Serbia

The letter signed by 43 NGOs and media organisations, released on Friday, called on Serbia's state authorities to protect the public interest and investigate the controversy.

Key points from BIRN's investigation

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 - Civil society organizations (CSOs) overseeing the work of public institutions and the media in Serbia demanded Friday from the Republic Public Prosecutor's Office to initiate pre-investigation proceedings and check all allegations by the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN) about abuses in the Serbian government's tender for pumping water from a mine at the Kolubara coal bas

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".

BELGRADE - Serbian Defence Minister Bratislav Gasic on Friday received a farewell call from the head of the United Nations Office in Belgrade, Peter Due, noting that Serbia's cooperation with the UN has great significance for the continuation of reforms in his ministry.

BELGRADE - The German company German E-Cars has confirmed its firm intentions and readiness for strategic cooperation with the Serbian economy and investment in existing and new programs of the Serbian automotive industry.

BELGRADE - Departing Italian President Giorgio Napolitano sent a letter to Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic reading that Serbia belongs to Europe.

During its six-month presidency of the EU, Italy strongly supported Belgrade's European pathway, says the letter.

VIENNA - Ivica Dacic, the Serbian foreign minister and OSCE chairperson-in-office (CiO), talked in Vienna on Thursday with heads of the OSCE field operations and institutions about the key issues in the OSCE region in 2015, and offered support to their work.

ZVECAN - If adopted in the Kosovo assembly, the bill amending the law on public enterprises could destabilise the situation in northern Kosovo and put the implementation of the Brussels Agreement in jeopardy, Jovan Dimkic, general manager of the Mining, Metallurgical and Chemical Combine Trepca, warned on Friday.

BELGRADE - Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic thanked departing Algerian Ambassador to Serbia Abdelkader Mesdoua for making an outstanding contribution to the advancement of the Serbian-Algerian relations during more than six years of his term of office.