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The Regions This Week
December 15, 2017 www.intellinews.com I Page 5
Southeast Europe
The cluster of countries in the Western Balkans included on a so-called “greylist” of tax havens by the European Union deserve to be on Brus- sels' fully fledged blacklist, a report from charity Oxfam argued. Albania, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia are all among the 47 countries on the EU’s watchlist of countries that have promised to change their tax rules to meet the bloc’s standards.
Dragan Djilas is hoping to make a comeback as Belgrade mayor in the 2018 election. Djilas, who served as Belgrade’s mayor between August 2008 and September 2013, is seeking the support of opposition groups.
The Romanian parliament adopted legislation that will extend government control over the judiciary. The adoption of the bill came despite mass protests held in Bucharest and other cities against the parliament’s plans to amend judicial legislation.
An explosion at the site of Austrian OMV’s Baumgarten natural gas hub temporarily interrupted gas transit to Italy, Slovenia and Hungary. The facility, about 50km northeast of Vienna, is a key link for Russian natural gas entering Europe accounting for about a tenth of the continent’s supply.
Romanian employers are the most optimistic in the EMEA region regarding hiring perspectives in the January – March 2018 interval, according to the ManpowerGroup Employment Outlook Survey. With 22% of employers planning to increase their staff, 64% anticipating no change and only 12% foreseeing a decrease in staffing levels, the sea- sonally adjusted net employment outlook is the strongest reported since Q1 2009.
Slovenian brokerage Ilirika acquired one of Serbia’s oldest and largest brokers, Wisebro- ker. Wisebroker has around 12,000 clients and manages a portfolio of around €10mn.
Remittances sent home by Albanians working abroad reached their highest level since 2014. Remittances totaled €166mn in the third quarter of 2017, up by 3.7% y/y, the central bank said.
The government of Bosnia’s Republika Sprska signed an agreement with two Chinese com- panies to build a new thermal power plant in Gacko. The Gacko 2 Thermal Power Plant will cost BAM1bn (€511mn) to build.
The Bulgarian anti-monopoly commission has approved the sale of Czech utility CEZ’s power plant in Varna to local company Sigda. CEZ has been seeking to exit its assets in Bulgaria, where it owns one of the three regional electricity distri- bution companies.
Croatia's central bank purchased €345.5mn from commercial banks to prevent the kuna’s appreciation at an average kuna/euro rate of 7.5604 on December 13. This is the fifth time the central bank has stepped into the local foreign exchange market this year in order to ease firm- ing pressures on the kuna.
Kosovo’s government has an agreement with US energy group ContourGlobal on the construction of a 500MW coal-fired power plant, Kosova e Re, a project worth €1bn. This will be the first major investment in the energy sector in Kosovo in the country's recent history.
Tough measures to curb high levels of air pol- lution in the Bulgarian capital are being consid- ered, including a ban on cars in the centre when pollution reaches a critical level. Sofia is one of the most polluted capitals in the EU.
Almost half of all Moldovans do not trust any politician, a poll showed. President Igor Dodon enjoyed the most trust among the population, although just 19.8% of respondents indicated they trusted him.