Croatia to continue reforms until fully fledged EU membership
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso urged the Croatian government to continue with the implementation of reforms bound to pave the way for the country’s fully-fledged membership of the European Union in 2013. At a meeting in Brussels with the new Croat prime minister Zoran Milatinovic he pointed out that Zagreb was bound to abide by its pre-accession commitments, and in particular as regarded the justice and home affairs, human rights and market competition chapters. Barroso said his Commission will continue monitoring Croatia’s accession process closely.
IMF calls on Albania to speed up structural reforms
IMF estimates envisage Albania’s economic growth to shrink to 0.5% in 2012. Only a few weeks ago the evaluation was for 1.5%. In 2012 domestic consumption will remain low because of the limited bank credits and the restrictive fiscal policy, the IMF report argues. The international financial institution will encourage the government in Tirana to adopt viable fiscal rules, and to lower the country’s state debt. In order to enhance economic growth, the authorities needed to speed up with structural reforms and improve the business environment, IMF experts claim.
Macedonia can become a gateway to Europe for Turkey’s business
Macedonian Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski told a bilateral investment forum in Turkey that his country could serve as a gateway to Europe to Ankara’s business. He said Skopje had a great deal to offer investors, and that Turkish companies ought to take advantage. The Macedonian government expressed a wish to enhance relations with Turkey in the economy and other spheres.
Turkey partially withdraws its support for Nabucco pipeline project
Turkey is no longer fully supporting the Nabucco project for transportation of natural gas from the Caspian Sea to Europe and instead is favoring its own competitive project TAP, a spokesperson of the Turkish Energy Ministry has announced. He confirmed that Turkey remains part of the consortium of six countries supporting Nabucco, but he pointed out that the current priority of Turkey is to develop the project Trans-Anatolian Pipeline (TAP) that they are jointly developing with Azerbaijan. The Turkish side regards the price of the Nabucco project as extremely high. It includes the construction of the pipeline that is 4,000 km long and will transport 31 billion cubic meters of gas annually via Turkey and the Balkans to Europe’s major center for natural gas in Austria. The Trans-Anatolian Pipeline project on its part will use the existing transit lines in Turkey for the transportation of 16th billion cubic meters of gas from the Shah Deniz deposit near the Turkish border with Turkey and Bulgaria.
Unemployment in Bosnia reaches a four-year high
The number of unemployed in Bosnia and Herzegovina in November last year has reached 43,5 per cent of the working-age population, the Statistical Agency of Bosnia and Herzegovina has announced. This is the highest percentage of unemployed since April 2007, and compared to November 2010, the number of unemployed has risen by 2.6 per cent. In Bosnia, however, the volume of informal economy is very high and many citizens who are officially registered as unemployed are involved in the grey sector. According to data of the Statistical Agency, the real size of unemployment is 27.6 per cent. Bosnia is now hit by a serious political crisis as well, and 16 months after the elections in October 2010 it has not yet formed a cabinet. According to experts, the political instability has led to a reduction of the foreign investments.
Turkey pleased with removing the visa requirements for Turkish citizens with special passports
The head of the Agency for Tourism and Travel of Turkey, Erdogan Pacin hails Bulgaria’s decision for removing the visa requirements for Turkish citizens possessing official passports. He voiced his hope that the new visa regulations will help many more Turkish citizens to travel more easily to Bulgaria. According to him, the recently opened Bulgarian consulate in Bursa has made the issuance of visas easier for Turkish citizens from all regions of the Southern Marmara, the Aegean area, Eskişehir, Afyon. Thus, many more Turkish citizens will be able to travel across Bulgaria and get to know the tourist sites in the country. Turkish businessmen have also stated that the removal of the visas for Bulgaria for Turkish business passports will contribute to boosting the economic, commercial and cultural relations between Turkey and Bulgaria.
Translated by Radostin Zhelev, Rossitsa Petcova
