The Balkans Today

The Zagreb Commercial Court initiated the process of the extraordinary management of Croatia’s biggest private company, Agrokor - currently going through a financial crisis - effectively ending any possibility of the company going bankrupt during the next year.

This period can also be prolonged for an extra three months.

Additionally, the court confirmed experienced business figure Ante Ramljak as the extraordinary manager of the company during the process.

 

 

 

Croatian financial agency, FINA, confirmed on Monday that the accounts of troubled private company Agrokor and its subsidiaries have been unblocked.

Additionally, the regional N1 network claims that Agrokor's creditors are willing to lend the company an additional 700 million euros in multiple instalments over the next month in order to secure normal functioning of the company.

 

 

A statue of former US President Ronald Reagan could be built in the centre of the Romanian capital under a plan announced by the Bucharest Municipality on Sunday.

 

Bucharest mayor Gabriela Firea said that they want to erect a statue of the ex-president “because he represents a symbol of democracy, of the fight against communism, of respect for human rights, freedom of the press but also of capitalism,” according to a press release sent on Sunday.

 

Reagan was the 40th President of the United States and due to his hardline politics towards the Soviet Union during the Cold War, he had a decisive contribution to the fall of communism in Eastern Europe, the municipality said.

 

The Independent Association of Journalists of Serbia, NUNS, and the Independent Journalists' Association of Vojvodina, NDNV, condemned on Monday the threats made against Serbian TV journalist and presenter Tatjana Vojtehovski, and urged police to immediately take all actions to determine who is behind the threatening messages.

 

In a joint press release, the two journalists’ association said that handwritten messages addressed to Vojtehovski were found on a tree in Belgrade, with the notes reading: "How much [Macedonia’s opposition Social Democrats leader Zoran] Zaev and [Kosovo President Hashim] Thaci are paying to you to tear down the wall with Serbian martyrs?" and "Ustasha's [Croatian WWII fascist unit] bastards I will shoot behind the first corner!"

 

Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic said on Tuesday that the peaceful atmosphere at the anti-Vucic protests held nightly in several Serbian cities and towns since the April 2 presidential elections is a good thing, and noted that there are a broad mix of people at the demonstrations.

 

Nikolic told Kurir daily that among those who are protesting, people are doing so “because of unemployment, someone [else] because [he or she] is not paid, someone because their candidate didn't win, someone because [he or she] is young, full of resistance and rebellion.”

 

He called for people’s right to protest to be respected, as well as the constitution, adding that Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic won the elections and "no protests can't threaten the victory".

Members of Nezavisnost, one of the biggest umbrella trade unions in Serbia, called for the resignation of two of the editors of Serbia’s national broadcaster, RTS, because of how the media outlet is reporting on the anti-government protests that have swept Serbia since the April 2 presidential election.

 

Aside from demanding that editors Nenad Lj.Stefanovic and Sasa Brbulovic step down, the union asked in its press release on Tuesday for the media and ethical code to be respected, and for RTS to sign a legally binding obligation to report objectively and truthfully.

Serbian tabloids Informer and the Serbian Telegraph accused the opposition on Wednesday of planning violence and the burning of institutions in the country.

 

Informer’s front page article claimed that the opposition is planning violence "before Easter", and added that Vucic’s rivals in the presidential candidates on April 2, Sasa Jankovic, Vuk Jeremic and Bosko Obradovic, are planning to radicalise the anti-government protests being held nightly in towns and cities across Serbia.

 

"They want to cause fights and more massive demonstrations before Easter," Informer wrote in its Wednesday edition.

 

Meanwhile, the Serbian Telegraph accused a senior official from the opposition Democratic Party, Goran Jesic, of calling for the burning of parliament – claims that Jesic immediately dismissed on his Twitter account.