Greece says it will complete fence along Maritza river border with Turkey

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis vowed that the border fence with Turkey along the river Maritza will be completed. Evros fence will be finished "with or without EU funds," ANA-MPA quote him saying. After scheduling a snap parliamentary election on 21 May, Mitsotakis is on an election tour in the Eastern Macedonia and Thrace region. He added that he pledged four years ago that the economy would return to a dynamic growth trajectory. "Today Greece is the champion of growth in Europe, we had 6% growth in 2022," he said. Opinion polls after the tragic train crash in Tempe showed a 3% drop in support for the ruling New Democracy, but the party retains its lead over the opposition.

Croatian PM willing to resolve border dispute with Slovenia

Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said he was willing to settle the dispute over Croatia's land and sea border with Slovenia, BTA reports. Speaking at a joint press conference in Brdo near Kran, Slovenian Prime Minister Robert Golob said that the border arbitration agreement in The Hague will continue to be "the anchor of Slovenia's policy towards Croatia." The agreement made 6 years ago awarded 80 percent of the Piran Bay to Ljubljana.  Croatia continues not to recognise the ruling and the Croatian authorities regularly fine Slovenian fishermen, who have appealed to the European Court in Strasbourg. The Slovenian authorities also fine Croatian fishermen in the bay. Golob and Plenkovic have discussed signing an energy solidarity agreement, cooperation in the Krško nuclear power plant and expanding supplies to Europe via the liquefied gas terminal on Krk Island.

Mr. Golob and Mr. Plenkovic, together with Slovakpremier Eduard Heger, are in Ukraine today on the anniversary of the liberation of Bucha, and they will participate in a summit dedicated to the event.

Romania and Poland forge strategic partnership

At a joint government meeting in Bucharest, Romania and Poland decided to discuss with the European Commission export tracing mechanisms for Ukrainian grains to ensure local farmers are not hurt by a flood of cheap imports.

"We want that our close relations in term of security and defence be doubled by a robust and fruitful economic cooperation according to the potential offered by the two economies", Romanian President Klaus Iohannis said after a meeting with Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki. Bilateral trade in 2022 reached a record high of almost 11 billion euros, Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca announced.

During the discussion on security in the Eastern Wing of NATO and the Black Sea region, Bucharest and Warsaw expressed support for the Initiative of the Three Seas, especially the Rail2Sea and Via Carpathia projects, AGERPRES reported.

Serbia's tolls to rise by 14% tomorrow

As of 1 April, tolls in Serbia will increase by 14%. Drivers of cars will pay 1,690 Serbian dinars (about 14 euros) for the Belgrade-Presovo road to North Macedonia and Greece. From Belgrade to Tsaribrod on the Bulgarian border, the toll will be 1,490 dinars (12.5 euros). For the distance from Presevo to Tsaribrod the fare will be 1,180 dinars (10 euro), from Belgrade to Šid on the border with Croatia - 480 dinars (4 euro), from Belgrade to Subotica and to the border with Hungary - 720 dinars (6 euros).  From the capital to the central Serbian town of Cacak, the journey will cost 530 dinars (4.5 euros). For those who use electronic toll collection (ETC), there is a 6% reduction on the updated prices, Tanjug reports.

Macedonian PM asks why state TV MRT cannot be watched in Bulgaria

The Prime Minister of the Republic of North Macedonia, Dimitar Kovacevski, intends to meet with the CEO of the state broadcaster MRT and representatives of other institutions to find out what agreements are in place to broadcast its programmes abroad.

According to an agreement between the Bulgarian National Television - BNT - and MRT, the programmes of the two broadcasters can be broadcast free of charge on the territory of the neighbouring country, Prime Minister Kovatchevski said.

But according to the MRT broadcasting contract, the service provider does not allow free downloading of the signal from operators in other countries. The problem was created some time ago, Kovacevski clarified.

He said he would also ask the Bulgarian side why the MRT programme is not broadcast in Bulgaria and the channel for Bulgarians abroad, BNT4, is broadcast in North Macedonia, BGNES reported.