Zlatija Labović

Croatia's Prime Minister, Andrej Plenkovic, has swiftly apologised for making a patronising and sexist answer to a female journalist after she asked a question about a scandal involving leaked inside information on police and prosecution operations.

A new draft law on the Serbian Security Agency, BIA, has been criticised for giving too much power to the agency's chief.

The law is in parliamentary procedure since Wednesday and lawmakers will shortly vote on it in a shortened procedure.

A senior official of the ruling Progressive Party, Bratislav Gasic, best known recently for making a sexist insult to a journalist, will be the next director of Serbia's Security Information Agency, the BIA.

Serbia's Prime Minister has belatedly axed his controversial defence minister, Branislav Gasic, who has been in the middle of controversy since early December when he told reporter Zlatija Labovic from TV B92, who had knelt down to get out of the way of her cameraman at a press event: "I love female journalists who get down on their knees easily."

Serbian journalists on Monday took their protest against the country's Defence Minister to the doors of the government, and, under the slogan "Journalists do not kneel", repeated their demand that Prime Minster Aleksandar Vucic sack Branislav Gasic for making a sexist remark to a reporter.

Protesters gathered in front of the Serbian government building on Monday in the latest in a series of rallies under the slogan "Journalists do not kneel" to demand that the promise to sack Gasic be fulfilled.

A group of Serbian journalists protested in front of the government building on December 21 over the fact that Defence Minister Gasic remains in his post long after Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic said he would be removed for making a sexist remark.

The Independent Association of Journalists of Serbia, NUNS, announced a protest for Monday under the slogan "Female journalists do not kneel/PM keep the promise", urging Vucic to fire Gasic immediately.

Zlatija Labovic, the B92 journalist in Serbia to whom Defence Minister Branislav Gasic made a sexist remark on Sunday, told BIRN on Thursday she had since received "sexist insults filled with hate speech and vulgar curses" on social networks.

Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic said on Monday that Gasic can no longer remain in the government after his "reckless" comment about female journalists.

"We need to protect women in Serbia. It was a bad message for all women. A minister cannot afford to say that," Vucic told reporters, adding that Gasic is his personal friend and one of his most devoted ministers.