Ansa news

(ANSA-AFP) - SKOPJE, APR 24 - Voters in North Macedonia headed to the polls Wednesday for the first in a series of elections that could decide whether the diverse Balkan country will ever join the European Union. Voters are casting ballots in the first round of a presidential election, followed in two weeks by a presidential run-off and a parliamentary poll. The elections come amid a two-year standoff between the government and the opposition over how to deal with neighbouring Bulgaria blocking…

(ANSA) - BELGRADE, APR 23 - Tomorrow, North Macedonians will vote in presidential elections, which will take place in the midst of a debate over the former Yugoslav country's European future, despite the fact that it has already been a full NATO member for four years. Tomorrow marks the first electoral appointment of the spring; the second is scheduled for May 8th, when the parliamentary elections will be held, as well as the possible second round of the presidential elections, a run-off that is…

(ANSA) - BELGRADE, APR 23 - The long weekends of April 25th and May 1st will result in a slight increase in traffic flows, according to forecasts from the concessionaire Alto Adriatico Autostrade. According to forecasts, traffic on the A4 motorway (Venice-Trieste) will increase in both directions beginning Wednesday morning. In the afternoon, there may be queues or delays at the Trieste - Lisert barrier. The same situation could occur on Thursday, April 25th, in the morning on the Terraglio - A57/A27…

(ANSA) - BELGRADE, APR 23 - The European Parliament approved the visa exemption for Serbian passport holders living in Kosovo who receive documents from the so-called Coordination Directorate in Belgrade. MEPs voted today with 406 in favour, 97 against, and 94 abstentions. (ANSA).

(ANSA-AFP) - STRASBOURG, APR 23 - European Union lawmakers on Tuesday backed new budgetary rules aimed at boosting investment while keeping spending under control despite fierce criticism from leftwing groups. Brussels spent two years negotiating an overhaul of its budget rules that pitted fiscally hawkish states against the bloc's most indebted nations. A majority of lawmakers backed the new rules during a session of the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France. It will become official once the…

(ANSA) - BELGRADE, APR 23 - In a large-scale raid in Bosnia and Herzegovina, law enforcement officers swarmed the homes and offices of 23 people suspected of being part of the 'inner circle' of a drug kingpin apprehended in November 2022, Europol reported. The action marks another step forward in the fight against the so-called'super cartel,' an alliance of criminal networks that controlled much of Europe's cocaine trade, according to Europol.Over 40 locations were searched by officers on the ground,…

(ANSA-AFP) - BEIJING, APR 23 - Beijing said Tuesday the arrest of an aide to a German far-right politician on suspicion of spying was designed to "smear and suppress" China. "We are aware of the reports and related hype," foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said, adding: "The intention of this kind of hype is very obvious... it is to smear and suppress China and to destroy the atmosphere of cooperation between China and Europe." The arrested man, named only as Jian G., stands accused of sharing…

(ANSA) - BELGRADE, APR 22 - Michelin, a leading French tyre manufacturer, will close its factory in Olsztyn, Poland, to relocate production to Romania, citing lower costs in the Balkan country as the reason for the decision. The news, first reported by the Romanian economic newspaper Profit, was picked up by the other major media outlets in Bucharest. (ANSA).

(ANSA) - BELGRADE, APR 22 - According to EUrostat data, the government deficit to GDP ratio in the eurozone fell from 3.7% in 2022 to 3.6% in 2023, while it rose from 3.4% to 3.5% in the European Union. In the eurozone, the government debt-to-GDP ratio fell from 90.8% at the end of 2022 to 88.6% at the end of 2023, while in the EU it fell from 83.4% to 81.7 percent. At the end of 2023, Estonia (19.6%), Bulgaria (23.1%), Luxembourg (25.7%), Denmark (29.3%), Sweden (31.2%), and Lithuania (38.3%) had…

(ANSA) - ROME, APR 22 - Problems won't wait for the EU to solve them, President Sergio Mattarella said Monday, speaking from Brdo on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of Slovenia's entry into the European Union. "Among the essential reforms awaiting the European Union there are certainly the modes of decision-making, because problems in this world present themselves quickly and require timely responses: the European Union is not in this condition, it is not in a position to take timely responses…

(ANSA) - BELGRADE, APR 22 - Zhongshou Special Steel Group, a Chinese steel producer, has ordered an Arvedi Esp line from Primetals Technologies for its Luanzhou plant in the Hebei province. The parties signed the agreement in Vienna on April 17 in front of Chinese and Austrian government representatives. (ANSA).

