Romania does not support protectionism and strongly opposes splitting the European single market, Traian Basescu, the president, told the joint chambers of parliament this week.
Greece will annul a tender to privatise and upgrade facilities at the country's second-largest port in Thessaloniki, after the top bidder pulled out, government and port sources said yesterday.
The eventuality of Turkey's signing a deal with the International Monetary Fund would not affect activities of the European Investment Bank in Turkey, the bank's vice president said yesterday.
Albania will borrow €250m from Deutsche Bank and Greece's Alpha Bank in a syndicated loan to fund its budget deficit, the Finance Ministry said yesterday.
Danilo Turk, the Slovenian president, has said that Slovenian business must be very present in Albania, thanks to the “good climate” created by Tirana.
Bosnia-Herzegovina ended 2008 with a total of €2.15bn in foreign debt, up from €2.03bn at the end of the previous year, the country’s central bank and Finance Ministry said.
Hundreds of workers rallied in the Balkans yesterday to demand salary payments and government support to offset falling metal prices in a sign that the global financial crisis has hit the region with full force.
Hundreds of workers from Bulgaria's troubled Kremikovtzi steel mill demonstrated in Sofia yesterday over planned lay-offs and unpaid salaries, demanding that the government find a buyer for the insolvent plant.
According to the Bulgarian central bank, Bulgaria's gross external debt amounted to €36.648bn at the end of 2008, or 108.4% of the country's GDP, and a rise of €7.79bn (27%) in a year.
Croatia said yesterday it was ready to accept EU mediation in a border dispute with Slovenia on condition the issue be brought before an international tribunal.
Branko Crvenkovski, the ex-Yugoslav Macedonian president, has warned that Bosnia may fall apart after calls by its Serb leader for the country to be split along ethnic lines.
Ex-Yugoslav Macedonia has failed to meet the conditions to secure a starting date for EU accession talks, and one of conditions is to get name dispute with Greece settled, says Mirek Topolanek, the Czech prime minister.
Tourist arrivals from Britain and Germany, Greece's top two tourist markets, are expected to fall by as much as 17% this holiday season, figures from two market research firms show.
Receipts from Greece’s tourism industry, which accounts for 20% of the economy, are expected to fall by about 10% this year because of the global downturn, according to a report made public this week.
TPI Composites, an American company, is interested in building a US$35m factory for the production of turbines for wind power plants in Montenegro, to employ 500 people.
The sale of public companies from the tourism, trade, banking and financial sectors makes up the lion’ share of privatization revenues which reached €1.5bn by 2007, officials said.
Montenegro's opposition parties will attempt to defeat the ruling coalition in the 29 March parliamentary elections by forming a coalition and modernising their programme, they said.
A delegation from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) arrives in Romania today for a two-week visit to discuss a possible loan to the crisis-hit country, the fund said.
Jose Luis Zapatero, the Spanish prime minister, threw in his lot with Serbia, telling the country's leader that Madrid has no plans to recognise the independence of Kosovo and backs Belgrade's bid to join the EU.
Boris Tadic, the Serbian president, has said he hopes a €2bn stand-by arrangement with the IMF can be agreed on to fund the country’s foreign exchange reserves, following a precautionary €400m deal agreed in late 2008.
A general assembly at Istrabenz, a Slovenian energy firm, confirmed a shift in the balance of power among the owners of the conglomerate, as NFD, an investment group, and Petrol, an energy company, were tipped to take over.
Pakistan, Iran and Turkey have agreed to run a container rail linking Islamabad, Tehran and Istanbul and a demonstration run will take place on 14 August, says Shah Mahmood Qureshi, the Pakistani foreign minister.
Turkey still has a long way to go to bring its dairy sector into line with European Union standards, especially in segregating products that would be exported to EU markets, an inspection report showed yesterday.
Turkish Airlines has promised to compensate all the surviving passengers on the plane that crash-landed last week near Amsterdam's Schiphol airport, killing nine people and injuring more than 80.
Albania's parliament this week passed the country's 2009 budget that foresees 6% growth next year, amid opposition claims that it fails to account for the global economic crisis.
The global financial crisis will have little effect on Albania, said Genc Ruli, the Albanian economy minister, yesterday, adding that his government was planning large investments in energy.
The International Monetary Fund has told Albania it should strengthen economic fundamentals since its economy could not be completely immune to the global crisis that was slowing growth worldwide.
Prime Minister Nastase expects that the accession of Romania and Bulgaria to the EU will serve as an example and an impulse for the Western Balkans to work systematically towards membership in the Union.
The Greek government on Friday blocked a possible hostile takeover bid for OTE, the state-controlled telecoms group, by capping any outside investor???s stake at 20 per cent.
During the meeting of foreigh ministers of the south-east cooperation council in Sofia on February 27th ,the Stability Pact was transformed into the Regional Co-operationCouncil.
Greece???s motorists entered the week with anxiety yesterday, over the possibility of an extended fuel tanker owners??? strike depriving the car-mad Greeks of their petrol.
Bosnia-Herzegovina's UN High Representative office (OHR) should be closed as soon as possible and all power transferred from international organizations to the country's legal authorities, Russia has said.
