Page 5 - bne_newspaper_June_02_2017

The Regions This Week
June 2, 2017 www.intellinews.com I Page 5
Southeast Europe
year. However, he has not talked about it for some
time. The Liberal Party quit Moldova’s ruling coalition
after a key member of the party was arrested. The party claimed Chisinau Mayor Dorin Chirtoaca’s detention in a probe into the city parking system was politically motivated.
The Turkish government objected strongly after the US started distributing weapons and equip- ment to Syrian Kurdish fighters battling to help retake the city of Raqqa from Islamic State. An- kara said the strategy was “extremely dangerous”.
Aleksandar Vucic was inaugurated as Serbian president. Vucic had served as prime minister since 2014, and is the leader of the ruling Serbian Progressive Party.
Bosnia’s registered unemployment rate fell by 0.4pp m/m to 40.1% in March. Bosnia has one of the highest levels of unemployment in the world.
140 people sought medical help after showing signs of poisoning following an opposition rally in Albania. The poisoning is believed to have been caused by an unidentified white powder released at the rally.
A diplomatic row has erupted between Macedo- nia and Serbia over the presence of a Serbian official during the violence in the Macedonian parliament in April. Meanwhile, Belgrade has de- manded an explanation for the wiretapping of two Serbian officials and a journalist in Macedonia.
Serbia’s exports amounted to €4.76bn in Janu- ary-April, an increase of 11.8% against the same period of 2016. Belgrade is seeking to attract more FDI to boost employment.
Reintroduction of the death penalty would put an end to Turkey’s EU accession negotiations, Euro- pean Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan floated the idea of reinstating the death penalty
in the wake of the failed coup attempt of July last
Troubled Croatian retail giant Agrokor is close to finalising a new loan deal, according to extraor- dinary trustee Ante Ramljak. Agrokor is one of the largest employers and suppliers in the region, but was engulfed by a debt crisis earlier this year. Agrokor is estimated to owe a total of HRK16bn (€2.2bn) to its suppliers.
GDP growth in Croatia decelerated to 2.5% y/y in the first quarter from 3.4% in the last quarter of 2016. A poll of economists had predicted 3.1% y/y growth for the first quarter.
Multinational furniture retail chain JYSK launched the construction of a €100mn logistics cen-
tre in Bulgaria. The highly-automated facility at Bozhurishte near Sofia will employ over 200 people.
Two shots were fired at Macedonia’s outgoing health minister, Nikola Todorov. The attack, which did not injure the minister, was believed to be by the bereaved grandfather of a young girl who died after a government fund failed to release funds in time for her to receive treatment abroad.
Turkey's foreign arrivals figure rose by 18% y/y to 2.07mn in April, representing the first annual growth recorded since July 2014. The country ex- perienced a dramatic decline in arrivals during 2016 as anxieties spread over waves of terrorism and Russia placed restrictions on charter flights to Turkish airports.
Miodrag Vukovic, an MP from Montenegro’s rul- ing party, was deported from Russia in response to Podgorica’s decision to join the sanctions against Moscow imposed by the EU, a Russian foreign ministry official admitted. Russia declared the politician persona non-grata.
The Romanian parliament blocked a corruption investigation into an MP from the ruling party. The Romanian presidency said that the vote “proves the parliamentary majority’s contempt for justice”.