Liberal democracies

BELGRADE - Montenegro's Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic said on Tuesday the accusations from the Belgrade press that he intended to place the Serbian media under his control were not directed against him, but against Serbia's Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic, and Vucic responded that the Serbian government was stronger than those who wished to topple it.

BELGRADE - Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic and his Slovenian counterpart Alenka Bratusek have signed a letter of intent between the two governments on cooperation in the protection against natural and other disasters.

After the signing of the document in Belgrade on Tuesday, Vucic said that it provided a legal basis for disaster management activities.

Bulgaria ranks 46th in the world in terms of business environment for the period 2014-2018, surpassing Romania and Italy, according to the Economist Intelligence Unit.

Bulgaria has moved one spot ahead compared to the previous ranking for the period 2009-2013, BGNES reports.

Bulgaria had the second-lowest tax burden in the EU, Eurostat data has shown.

The country was second only to Lithuania, but had the lowest income levy in within the bloc with its 10-percent flat rate, the Bulgarian National Radio reports citing the European statistical body.

Remittances again registered an increase in 2013, with Romanians sending home 4.2 billion euro last year, according to data from the National Bank.

The rise is believed to signify that many Romanian emigrants to countries like Italy and Germany have again started to find stable employment after the worst of the financial crisis.

BECICI - Head of the Serbian team for the accession talks with the EU Tanja Miscevic has said that the screening regarding chapter 23, which refers to the judiciary and basic rights and will probably be the starting point of the talks next year, can be expected in late June or early July, and that the Serbian team is already working on a plan for that chapter.

BELGRADE - Danube Competence Center (DCC) representatives presented on Friday the winning projects in a competition titled "Tourism and Biodiversity" aimed at making the best use of the biodiversity potential in the tourist offer of the Middle and Lower Danube River basin.

BELGRADE - Head of the Delegate Office of German Industry and Commerce for Serbia Martin Knapp invited German investors on Friday to invest in Serbia, adding that the country had the potential to be in the same category as Hungary, the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovenia.

The Delegate Office of German Industry and Commerce for Serbia will help them in that, he told Tanjug.

Nearly half a million vehicles have run along Danube Bridge 2 connecting Bulgaria's north-western city of Vidin to Romania's Calafat since its launch on June 14, 2013.

The heaviest traffic is recorded in July, August and September, Vladimir Andreev, CEO of the company operating the facility, told Bulgarian Telegraph Agency.

 WEF report highlights barriers to improving business environment, notes high numbers of scientists, students

By Dimitra Manifava