Page 6 - bne_newspaper_June_29_2018

The Regions This Week
June 29, 2018 www.intellinews.com I Page 6
Southeast Europe Romania’s government led by Viorica Dancila
safely survived a no-confidence motion that gained the support of only 166MPs. Opposition MPs who filed the motion cited the government’s weak performance and the ruling coalition’s ef- forts to weaken the rule of law.
The prime ministers of Albania and Montenegro said their countries will not host asylum centres for the EU. The bloc had been considering setting up camps for refugees and migrants in third coun- tries, but plans received a setback when the two Balkan countries plus Libya refused to participate.
Moldova’s supreme court invalidated the mayor- al elections in Chisinau, denying the winner, pro- EU opposition candidate Andrei Nastase, control of the capital. Top EU officials criticised the court ruling, saying it “deprived the inhabitants of Chis- inau of their democratically elected mayor”.
Divisive rhetoric and pre-electoral campaign- ing in Bosnia have stalled reforms, the European Council said. Its report also slammed Bosnia’s lack of progress on economic development and competitiveness.
Slovenia faces some of the heaviest costs in the EU as its population ages. The cost of population ageing in Slovenia will increase by 6.3pp to 28.2% of GDP be- tween 2016 and 2070, according to an EU projection.
Bulgaria will call a new tender to grant a con- cession for the operation of Sofia International Airport. The previous tender was scrapped in 2017 as the then government said a concession would raise airport charges and lead to a decline in passenger traffic.
Turkey is no longer a democracy, a Turkish af- fairs expert told Reuters. Turkey was effectively an authoritarian state even before its landmark June 24 elections, Howard Eissenstat, an associ- ate professor of Middle East history at St. Law- rence University, told the newswire.
Malta’s P&L Shiprepair Holding Limited acquired a 22.28% stake in Croatian ship building and repair company Viktor Lenac. Founded in 1896, Viktor Lenac shipyard has a long tradition of ship repair and conversion.
Kosovo will establish a special economic zone for US companies. The zone is expected to help Kosovo to increase employment and will contrib- ute to the country’s economic development.
Macedonia’s President Gjorge Ivanov refused to sign his country's critical name agreement with Greece, after it was ratified in the parliament, claiming that it is not constitutional. However, the parliament is expected to pass the law in a second vote, after which the president is obliged to sign it.
Montenegro’s GDP growth accelerated to 4.5% y/y in the first quarter of 2018, improving from 4% y/y in the previous three months. However, IFIs including the IMF and the EBRD expect Montene- gro’s growth to slow to slightly over 3% in 2018.
Four workers were injured in a fire at Serbia’s largest steel mill. The mill in Smederevo, one of Serbia’s top exporters, was taken over by China’s HBIS in 2016.
Suspected Romanian spy Carina Turcan is re- ported to have fed information on Russia’s indi- rect electricity exports to Crimea to the Roma- nian intelligence services. Turcan, originally from Moldova, was a top manager at Russian energy company Inter RAO until her arrest by the Federal Security Bureau.
Turkey secured loans worth $1.2bn to expand the Gas Storage Expansion Project in Tuz Golu (Salt Lake) in Central Anatolia. The loans were secured from the World Bank and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank under advanta- geous conditions, an official from state pipeline and gas grid company BOTAS said.