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The Regions This Week
January 25, 2019 www.intellinews.com I Page 9
Southeast Europe
Political parties are considering their presidential candidates ahead of this spring’s presidential election in Macedonia. The governing coalition
of the Social Democratic Union of Macedonia (SDSM) and the ethnic Albanian Democratic Union for Integration (DUI) plans to propose a joint can- didate.
The European Commission expressed concern about the risks posed to the EU by Bulgaria’s scheme offering citizenship and residence in return for large investments.The EC noted that Bulgaria, Cyprus and Malta granting “golden vi- sas” poses security threats.
Alstom is being investigated by Romanian anti-corruption prosectors. The National Anti- corruption Directorate (DNA) is looking into the circumstances under which Romania’s railway infrastructure company CFR awarded large con- tracts to the French group.
Oil tankers exporting Kazakh and Russian crude from ports in the Black Sea are contending with spiralling delays when navigating Turkey’s key shipping straits, stalling the delivery of millions of barrels of supplies to refineries on the Mediter- ranean Sea and beyond, Bloomberg reported. The lengthening queues are due to a change in rules requiring more vessels to be escorted by tug- boats.
Slovenia’s Adria Airways can keep its license,
the country’s civil aviation agency said. Last
year, the agency found that Adria Airways was no longer able to settle its liabilities and ordered the company to provide proof of its long-term finan- cial sustainability.
Albania will tighten measures against money laundering and terrorism financing following
a critical report from the Council of Europe’s monitoring body MONEYVAL. In December 2018, MONEYVAL said corruption in Albania poses a major money laundering risk.
Bonsia’s new airline FlyBosnia will start opera- tions on January 31 and plans to establish routes to a number of European and Middle East destina- tions. This will be Bosnia’s sole local carrier after Bosnia Airlines went bankrupt and lost its operat- ing licence in 2017.
The Croatian government expects at least two offers from strategic partners for troubled Uljanik Group, Economy Minister Darko Horvat said. Uljanik, which owns the Uljanik shipyard in Pula and the 3. Maj shipyard in Rijeka, is in severe financial difficulties.
The parent company of one of Turkey’s larg-
est food producers is in talks with lenders to restructure part of its $2bn debt pile, two people with knowledge of the matter were cited as say- ing by Bloomberg. Anadolu Birlik Holding wants to extend maturities on loans it took out to finance investments in the energy sector.
The government in Podgorica is expected to ap- prove a draft contract for awarding concessions for Montenegro’s two international airports,
in Podgorica and Tivat, at its next regular ses- sion, and could a launch procedure for awarding the concessions shortly after that, Portalanalitika. me reported, quoting Transport Minister Osman Nurkovic.
Romania will re-open certain old corruption cases under proposals put forward by Romanian Minister of Justice Tudorel Toader. The European Commission objected to the plans, saying that "it is essential that Romania returns on the right track in the fight against corruption, to ensure independent justice and to avoid any steps backwards.”
Businessman Milan Radoicic was arrested in con- nection to the murder of Kosovan Serb politician Oliver Ivanovic. Ivanovic was killed on January 16, 2018 in front of his party's headquarters, and his murder sparked outrage among Serbs in both Kosovo and Serbia.