that by the mid-2030s, robots and unmanned systems will be widely used in areas such as delivery and cleaning, which could lead to job losses among low-skilled workers from disadvantaged areas and cause protests accompanied by attacks on robots and infrastructure, including medical devices and service machines.
The report emphasizes that the widespread introduction of robotic systems could change not only the labor market, but also the landscape of crime and law enforcement in the EU, including new threats ranging from attacks on service robots to the use of drones for criminal purposes.
At the same time, a number of experts interviewed by the media express doubts about the realism of a “war between humans and robots” scenario in the next ten years, pointing out that the development of regulation and retraining programs could mitigate the social risks of robotization.
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has transferred modern technical equipment to the Institute of Fisheries, Marine Ecology and Oceanography (IRGEMO), according to the press service of the State Fisheries Agency.
“The development and systematic updating of the material and technical base of scientific institutions is a key condition for high-quality research in the field of fisheries. Modern equipment expands the possibilities for field and laboratory monitoring of aquatic biological resources, increases the accuracy of data collection and analysis, and ensures their practical use in management decision-making. This forms the basis for effective and long-term state policy in the field of conservation and rational use of aquatic ecosystems,” emphasized Deputy Minister of Economy, Environment, and Agriculture Taras Vysotsky, whose words are quoted in the report.
During the meeting, the head of the State Fisheries Agency, Ihor Klymenok, presented the features of the reform of the fisheries sector, the status of joint projects, and outlined areas for further cooperation.
The list of technical equipment transferred to the scientific institution for conducting ichthyological research and assessing aquatic biological resources includes two vehicles needed for scientific teams to conduct field work, two boats with a trailer for their transportation, six microscopes, sets of water analyzers for hydrological, hydrochemical, and ecological research, and a portable echo sounder with multi-frequency sensors, a control station, and software.
“Assistance from international partners is critical to strengthening the scientific capacity of the industry in the current environment,” said the head of the State Fisheries Agency, thanking the FAO for its systematic support of Ukraine’s fisheries sector.
December is traditionally one of the most successful months for Ukrainian cheese producers in terms of sales, but in 2025, not all companies in the industry will be able to boast positive dynamics, according to the analytical publication Infagro.
“Although cheese consumption in Ukraine has likely increased, the main growth has been in imported products,” analysts noted, adding that this is due to the significant price advantage of European cheeses.
Importers purchase products in EU countries at a significantly lower price than they are produced in Ukraine, and experts predict that their cost will not increase in the near future.
The agency noted that cheese imports to Ukraine increased in November, although not as much as predicted. Imports were up 10% compared to October. Imports of “white” cheeses increased by 4%. At the same time, imports of processed cheeses decreased by 18%.
Experts hope that imports will grow more actively in December, as was the case last year.
They recalled that cheese consumption in Ukraine has not yet returned to pre-war levels, which complicates competition for domestic producers. According to analysts’ estimates, in 2025, sales of semi-hard cheeses on the domestic market will be 17% lower than in 2021. At the same time, the average Ukrainian, as before the war, consumes about 2 kg of such cheese per year, and about a quarter of this volume is European-made cheese.
“Exports of semi-hard cheeses from Ukraine remain half the size of imports. At the same time, export prices exceed import prices. In November, exports of processed cheese products also fell sharply to their lowest level since the beginning of the year,” Infagro reported.
