Page 14 - bne_newspaper_August_31_2018

The Regions This Week
August 31, 2018 www.intellinews.com I Page 14
Southeast Europe
Five small parties signed an accord on forming Slovenia’s next government, ending months of political uncertainty. The coalition will be led by political newcomer Marjan Sarec, and backed by leftwing Levica, which will not join the government.
Ex-New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani was paid by a lobby firm for the letter sent to the Roma- nian president in which he criticised Romania’s anti-corruption drive as excessive, politico.eu revealed on August 29. In the letter, Giuliani spoke of the “excesses” of the National Anticorruption Directorate (DNA) during the mandate of former chief prosecutor Laura Codruta Kovesi and the secret protocols between prosecutors and the Romanian Intelligence Service.
The Greek government is committed to further- ing cross-border infrastructure projects with
its neighbours in Southeast Europe, a senior EBRD banker said. Greece shares a land border with Albania, Macedonia, Bulgaria and Turkey and is widely regarded as a gateway to Europe from countries further east and south.
Albania will take 20 of the 140 migrants stuck aboard an Italian coastguard ship for days, helping Italy end a growing political crisis over the ship. Italian Premier Giuseppe Conte said on August 25 that the Italian Catholic Church will take 100 migrants and Ireland, like Albania, will take 20.
The majority of Macedonians support the country’s bids to join the EU and Nato ahead of the referendum on the name deal with Greece due to be held on September 30, according to
a poll released by the International Republican Institute. Under the deal, which will unblock Macedonia's EU and Nato integration processes, the country will be renamed North Macedonia.
US Defence Secretary James Mattis re-em- phasised Washington’s warning over Turkey’s planned acquisition of the Russian S-400 ad- vanced missile defence system, which is not compatible with Nato military hardware. Earlier this week, a delegation from the US Congress vis- ited the Turkish capital to encourage the govern- ment to drop its plans to buy the S-400.
Consumer prices in Bosnia & Herzegovina in- creased 1.8% y/y in July, after expanding 1.9% y/y in June, the country’s statistics office said. In m/m terms, the CPI in July moved down 0.7%, after staying flat m/m in June.
The European Union is investing €163mn to upgrade the water supply and treatment system in Croatia's Rijeka from the Cohesion Fund. The project aims to provide cleaner water to 190,000 people living in the coastal area.
Kosovo’s government is launching a three- month clean-up campaign in September- December. The Let's clean up Kosovo campaign is intended to clean up the country and to create a legal basis for punishing environmental polluters.
Romania’s state-owned power transmission company Transelectrica plans to set up a repre- sentative office in Moldova. Romania and Mol- dova have been stepping up cooperation in the energy sector recently, as the pro-EU government in Chisinau seeks to reduce dependence on Rus- sian gas and electricity from the rebel Transnis- tria region.
Serbian citizens’ support for EU integration has risen to 55%, the latest poll from the European integration ministry showed. Serbia has been on its EU path for several years and hopes to become member in 2025.