Liberal democracies

Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković urged fellow EU member Slovenia on Thursday to stop its diplomatic "blackmail" related to a border issue between the two ex-Yugoslav republics and return to dialogue.

Romania and Croatia face a veto from their neighbours, Hungary and Slovenia, on Friday in Paris, when the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, OECD, discusses their applications for membership.

Hungary on Wednesday said it would block Romania's membership application over the closure of a Hungarian-language Catholic school in Transylvania.

Bulgarian and Romanian electricity operators will discuss a deal on providing mutual emergency assistance to secure their energy systems. This was agreed by Minister of Energy Temenujka Petkova and her Romanian counterpart, Toma-Florin Petcu, at a meeting of the joint working group in the field of energy between the two countries held on Tuesday.

Prime Minister Ana Brnabic says that relations between Serbia and Slovenia are "good and friendly."

Slovenia is one of Serbia's largest economic partners and provides strong support to Serbia on its European path and its experience in many areas is of exceptional importance useful for Serbia, primarily in the local administration, she said late on Sunday.

French President Emmanuel Macron's gamble is very important for both France and Europe. If the French leader is successful in imposing painful but necessary reforms in his country, he will be able to play a key role in the shaping of a new European monetary fund and revive France's traditional leadership role in the European Union.

On August 31 and September 1 Bulgaria's Deputy Premier and Minister of Foreign Affairs Ekaterina Zaharieva is to pay a 2-day visit to Montenegro.

Today Deputy Premier Zaharieva will talk with that country's Foreign Minister Srdjan Darmanovic, as well as with Montenegro's Minister of Justice Zoran Pazhin.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic has called on Croatia's state leadership "to pay more attention to the position of the Serb national minority in Croatia."

Serbia must clearly show its strategic orientation towards the EU and willingness to align its foreign policy with the Union, says Lithuania's foreign minister.

"The opposite is true now - alignment with the EU's positions has been decreasing over the last five years," Linas Linkevicius has told the Belgrade daily Vecernje Novosti.

President Aleksandar Vucic on Thursday received a group of children from Croatian towns of Rijeka and Kostajnica, and from the Zadar County.

They are currently in Belgrade, attending the Sveti Sava Summer School, and learning more about the Serbian language, literature, and culture.

Serbia's Civil Aviation Directorate has announced that Air Serbia acted in line with the rules when the carrier banned an autistic boy from one of its flights.