Liberal democracies

IZVORANI - The Serbian national team won a silver medal at the Youth Boys Balkan Volleyball Championship in Izvorani, after defeating the host team of Romania 3-2 (20-25, 25-12, 19-25, 25-11, 15-11) in the final round on Sunday.

Greek Development Minister Nikos Dendias has called on citizens to withdraw their assets from foreign banks and return them the country.

By accepting the offer, they will be exempted from a fine for tax evasion, Bulgarian National Radio (BNR) Thessaloniki correspondent Katya Peeva quoted Dendias as saying.

BOR - Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic and his Romanian counterpart Victor Ponta visited Bor in eastern Serbia on Thursday, where they conferred with representatives of the Romanian minority at Bor Lake.

Ponta and Vucic stated that this was a historic meeting between the two countries' prime ministers in eastern Serbia which is home to the Romanian minority.

AGERPRES special correspondent Daniel Florea reports: Romania will offer all the possible support so that the Serbian administrative apparatus can learn as fast as possible European procedures, however it is more important that the two neighboring countries develop as quickly as possible joint infrastructure projects, such as the development of a freeway or highway between Timisoa

Economies of new EU countries growing quickly

Detlef Lingemann, the German Ambassador to the Czech Republic, is the successor to outgoing Matthias Hoepfner, who represented the country in Bulgaria, reports say.

The information came from the website Dnevnik.bg, which quoted Germany's Foreign Ministry as confirming his appointment.

The Mongol Rally, the world's largest charitable rally, is this year crossing Romania, through Sibiu and Vama Veche, where the participants will be treated to two parties on July 24 and July 25, organisers report in a press release sent to Agerpres.

BELGRADE - Serbian Justice Minister Nikola Selakovic conferred on Saturday with President of the Slovenian Bishops' Conference Andrej Glavan on the position of the Roman Catholic Church in Serbia and the assistance provided by the Roman Catholic Church during the floods that devastated the country in May.

KOTOR, BELGRADE - Ivica Dacic, Serbia's first deputy prime minister and foreign minister, took part on Thursday in an Informal meeting of the Western Balkans Foreign Ministers in Kotor, Montenegro, in which improvement in cooperation and development of the region were the main topics.

Greece's population dropped from 11.06 million on January 1, 2013, to 10.99 million at the start of this year, estimates released by Eurostat on Thursday have shown.