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The Regions This Week
December 14, 2018 www.intellinews.com I Page 12
Southeast Europe
The European Parliament adopted a report supporting membership in Schengen for Bulgar- ia and Romania, urging EU ministers to admit the two countries as soon as possible. Bulgaria and Romania joined the EU in 2007 and have for years hoped to join Schengen, but the lack of consensus among the other EU member states has stalled their progress.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic may call yet another early general election in spring 2019, following mass protests against him. Although Vucic’s ruling Serbian Progressive Party has been the largest party in the Serbian parliament for years, Vucic has repeatedly resorted to snap elec- tions to strengthen his position.
Boeing launched a technology and engineer- ing centre in Turkey. The centre in Istanbul’s Teknopark will carry out research, engineering and design projects for Boeing’s new generation airplanes working with Turkish engineers.
Moldova’s central bank maintained the mon- etary policy rate at 6.5% at its first monetary board meeting since the former finance minister Octavian Armasu was appointed as central bank governor. The continuation of the status quo was expected.
Students protested in several Albanian cities de- manding lower tuition fees and better conditions for studying. They warned Prime Minister Edi Rama the protests may escalate if their demands are not met.
The IMF recommended Slovenia to deepen reforms and increase productivity growth. Slove- nia’s potential growth rate will be constrained
by adverse demographic trends and external risks in future.
Croatian police are pushing migrants and asy- lum seekers back to Bosnia, Human Rights
Watch said. In some cases people are repelled violently, without being given the possibility to seek asylum, according to the NGO. Croatia is the main entry point to the EU on a new migrant route that has opened up in the Western Balkans.
Hundreds of Macedonian prisoners started a hunger strike, calling for the planned amnesty law for some people who participated in the parlia- ment violence on April 27, 2017 to be extended to other offences. The government is preparing a draft law in cooperation with the opposition to pardon some of those who participated in the parliament protests.
The Kosovan government will hike salaries
of special prosecutors as a way to strengthen the fight against the corruption, Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj announced. He claimed the higher payments will give prosecutors “more confidence to detect and prosecute corruption of- fences.”
Turkey is preparing to sell euro and dollar- denominated government bonds to individual investors from next week as it seeks to tap into money sitting in bank accounts. “In recent years, volatility has caused serious concerns for local in- vestors. Investments have shifted to deposits. We need to mobilise those investors, those balance sheets,” Finance Minister Berat Albayrak said.
Bulgaria's industrial production increased 1.6% y/y October, reversing a revised 0.4% y/y fall in September, backed by the rising performance across the mining, manufacturing and utilities sectors, according to working-day adjusted statis- tics office data.
Enayati Group will develop Romania’s larg-
est private medical centre in a €60mn project. Enayati Group was created by Dr. Wargha Enayati, an entrepreneur in the healthcare business with more than 20 years of experience.