(ANSA-AFP) - BELGRADE, APR 22 - Poland is ready to host nuclear arms if NATO decides to deploy the weapons in the face of Russia reinforcing its armaments in Belarus and Kaliningrad, President Andrzej Duda said in an interview published on Monday. "If our allies decide to deploy nuclear arms on our territory as part of nuclear sharing, to reinforce NATO's eastern flank, we are ready to do so," Duda said in an interview published by the Fakt daily. (ANSA-AFP).

(ANSA-AFP) - PRISTINA, APR 22 - Ethnic Serbs in Kosovo's north on Sunday boycotted an extraordinary local election on whether to oust their ethnic Albanian mayors in a territory riddled with tension. The vote could have paved the way for the election of Serbs to the mayoral posts after the appointment of the ethnic Albanians sparked violence in the Belgrade-backed region with a Serb majority. But only 253 out of some 45,000 eligible voters cast ballots, the Central Election Commission said (CEC).…

(ANSA) - BELGRADE, APR 22 - Slovenia commemorates 20 years since its entry into the European Union with a ceremony at Brdo Castle near Ljubljana. Italy's President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella, is present. The President of the Republic of Slovenia, Natasa Pirc Musar, has invited the presidents of all neighbouring countries to participate in the summit. Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen, Croatian Zoran Milanovic, and Hungarian Tamas Sulyok are all expected. (ANSA).

(ANSA) - LUBJANA, 20 APR - Slovenia will celebrate the 20th anniversary of its entry into the European Union on Monday with heads of state from neighboring countries. A statement from the office of the President of the Republic, Nataša Pirc Musar, disclosed that the presidents will discuss the path their respective countries have walked in the European family and the challenges the EU is facing, taking into account the changing geopolitical conditions in the world and the neighborhood. Slovenia…

(ANSA) - SKOPJE, 20 APR - The election campaign has kicked off in North Macedonia. The May 8 election represents the confrontation between the two country's two most significant political forces - the Social Democrats (SDSM) in power, led by Prime Minister Dimitar Kovacevski and the VMRO-DPNME, the largest opposition party headed by its leader, Hristijan Mickovski. Under the slogan 'You don't give up on the future,' Premier Kovacevski launched the election campaign by insisting on the need to pursue…

(ANSA) - BELGRADE, APR 19 - Thanks to the support of the Central European Initiative (CEI), a group of female professionals from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Italy, North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, and Ukraine participated in the International Conference "Equal Pay Day" organized in Prague by the Business and Professional Women (BPW) Association of the Czech Republic. The Prague conference is now in its 15th year. Over 800 participants from 16 countries, 40 speakers, and 80 mentors attended…

(ANSA-AFP) - ZAGREB, APR 19 - Croatia's top court said on Friday that the country's president, who had campaigned to become prime minister ahead of this week's parliamentary election, could not head the new government. "The president has been warned in time that he cannot participate in the campaign, but that he must (first) resign. Now it is over. He can no longer be a prime minister-designate," Constitutional Court President Miroslav Separovic told a press conference. Croatia voted in a parliamentary…

(ANSA) - BELGRADE, APR 19 - A two-day international conference on EU enlargement to the Western Balkans will begin in Ljubljana on Friday, according to the Slovenian news agency STA. The Friends of Western Balkans, a non-profit founded by former President Borut Pahor, will host the event with former heads of state who will be welcomed by President Nataša Pirc Musar. The conference will examine the political and security situation in the Western Balkans in light of broader geopolitical changes,…

(ANSA) - BELGRADE, APR 19 - The producer prices of industrial products were 2.9% lower in March 2024 than in March 2023, the German Federal Statistical Office Destatis said in a statement today. In February, the year-on-year change rate was -4.1 percent. The Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) also reports that producer prices rose 0.2% in March 2024 compared to February. (ANSA).

