Croatia

BELGRADE - Chairman of the Serbian Parliament's Committee on the Diaspora and Serbs in the Region Janko Veselinovic said Saturday that a recent statement by the newly elected Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic, in which she said that all Serbs in Croatia were Croats, was dangerous.

BELGRADE - President of the Coalition of Refugee Associations Miodrag Linta condemned on Friday in the strongest terms the "provocative and chauvinistic" statement by the newly-elected President of Croatia Kolinda Grabar Kitarovic that she considers all citizens of Croatia to be Croats.

BELGRADE - Nebojsa Stefanovic, vice-president of the ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS), qualified on Friday as scandalous the statement by the newly-elected President of Croatia Kolinda Grabar Kitarovic that all Serbs in Croatia are Croats.

During the election campaign, Grabar Kitarovic addressed all citizens of Croatia as "Croats".

Croatian president "hopes to see Nikolic in Zagreb"

ZAGREB -- Croatia's new president has said she wishes that Serbia "takes the road toward EU membership," and also "hopes to see the Serbian president in Zagreb."

During an exclusive interview for the BHT1 broadcaster, Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic also opined that Serbia "should take the step and recognize Kosovo."

BRUSSELS - Croatia's newly elected president Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic has said that she will invite Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic to her inauguration in Zagreb.

"It will be a good opportunity to settle some issues between our two countries," Grabar-Kitarovic told reporters in Brussels after filing her resignation to her position at NATO's headquarters on Thursday.

A leap sudden leap in the value of the Swiss franc in relation to the euro has caused a knock-on effect Croatia, bringing bad news to Croats holding loans in the Swiss currency.

During a single day the franc rose by 15.8 per cent in relation to the kuna.

The kuna is linked to the euro, to which the Croatian national bank, HNB, tries to keep the kuna pegged.

Number of asylum seekers increases in December

BELGRADE -- Last year, about 16,500 people "had the intention to seek asylum in Serbia," and December saw a drastic increase in their number.

3,400 people requested asylum that month, heard a conference organized by the Serbian Commissariat for Refugees and Migration in Belgrade on Thursday.

Bulgarian farmers will get EUR 7 B in EU direct payments by 2020, according to Deputy Prime Minister Tomislav Donchev

BELGRADE- Last year, about 16,500 people had the intention to seek asylum in Serbia, and December saw a drastic increase in the number of asylum seekers, with 3,400 people requesting asylum that month, it was said at a conference organized by the Serbian Commissariat for Refugees and Migration in Belgrade on Thursday.

Croatia's cenre-left Prime Minister, Zoran Milanovic, belatedly congratulated the newly elected Croatian President, Kolinda Grabar Kitarovic - after a fashion - on Thursday.

"We want to once more express our gratitude to the former President, Ivo Josipovic, who in our opinion served with honour and as a role model as Croatian President," he said.