Parliament in Serbia dissolved, early election called

Serbia’s President Aleksandar Vucic has dissolved the Narodna Skupstina, the parliament of Serbia, and has called an election for parliament on 17 December, Serbian national TV RTS reports. Parliamentary speaker Vladimir Orlic scheduled local elections on 17 December in around 60 towns and villages on the territory of Serbia, after several mayors of towns and municipalities, including the mayor of Belgrade Aleksandar Sapic submitted their resignations. The snap election for parliament in Serbia comes after 6 months of massive protests in Begrade and elsewhere, triggered by two mass shootings in May in which a total of 17 people were killed. At the latest parliamentary election in Serbia in April 2022, the biggest number of votes was won by Aleksandar Vucic’s Serbian Progressive Party which held 120 of the total of 240 seats in parliament.

Hefty fines in Greece for two transnational companies

The Greek Ministry of Development imposed fines running to a total of EUR 2 million on the Greek branches of the transnational companies Unilever and Procter and Gamble for illegal profits, the Bulgarian news agency BTA reports. Each of the two companies will have to pay EUR 1 million for violating the law on income support for employees, youth, families and labour which came into effect in July this year. The law prohibits contractors from selling, until the end of 2023, a number of essential goods with a percentage of the profit exceeding the percentage they had as of 31 December, 2021. In connection with this decision, Greece’s Development Minister Kostas Skrekas stated: “We have stated clearly, in every way and direction, that no one is above the law. Coping with inflation, and especially the inflation of greed, is most of all a matter of national responsibility.”

US State Secretary Blinken to pay a visit to Ankara with a focus on Gaza

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is to visit Ankara on 5 November, TRT reports. He is expected to discuss the situation in Gaza with Turkey’s Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan. In a telephone conversation ahead of the visit, Minister Fidan stated that “it is unacceptable to attack the inhabitants of Gaza indiscriminately and brutally.” “We do not want the human tragedy in Gaza to turn into a war that will affect the countries of the region,” the Turkish foreign minister said at a press conference after Egypt opened its border with the Gaza Strip for the evacuation of foreign citizens and the wounded.

The saga with the re-registration of Serbian license plates in Kosovo continues

The government of Kosovo has extended the deadline, until 1 December, for the re-registration of vehicles with Serbian license plates to new Republic of Kosovo (RKS) plates, the Bulgarian news agency BTA reports. After the deadline expires, vehicles with Serbian license plates belonging to citizens of Kosovo will not be allowed to enter or drive inside and across the territory of the Republic of Kosovo. The question of the license plates was one of the principal causes of the tension in the relations between Belgrade and Pristina in 2022. Serbia and the Kosovo Serbs do not recognize the independence of Kosovo, declared in 2008, which Serbia still regards as a Serbian province.

EUR 1 billion green energy project to be developed in Albania

A large-scale hybrid wind and solar project, worth over EUR 1 billion, is to be developed in Albania by renewable energy project developer CWP Europe and GE Vernova, the Albanian Post reports. The output of the hybrid renewable energy power plant is expected to cover around 75% of the electric energy consumption of all Albanian households, and to create 1,500 jobs.  

The initiative appears to be at an early stage, with the developers yet to obtain all necessary project permits and conduct an environmental and social impact assessment, Renewables Now writes.

Compiled by Miglena Ivanova

Translated and posted by Milena Daynova

Photos: BGNES, Unilever, Procter and Gamble, CWP Europe