The International Monetary Fund demanded of the Romanian authorities to stop subsidies for state companies, which have big debts towards the state. Many of them will be disconnected from the state budget. The tube in Bucharest, transporting around 750,000 daily, might be closed for good. The Railway Companies (CFR) for Passengers and for Infrastructure and the Coal National Company are the only ones to receive further subventions. The IMF also demands that 1600 working places in the sphere of mining are closed. A delegation of the IMF arrived in Bucharest to estimate the fulfillment of the conditions of the stand-by agreement made this spring with Romania. Through the new agreement made by the Romanian government with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), annual spending of 10 of the largest state companies will be strictly monitored. In the second stage of this settlement, another twenty societies, with big spending, will have to conform to this procedure.

The Day of National Enlighteners was celebrated in the Bulgarian Embassy in Skopje. The hall was full of people among whom Bulgarians, working in Macedonia, diplomats, ex-ministers and many friends of Bulgaria. The Day of National Enlighteners is celebrated on November 1st with a series of events organized across the country and abroad. Bulgaria has been celebrating the Day of National Enlighteners as a national holiday since 1922 and teachers and students have seen parades on this occasion since the 1930s.

The Croatian parliament backed a border arbitration agreement with Slovenia, helping Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor's efforts to lift a major obstacle to Croatia's European Union bid. EU member Slovenia blocked Croatia's EU talks last December because of unresolved borders. In September, it lifted a veto and allowed Zagreb to resume membership talks after the two prime ministers agreed to resort to international arbitration. Croatia hopes to wrap up the EU talks next year, but Slovenia has indicated it is ready to veto Croatia's progress again unless the arbitration agreement is signed soon.

The two prime ministers are expected to sign the agreement this month. It must then be ratified by national parliaments, where opposition parties expressed dissatisfaction in both countries.

Romania will invite tenders to conduct a research for natural gas in the Black Sea. The research will cover an area of 5000 square kilometers. The companies that are interested in the tenders will have at their disposal 120 days to make their offers. Some consider that the oil and gas reserves in the Black Sea are so high that the Sea may replace Russia as an international energy supplier. Oil reserves in the perimeter of the Black Sea’s continental plateau amount to 5 to 10 million tons, while natural-gas reserves amount to 10 billion cubic meters, according to some specialists. Those reserves, worth tens of millions of dollars, might be exploited in a period lasting from five to twenty years.

Prosecutor of the Hague tribunal Allen Trigger accused former leader of the Bosnian Serbs Radovan Karadzic of the slaughter in Srebrenitsa and the siege of Saraevo during the war in Bosnia. The prosecutor stated that he considers both crimes as an intentional deed to kill as many people as possible. Karadzic had known that the Bosnian Serbs shot civilians during the siege of Saraevo, which continued 44 months, says Allen Trigger. He also accused Karadzic of the slaughter in Srebrenitsa in July 1995, when 8000 Muslim men and boys were killed.

Greek Deputy Foreign Minister Dimitris Droutsas spoke with Bulgaria’s Ambassador to Greece Andrei Karaslavov. The two discussed the “excellent” meeting of Greek and Bulgarian PMs George Papandreou and Boyko Borissov on the sidelines of an EU Council meeting in Brussels last week. Both PMs estimated the decision to open a new check-point on the common border as “a continuation of the good co-operation between the two countries”.

English version: Ivaila Bozhanova