(ANSA) - TRIESTE, 18 APR - "Every person, no matter their background or circumstances, should be able to access health services and medical products when needed, without experiencing financial hardship. Without affordable access to safe, quality-assured medical products, attaining good health and well-being and Universal Health Coverage becomes a distant dream". That is what Natasha Azzopardi Muscat, Director of Country Health Policies & Systems at the World Health Organization - Regional Office…

(ANSA) - TRIESTE, 18 APR - "Health can be used as a neutral political card for the Western Balkans' access to the EU: this would be a way to include them in EU decisions for access to drugs and avoid drug shortages within their countries." WHO Europe's Special Envoy for the Western Balkans, Fabio Scano, said today in Trieste, where he attended a meeting sponsored by WHO Europe and the Central European Initiative to build a resilient pharmaceutical and health commodity system. "The drug shortage…

(ANSA) - TRIESTE, 18 APR - Goal one: ensure safe, effective, high-quality pharmaceutical and health products through a more robust assurance system and regulatory oversight. Goal two: anticipate and address shortages of essential drugs. Goal three: manage challenges related to access to new treatments and protect populations from financial hardship. These are the main goals that WHO Europe, the Executive Secretariat of the Central European Initiative and the European Observatory on Health Policies…

(ANSA) - BRUSSELS, 18 APR - Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer rejected the idea of a new common European debt. "The Austrian stance is unequivocal. But not only in Austria, but in other so-called frugal states: sharing debt always means sharing the burden of interest together. We had to do that once because of the pandemic. We are still paying high interest on the debt. This in turn limits the ability to act," he said upon his arrival at the EU summit. "We need to think differently. We need to strengthen…

(ANSA) - SOFIA, 18 APR - Il presidente della Repubblica, Sergio Mattarella, è arrivato alla base Nato di Novo Selo nell'est della Bulgaria. Alla missione dell'Alleanza Atlantica ai confini orientali dell'Unione europea partecipano anche circa 700 militari italiani. "Voi svolgete un compito che punta ad ottenere pace e sicurezza e questa è una caratteristica costante delle nostre Forze Armate nei compiti loro affidati da Parlamento e governo e svolti in tanto luoghi, anche lontani", ha detto il…

(ANSA) - SOFIA, 18 APR - Italy's President Sergio Mattarella arrived at the NATO base in Novo Selo in eastern Bulgaria. About 700 Italian military personnel are also participating in the Atlantic Alliance mission on the eastern borders of the European Union. "You carry out a task that aims to achieve peace and security, and this is a constant characteristic of our Armed Forces in the tasks entrusted to them by Parliament and government and carried out in so many places, even far away," the president…

(ANSA-AFP) - FRANKFURT, 18 APR - Two German-Russian men have been arrested on suspicion of spying for Russia and planning attacks -- including on US army targets -- to undermine military support for Ukraine, prosecutors said Thursday. The pair, identified only as Dieter S. and Alexander J., were arrested in Bayreuth in the southeastern state of Bavaria on Wednesday, federal prosecutors said in a statement. The main accused, Dieter S., is alleged to have scouted potential targets for attacks, "including…

(ANSA-AFP) - ZAGREB, 18 APR - Croatian parties scrambled to form a ruling coalition Thursday, a day after an election in which the ruling conservative party won the most seats but not a parliamentary majority. Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic's Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) won 61 seats in the 151-member assembly, near-complete results showed. A centre-left coalition led by the Social Democrats (SDP) won 42. It was followed by the nationalist right-wing Homeland Movement party with 14 seats. An…

(ANSA-AFP) - ZAGREB, 17 APR - Croatia's ruling conservative HDZ party took the lead in a parliamentary election Wednesday, winning most seats but not enough for the outright majority needed to form a government, according to an exit poll. HDZ won 58 seats in the 151-member assembly, the poll by Ipsos agency showed. The poll said a centre-left coalition led by the Social Democrats (SDP) won 44 seats, followed by the right-wing Homeland Movement (DP) with 13 seats. (ANSA-AFP).

(ANSA) - SOFIA, 17 APR - "We have been talking a lot about the enlargement of the European Union and especially to the Western Balkans, which have been waiting for almost 20 years: it is time to speed up as much as possible and make sure that this enlargement happens quickly." Italy's President Sergio Mattarella said this in Sofia after a conversation with Bulgarian President Rumen Radev. "We had a very intensive exchange in the field of security and defense. We decided to increase the security…