Balkan developments

published on 6/16/23 12:23 PM

Authorities in Turkey to work on new Constitution

After a cabinet meeting, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey should replace its ‎military-written 1982 constitution with a more civil, liberal and democratic one. ‎

The changes will be on the topics of freedom, the right to security and a fair trial, freedom of ‎speech, as well as the rights of women and people with disabilities. The strengthening of these ‎rights and freedoms faced obstacles in the bureaucracy for their proper implementation. ‎

The draft of the new constitution was drawn up in accordance with the observations and ‎reports of the international human rights monitoring mechanisms, in cooperation with several ‎human rights groups, Erdogan pointed out, stressing that the presidential system of ‎government introduced by him personally would be preserved in the country, writes ‎sabah.com.tr.‎

Analysts predict difficult formation of a ruling coalition in Montenegro

The pro-European movement "Europe Now" won the parliamentary elections in Montenegro ‎with 25.6% of the vote. With 23.2 percent of the ballots, second is the Democratic Party of ‎Socialists, whose leader until recently was Milo Djukanovic. Third is the pro-Russian and pro-‎Serbian coalition "For the Future of Montenegro" with 14.7% support.‎

The URA coalition of Prime Minister Dritan Abazović and the Democrats of former ‎Parliament Speaker Aleksa Bečić won 12.5%. Unexpectedly, the Bosniak Party won over 7 ‎percent.‎

‎Thus, 9 of the 15 parties that participated in the elections enter the 81 local parliaments. This ‎makes it extremely difficult to predict what the future ruling coalition will look like, vijesti.me ‎notes. ‎

After a delay due to the teachers' strike in Romania, the prime ministers rotated

With 290 votes "for", 95 "against" and no "abstentions", the two houses of the Romanian ‎Parliament elected the new Romanian government headed by the social democrat Marcel ‎Ciolacu. Thus, the rotation of prime ministers, which is being done for the first time in ‎Romania and was agreed upon in November 2021, has successfully ended. ‎

Former Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca was previously elected as the President of the Senate. ‎

In the new cabinet, the 18 ministries are divided equally and each party has one deputy prime ‎minister, Digi24 TV reported. ‎

Dissatisfied with the redistribution of ministries, the Democratic Union of Hungarians left the ‎coalition of National Liberals and Social Democrats. Ciolacu stated that through European ‎funds and loans, he expects 50 billion euros to be invested in the Romanian economy in 12 ‎months.‎

Greece's chief banker calls Greeks "champions of tax evasion"

Tax evasion in Greece exceeds 60 billion euros per year. This was revealed by the governor of ‎the Central Bank, Yannis Stournaras. "Officially declared incomes in the country amount to ‎‎80 billion euros, and consumption - to 140 billion euros. This consumption is not accompanied ‎by a decrease in savings, which actually continue to grow," Stournaras told in.gr. ‎

‎"We are the European champions of tax evasion, despite the progress made in increasing tax ‎revenues as a percentage of the GDP," Stournaras stressed. He expressed confidence that the ‎country will regain its investment rating this year, and reiterated that ‎Greece needs a ‎government with a long-term horizon.‎

The EU convenes a crisis meeting of Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and Kosovo ‎Prime Minister Albin Kurti in Brussels

Pristina has banned Serbian goods and cars with Serbian registration from entering Kosovo. ‎EU spokesman Peter Stano called on Kosovo and Serbia to refrain from actions that increase ‎tensions.‎

The statement comes after Serbian police arrested three Kosovo police officers on June 14. ‎According to Belgrade, they entered Serbian territory. Pristina said they were attacked and ‎kidnapped from the territory of Kosovo. ‎

Previously, on June 13, in Kosovska Mitrovica, the Kosovo authorities arrested Milun ‎Milenkovic-Lune. For Pristina, he is the organizer of the Serbian protests against the ‎introduction of the newly elected Albanian mayors into the Serbian municipalities. ‎

Stano said that because of the events, the EU introduced sanctions against Kosovo Prime ‎Minister Albin Kurti, BTA reports. Kurti proposed a 5-point plan to resolve the crisis and ‎withdraw the "violent groups" in Northern Kosovo.‎

Compiled by Ivo Ivanov

Published by Rositsa Petkova

Share

Balkan developments

Share

More from category

Mulled wine, survachkas and Ferris wheel - the spirit of Christmas in Sofia

Melitopol University hosts online conference uniting scholars of Bulgarian studies

Bulgarians in Albania need state support in order to preserve their national identity

Bulgarians in Albania need state support in order to preserve their national identity

Melitopol University hosts online conference uniting scholars of Bulgarian studies

Mulled wine, survachkas and Ferris wheel - the spirit of Christmas in Sofia