The mayor of Barcelona, Jaume Collboni, has proposed banning citizens of countries outside the European Union from buying second homes in the city, explaining that this is to combat speculative demand amid a protracted housing crisis. This primarily concerns buyers who purchase real estate not for permanent residence but as an investment asset. In February, Collboni himself said that if it were within his power, he would ban British, American, and other non-EU citizens from buying second homes in the Catalan capital.
At the moment, this is only a political initiative and not an adopted norm. At the same time, at the national level, the Spanish government announced in January 2025 its intention to significantly tighten the conditions for purchasing housing for non-residents from countries outside the EU, increasing the tax burden for them to 100% of the property value. This measure also remains a proposal and requires further legislative formalization.
Barcelona’s initiative is part of a broader policy by city authorities to cool the overheated housing market. Earlier, the city had already decided not to renew licenses for short-term tourist rentals, of which there are about 10,101 in Barcelona, after 2028. The authorities explain the tough stance by the fact that over the past ten years, the average rent in the city has increased by 68%, and the cost of purchasing housing by 38%.
According to official data from Idescat, at the beginning of 2025, 1,713,247 people lived in Barcelona, of whom 437,663 were foreigners, or 25.55% of the population. Accordingly, there were about 1.276 million Spanish citizens in the city. At the same time, if we look not at citizenship but at place of birth, according to the city report for 2024, 33.6% of Barcelona’s residents were born outside Spain, and those born directly in Barcelona accounted for only 46.1% of the population.
The largest diasporas in Barcelona by citizenship at the beginning of 2025 were Italian (50,754 people), Colombian (29,574), Pakistani (24,857), Chinese (22,333), Peruvian (22,105), Moroccan (19,300), and French (18,437). The city authorities separately noted that the statistics for Italian citizens also include many people born in Argentina with Italian passports.
The European Union has officially allowed the import of planting material for common cherries (Prunus cerasus), blue cherries (Prunus canescens), and their hybrids from Ukraine, according to the State Service of Ukraine for Food Safety and Consumer Protection (Derzhprodspozhyvsluzhba).
According to the report, the decision was made by the European Commission (EU Executive Regulation 2025/1949) after reviewing the technical dossier prepared by the Ukrainian side. The document allows the import of unvaccinated plants up to two years old in a dormant state (without leaves) into the EU.
“The opening of the EU market for Ukrainian planting material is another step towards deeper integration into the European space and strengthening Ukraine’s reputation as a reliable trading partner,” the agency said.
The State Service of Ukraine for Food Safety and Consumer Protection emphasized that exporters must ensure unconditional compliance with the phytosanitary requirements of Regulation (EU) 2019/2072. Each shipment must be accompanied by a phytosanitary certificate, and non-compliance with the importing country’s standards is grounds for refusal to issue it.
The agency drew attention to the need to recognize the equivalence of Ukraine’s certification system for the full export of material covered by Council Directive 2008/90/EC. In this context, an important step was the Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2026/75 of January 12, 2026, on the equivalence of material for the propagation of fruit plants grown in third countries.
In July 2025-February 2026, Ukraine retained its position as the leading supplier of sunflower oil to the European Union and provided almost 92% of the total imports of this product by the bloc’s countries, according to the specialized publication OFI Magazine, citing data from the European Commission.
According to a report by the German Union for the Promotion of Plants and Proteins (UFOP), in the first seven months of the 2025-2026 marketing year (MY, July-June), the EU-27 countries imported a total of just under 1.04 million tons of sunflower oil. Despite its leadership, the total import figure decreased compared to the same period last year, when it amounted to 1.28 million tons.
According to UFOP estimates, the annual sunflower harvest in Ukraine decreased from 13 million tons in 2024 to 10.5 million tons in 2025, as the decline in harvest led to a reduction in processing volumes and limited sunflower oil exports.
Researchers at Agrarmarkt Informations-Gesellschaft also noted significant pressure from Russian attacks on infrastructure and port facilities, which complicated oil logistics.
Market observers, in turn, noted the stabilization of sunflower oil export flows despite security risks.
Moldova (5% of the market) and Serbia (less than 2%) ranked second and third among suppliers. Moldova showed an increase in supplies, while Serbia lagged significantly behind the previous year’s level.
Kovlar Group, a manufacturer of passive fire protection products in Ukraine, is studying the European market but focusing on creating products for the domestic market, said Konstantin Kalafat, director of Kovlar Group LLC, in an exclusive interview with Interfax-Ukraine.
