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The Regions This Week
February 1, 2019 www.intellinews.com I Page 10
Southeast Europe
The Greek parliament ratified the Macedonian name deal following three days of heated debate, a move that will enable Greece’s tiny northern neighbour to join Nato and to launch EU acces- sion talks later this year. According to the Prespa deal, signed in June 2018 under the auspice of the UN, Macedonia will be renamed North Macedonia.
Romania set 2024 as a firm euro adoption dead- line, Prime Minister Viorica Dancila announced. Her government will soon send to the European Union the documents with the country’s plan for the adoption of the euro by 2024.
Turkey’s economic turmoil may have placed its ruling party in jeopardy ahead of the country’s lo- cal elections scheduled for March 31, Al-Monitor reported. In a poll conducted by the Potsdam Institute for Applied Research in mid-January, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Justice and De- velopment Party (AKP), in power since 2002, was the preferred choice of 35% of respondents. That compares to the 42.56% it achieved in the 2018 snap parliamentary elections.
The Croatian government approved €244mn for construction of an LNG terminal on the island of Krk, N1 reported. Krk LNG terminal is intended to play an important role in the diversification of natural gas supply as well as ensuring security of natural gas supply for Central and Southeast Europe.
The Slovenian Court of Audit plans to examine the country’s central bank, Banka Slovenije, for the first time, Reuters reported. The news comes shortly after the European Commission said it is referring Slovenia to the Court of Justice over the country’s violation of the European Central Bank's archives during a police raid in 2016.
Bulgaria remains the most corrupt country in the EU, Transparency International said. Bulgaria has made progress in some areas, but lost one place on the latest Corruption Perception Index due to serious political scandals throughout 2018.
The Albanian authorities will relaunch the Skavica hydropower plant project on the Drin riv- er, after it was initially proposed almost 50 years ago. Skavica HPP was initially designed in the 1970s to be the first hydropower plant of the Drin cascade, but the project was never implemented.
Bosnia has clear shortcomings in the rule of law and fundamental rights and must start urgently implementing reforms, the EU’s Enlargement Commissioner Johannes Hahn said following a meeting with the country’s three newly-elected state-level presidents in Brussels. The selec-
tion of Brussels for the Bosnian presidents’ first overseas visit was seen a symbolic indication that Sarajevo will push for Euro-Atlantic integration.
HBIS Group dethroned Fiat as Serbia’s biggest exporter in 2018. China’s HBIS took over Zelezara Smederevo steel mill in 2016, and has significantly boosted production since then.
Real estate developer AFI Europe will start build- ing a retail park in Arad, western Romania, by the end of the year. The investment is worth €40mn.
Cash-strapped Italian builder Astaldi and its Turkish partners are reportedly looking into the potential sale of their Istanbul-Izmir toll road. The joint venture building the highway has asked international banks to bid for the right to advise them on the future of the road, Kerim Kemahli, chief financial officer of Nurol Holding, which holds a 27% stake in the partnership, told Bloomberg.