Romania

UniCredit?s central and eastern Europe arm Bank Austria has boosted its banks? liquidity to buffer impact from Greece, the head of its eastern Europe division, Carlo Vivaldi, told Austrian newspaper Kurier.

Fifteen EU and Energy Community countries in Central Eastern Europe and Southeastern Europe agreed on Friday to join forces to speed up the creation of missing gas infrastructure links, the European Commission said.

Between January and April, Bulgarian exports to the EU increased by 12.3 % compared to the same period in 2014.

According to preliminary estimates of the National Statistical Institute (NSI), which were released on Thursday, exports in this period amounted to BGN 9.3 B.

Romania has impounded the assets of the Romanian-based Petrotel Lukoil refinery and to its majority owner, Dutch-based, Lukoil Europe BV, including its bank accounts in British and Dutch banks and premiums and shares in Petrotel Lukoil.

It is the first time that Romanian prosecutors have seized accounts held in foreign banks of companies operating in Romania.

Romania and Croatia are two of the worst governed countries in Europe according to a new study by the Bertelsmann Stiftung's Sustainable Governance Indicators project.

The platform surveyed 41 European and OECD countries in six sectors: economic, social and environmental policies, quality of democracy, executive capacity and executive accountability.

The Bulgarian men's national football team dropped six positions in the latest FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking, which was released on Thursday.

At present, Bulgaria occupies the 68th place with 489 points, being behind the team of Norway and ahead of the United Arab Emirates.

Romania's government has doubled the salaries of a number of top officials, including the President and Prime Minister, saying senior officials need to be rewarded more adequately.

Romania has decided to allocate EUR 100 M from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF)  to the SME Initiative to help the country's small businesses get better access to finance.

Romanian Prime Minister Victor Ponta will resume his activity in his capacity as prime minister from Thursday.

Ponta announced this in a written statement addressed to President Klaus Iohannis on Wednesday, saying that he was returning to office after the causes preventing him from exercising his official duties have been removed.

"Fighting corruption, strengthening institutions and economic stability are the only way to success," Romanian President Klaus Iohannis said on Tuesday following talks with Moldovan President Nicolae Timofti in the Romanian city of Suceava.

"Moldova has a great chance that we never had at the time of [EU] accession. This chance is called Romania," he added.