“We are actively studying the European market and working on harmonizing technical documentation and conformity assessment procedures. As for exports, this is a challenge, because the European market for niche products such as ours is already established, and consumers prefer more stable solutions when it comes to safety, so it is difficult to find customers,” he said.
According to him, the main obstacle to rapid entry into EU markets is currently the complexity of certification procedures in the context of the war—foreign auditors and technical experts are not always able to come to Ukraine to conduct the necessary audits and technical inspections. However, entry into European markets remains part of the company’s strategic plans.
At the same time, Kovlar Group’s products are competitive in terms of quality and cost. “Fire protection is a high-tech and knowledge-intensive industry where proven characteristics are crucial. Over the past 10 years, the requirements for thin-layer fire protection coatings have doubled due to the need to ensure the stability of metal structures during a fire – from 90 to 180 minutes, and we are trying to keep up with this trend. In terms of certain parameters – system efficiency, optimal layer thickness, and stability of results – some of our solutions are on par with, and sometimes even surpass, their European counterparts,” Kalafat emphasized.
Currently, the company’s priority is the domestic market, especially given the growing demand for Ukrainian materials in connection with large-scale restoration and reconstruction programs.
“In this context, our advantage over imports is obvious: short logistics, prompt delivery, the ability to quickly respond to changes in project decisions, instantly provide technical advice, and visit sites. During wartime and the post-war period, the speed of engineering decisions and stability of supply are often critical.
We hope that with the end of military risks, the quality of the implemented projects will become an additional argument for the effective realization of the export potential of Ukrainian passive fire protection systems,” he says. Kovlar Group LLC was founded in 2015 in Kyiv and is the largest manufacturer of passive fire protection equipment in Ukraine.
According to OpenDataBot, the company’s authorized capital is UAH 1.2 million, and its ultimate beneficiaries are Kostyantyn Kalafat (40%), Andriy Ozeychuk (35%), and Lyubov Vakhitova (25%). The company’s revenue for 2024 was UAH 91.3705 million, which is twice as much as in 2023, and its net profit was UAH 13.4 million, which is 1.7 times more than in 2023. In the first quarter of 2025, the company’s revenue was UAH 13.5 million, with a net income of UAH 1,983,000.
Ukrainians are currently receiving temporary protection in the European Union regardless of gender and age, and this arrangement has been extended until March 27, 2027, said European Commission spokesman Markus Lammert, commenting on discussions in member states about granting protection to Ukrainian men of conscription age.
“As far as I remember the rules for granting temporary protection, they make no distinction between women, children, and men of conscription age,” Lammert said at a briefing in Brussels on Friday.
When asked whether the EU should accept Ukrainian men of conscription age during the war in Ukraine and whether there is indeed a discussion at the European level about their temporary protection, given that the issue has been raised by the Luxembourg government and the Ukrainian authorities, the European Commission representative replied: “I am not aware of any discussion in Luxembourg. I can say that temporary protection is what we have decided at the EU level and at the level of member states until March 27 next year. The current rules remain in force, and that is all I can say at this point.”
Hungary has decided to block the allocation of a EUR90 billion EU loan to Ukraine until oil transit to Hungary via the Druzhba pipeline is resumed, Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said.
On Friday evening, he again accused Ukraine on social media of allegedly blackmailing Hungary by stopping oil transit in coordination with Brussels and the Hungarian opposition in order to create supply disruptions in Hungary and raise fuel prices ahead of the elections.
According to Szijjártó, Ukraine is violating the Association Agreement with the EU.
As reported with reference to Ukrtransnafta, as a result of a targeted Russian attack on January 27, significant damage was caused to the technological and auxiliary equipment of the Druzhba oil pipeline.
“Currently, work is underway at various stages to detect defects, stabilize the technical condition of the system, and eliminate the consequences of the hostile attack. Emergency repair work is being carried out with the involvement of specialized technical units and specialized equipment,” the company said in an official comment to Interfax-Ukraine on February 19.
Hungary and Slovakia stopped supplying diesel fuel to Ukraine on February 18 until the transit of Russian oil through the Druzhba pipeline is restored.
The European Commission, in turn, convened a meeting of the oil coordination group on February 25 in connection with the suspension of supplies to Hungary and Slovakia due to Russia’s damage to the Druzhba oil pipeline.
