Page 5 - bne_newspaper_April_07_2017

The Regions This Week
April 7, 2017 www.intellinews.com I Page 5
Southeast Europe
The IMF’s agreement with Bosnia & Herzegovina will be put on hold after lawmakers failed to adopt key legislative amendments required by the fund. This means disbursement of a BAM155mn (€79.3mn) loan tranche will be delayed.
The caretaker cabinet cancelled the concession procedure for Bulgaria’s Sofia Airport. According to the Bulgarian transport ministry, the main obstacle is the ongoing process to award a concession for nearby Belgrade airport which has attracted a high level of international interest.
Sazan Island, home to an Albanian military base, will open to tourists this summer. Tourists will be able to tour bunkers and tunnels built
to protect people from nuclear attacks in the communist era.
The EU Court of Justice sentenced Bulgaria over its poor air quality. The court ruled that Sofia has failed to fulfil its obligations under the EU’s directive on ambient air quality and cleaner air for Europe.
The European Commission prohibited
the proposed takeover of Cemex Croatia
by HeidelbergCement and Schwenk. The Commission is concerned that the takeover would result in significantly reduced competition in grey cement markets and increased prices in Croatia.
Reporters Without Borders condemned a
“campaign of lawsuits and verbal attacks” by Croatian nationalist groups against Novosti, the newspaper of Croatia’s Serbian minority. The civil rights group claims that nationalist groups want Novosti to close.
Divisions are growing within Albania’s ruling coalition ahead of the June general election. The Socialist Party’s junior coalition partner, the Socialist Movement for Integration, has set new conditions for remaining within the coalition.
The Macedonian foreign ministry summoned Albania’s ambassador in Skopje over comments made by Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama and Foreign Minister Ditmir Bushati. The ministry said on April 4 it had urged Albanian politicians to put an end to “provocative statements” and to respect Macedonia’s sovereignty.
Turkish prosecutors are seeking up to 43 years in
jail for journalists from opposition newspaper
Cumhuriyet on charges of supporting a terrorist organisation and targeting President Tayyip Erdogan through asymmetric war methods. The left-leaning Cumhuriyet is one of Turkey’s oldest newspapers with a daily circulation of around 40,000.
Bosnia’s political institutions remained crippled
in 2016 and the situation is unlikely to improve this year, Freedom House said in its latest report on governance in 29 post-communist states. Parliamentary democracy is also undermined by the established practice of politicians making key decisions in private meetings, the NGO said.
The former head of Romania’s public healthcare system is under investigation on suspicion
of taking a €8.6mn bribe. The National Anticorruption Directorate suspects the bribe was given by IT companies in exchange for lucrative contracts in the sector.
Students protested in Belgrade and other Serbian cities against Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic’s victory in the April 2 presidential election. The protests over Vucic’s growing dominance over Serbian politics have been mostly peaceful despite some minor incidents.
No high-level meetings between Turkey and the EU will take place before the summer. All gatherings have been postponed until both the April 16 constitutional referendum in Turkey and the French elections in June have passed, at the demand of the EU.