United Nations

KOPAONIK - Serbia has to accelerate the realisation of infrastructure projects because as many as EUR 3.5 billion allocated to the country for these projects have not been used, Director of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) in Serbia Matteo Patrone stated on Thursday.

IMF official: Government agreed to hike electricity price

KOPAONIK -- Serbia's new precautionary arrangement with the IMF means that the country has agreed to raise the electricity price by 15 percent on April 1.

This was announced by IMF's Resident Representative for Serbia Daehaeng Kim.

KOPAONIK - IMF's Resident Representative for Serbia Daehaeng Kim said on Wednesday the new precautionary arrangement the IMF had signed with Serbia meant that Serbia had agreed to raise the electricity price by 15 percent on April 1.

Prime Minister Victor Ponta on Tuesday evening said that he doesn't rule out a new agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), pointing out that the body which must endorse Romania's development is the European Commission.

Photo credit: LIVIU SOVA / AGERPRES STREAM

Lavrov questions impartiality of OSCE regarding media

GENEVA -- The international community should pay special attention to media freedom in Ukraine, while the OSCE has a biased attitude about it, Sergei Lavrov has said.

BELGRADE - OSCE Chairperson-in-office and Serbian Minister of Foreign Affairs Ivica Dacic will confer with the ambassadors of the OSCE Troika, which aside from Serbia includes Switzerland and Germany, in Vienna on Friday.

By Sotiris Nikas

The possibility of Greece postponing the repayment of any debt tranches to the International Monetary Fund is seen as ?exceptionally complicated? with ?many obstacles,? according to officials familiar with the subject. They stress that such a move would constitute a ?clear default,? with consequences for a large number of other loans Greece has received.

Prime Minister Edi Rama announced the appointment of the Argentinean economist on Thursday on Twitter.  

"The famous economist Mario Blejer, who served as director of monetary policy in the Bank of England, will be an advisor to our governor," Rama wrote.

Jazz musicians from around the world will gather this April in Paris for International Jazz Day, an event UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador Herbie Hancock hopes will bring an uplifting "positive message" to a city still reeling from last month's terrorist attacks.

Former Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou appeared before a special court on Wednesday on charges of tampering with a document and attempted breach of trust in connection with his handling of the so-called Lagarde list of Greeks with Swiss bank accounts.

?I am innocent,? Papaconstantinou told the court. ?I categorically deny all the charges.?