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The Regions This Week
June 16, 2017 www.intellinews.com I Page 6
Southeast Europe
The US authorities issued warrants for 12 of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s secu- rity guards over a brawl that erupted outside the Turkish embassy during his visit to Washington. Erdogan said Ankara would fight the decision “po- litically and legally”.
The European Commission allocated €357mn of Cohesion Policy funds to build the Peljesac bridge in Croatia. The EU will contribute 85% of the cost of the Peljesac project and construction works are expected to be completed in 2022.
Romania’s ruling PSD and its coalition partner Alde will hold a confidence vote to oust Romanian Prime Minister Sorin Grindeanu. The premier, who was originally nominated by the PSD, has fallen out with its powerful leader Liviu Dragnea.
Local residents voted overwhelmingly against the restart of production at a gold mine in Bul- garia, the latest setback for plans to boost gold output in Southeast Europe. 94% of votes cast in the June 11 local referendum were against the plans to resume mining.
MEPs urged Macedonia’s new government to continue urgent reforms so that the country
can launch EU accession talks. A European par- liament resolution calls on Skopje to fully commit to robust reforms in areas including rule of law, justice, corruption and good neighbourly relations.
More than half of Albania’s adult population would like to emigrate, a Gallup poll showed. Albania was in joint second place in the global poll after Sierra Leone, which is recovering from a mass ebola outbreak and decade of civil war, and tied with Haiti.
EU ambassadors endorsed plans to extend €100mn macro-financial assistance to Moldova. The funding had previously been postponed over controversial plans to amend Moldova’s electoral system.
South Africa’s NEPI bought the mixed use Serdi- ka development in Bulgaria for €207.4mn. The fund acquired the Serdika Center shopping mall and Serdika Office office building in Sofia from Austrian and German investors.
The Court of Appeal scrapped a decision to fine two Romanian football associations €225mn and jail their directors. The fine would have sent the Romanian Football Federation into bankruptcy.
Chinese investments in Serbia now exceed €5.5bn,
Minister of Construction, Transport and Infrastructure Zorana Mihajlovic said. Serbia aims to be the top destination for Chinese investment in the Balkans.
Turkish lender Akbank sold a non-performing loan portfolio with face value of TRY709mn (€180mn) to Istanbul Varlik Yonetim, Efes Varlik Yonetim, Hayat Varlik Yonetim and Final Varlik Yonetim. The portfolio was sold for TRY39mn, a sum that corresponds to a recovery rate of 5.5%.
The Bulgarian parliament rejected amendments to the Electoral Code that would introduce a pure majority electoral system for the election of MPs. The amendments, backed in a recent referendum, had been proposed by TV host Slavi Trifonov, who accused the parliament of “staging a coup”.
Qatari companies are looking to make more investments in Turkey, Qatari Prince Sheikh Su- haim Bin Khalid al-Thani said. Ankara is backing the Doha government in the diplomatic crisis that erupted last week when several Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) member states, led by Saudi Ara- bia, cut diplomatic links with Qatar.
Non-profit environmental law organisation Cli- entEarth filed a complaint with the European Commission accusing Bulgaria of giving €1.3bn in illegal aid to coal-fired and other power plants. Bulgarian Energy Minister Temenuzhka Petkova said she does not expect the EC would find any problem.