Croatia

During a visit to a Croatian coastguard ship in the Italian port of Catania on Sunday, Milanovic said that Croatia is ready to help refugees coming to the EU, describing them as "people in pursuit of a better life".

"I think these people should be given the opportunity to work, to create, to pay taxes, to contribute, since for sure they won't and shouldn't go back," he said.

After the Western Balkans summit, which took place in Vienna on August 27, it has been announced that European institutions will grant around 200 million euro for 10 transport and energy infrastructure projects in six Western Balkans countries.

EU member Croatia has angered Bosnia by making a last-minute decision to block four Bosnian EU-certified dairy producers from exporting products to the European Union.

The move shocked Bosnian officials and farmers, some of whom are threatening a trade war unless the issue is swiftly resolved.

Civil society groups at the Vienna Balkan summit have given several concrete recommendations for governments on how to resolve bilateral disputes and speed up EU integration.

The set of recommendations was presented to the summit by the European Fund for the Balkans, EFB, and the Balkans in Europe Policy Advisory Group, BiEPAG.

Zagreb County Court on Wednesday indefinitely extended custody of former Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader.

His lawyers had filed a plea for him to be released from custody lasting almost four years.

Sanader has received a nine-year jail sentence in a first instance ruling for using private marketing companies to siphon off public funds from state institutions and bodies.

Bulgaria faces the bleakest demographic prospects on a global scale over the next 35 years, according to the 2015 World Population Prospects report of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA).

In the period 2015-2050, Bulgaria's population is expected to shrink by 27.9%.

The initiative to reinstate a fascist salute as the official salute of the Croatian Armed Forces is unacceptable and is not serious.

As the refugee crisis mounts in Macedonia and Serbia, with thousands of people from Middle Eastern and African countries using them as a corridor to the EU, Bosnian officials are mulling their own capacities and options in case the crisis spills over.

High-ranked dignitaries of the Catholic Church in Croatia are among the signatories of a petition for the Croatian army to start using a fascist salute.

This has been reported by the Croatian website index.hr, which added that "persons of various profiles said it was an old Croatia salute, and don't mind at all that it was also the official salute used during the NDH."

The World Bank has recommended to Bulgaria to cut Value Added Vax (VAT) levied on medicines as the tax is too high and poses a heavier burden on the poorer patients, Sega news daily reported on Monday.