Member states of the Union for the Mediterranean

Ahead of an important German-hosted meeting in Berlin on Thursday, the Prime Ministers of Croatia, Albania, Bosnia and Montenegro met on Monday in Cavtat, Croatia, to discuss the planned construction of an Adriatic-Ionian highway.

The highway will connect Central and Western Europe with Greece through the Western Balkans, running down the coast.

Bosnia's Council of Ministers - the government - was due to ratify a draft agreement on the border with Montenegro on Thursday.

Bosnia's Minister of Civil Affairs, Sredoje Novic, confirmed that all activities towards reaching an agreement on the border between the two neighbours were now finished.

Children at Greek primary schools are to receive training on driver etiquette and road safety from this year, the Education Ministry has announced.

The lessons will be offered to children in the 3rd and 4th grades, said Deputy Education Minister Alexandros Dermetzopoulos. They will include visual material and practical teaching that will take place in schoolyards.

Montenegro is to sign a cross-regional declaration with Bosnia, Croatia and Serbia, committing the country to finding the bodies of 61 people still missing since the 1990s wars.

The editorial team of the only Albanian newspaper in Montenegro, Koha Javore, are calling on parliament and ethnic Albanian parties to keep it alive.

The problem facing the weekly Koha Javore is that it is part of the bankrupt state-owned Pobjeda company, which is millions in debt and facing closure or sale.

By Yiannis Papadoyiannis

The European Commission’s restructuring plans for Greek banks provide for a drastic scaling back of their activities abroad as well as reductions in the number of branches and staff at home.

The plans for banks National (NBG) and Piraeus were given the green light late last month, following those for Alpha in early July and Eurobank in April.

BELGRADE - Serbian police arrested Petar Ladjevic, a Serb refugee now living in Brcko, Bosnia-Herzegovina, at the border crossing with BiH on an international warrant for an alleged war crime, President of the Coalition of Refugee Associations in Serbia Miodrag Linta said on Friday.

Last week American television journalist Charlie Rose hosted former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. When answering Rose’s question on Israel-Palestine, Clinton said: “Turkey is the principal interlocutor that I would look to.”

A survey of the German statistics service found that the vacation of the Germans in Bulgaria is by 52% cheaper than in their country. 

Second cheapest are Hungary and Romania – Germans there would pay by an average of 43% less for hotels and restaurants.

Poland is also cheaper – by 23%.

Region enjoying profits and growth from tourism