Political parties

Prime Minister Viorica Dancila said on Tuesday that Romania should follow the example of the other EU member states and seek consensus for the time it holds the presidency of the Council of the European Union in the first half of 2019, stressing that political disputes should be secondary to that.

National Liberal Party (PNL) chairman Ludovic Orban said on Monday that his party will table a censure motion if it is sure there will be enough parliamentarians of the power to vote for it, so that the motion should have chances to be passed.

Republican People's Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu and İYİ (Good) Party leader Meral Akşener celebrated the founding of the Turkish Republic at the official ceremony in Anıtkabir, however, did not participate in the rest of the program at the presidential palace and the reception held in Istanbul.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has told leaders of her party that she will not seek re-election as chairwoman at a conference in early December, a senior senior party source said.

Despite stepping down from her role as chairwoman of the Christian Democrats, Merkel maintains that she will remain as chancellor. 

The Criminal Court in Skopje confirmed on Friday that it has handed a 'referral act' to ex-premier Nikola Gruevski, saying he should start serving his jail sentence at the prison in Shuto Orizari, near Skopje, on November 8 at the latest.

Following a rift with the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) has lent support to opposition parties in parliament in a rare move over a motion to establish a parliamentary committee on the issue of early retirement in Turkey.

The Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) has announced it will not ally with the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) for the March 2019 municipal elections amid a growing row between the two parties over a debate on "nationalism" and a proposed amnesty law, signaling an end to the "People's Alliance" they had formed earlier in 2018.

Zagreb County Court on Monday convicted former Prime Minister Ivo Sanader of war profiteering for accepting an unlawful payment of 3.6 million kunas (around 485,000 euros) during talks between Austria's Hypo Bank and the Croatian government.

The talks took place during the war, between late 1994 and March 1995, when Sanader was Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs.

The number of political parties represented in Turkish Parliament has risen to nine.

A vineyard owner in Bosnia and Herzegovina is selling bottles of wine labelled with a picture of Croatian WWII-era fascist Ustasa leader Ante Pavelic.