Democracy

Despite a rise of 2.2 percentage points in two months, New Democracy trailed SYRIZA in Marc opinion poll published in Eleftherotypia newspaper on Saturday.

The survey for May’s European Parliament elections put the leftists in the lead on 21.8 percent, virtually unchanged from February, and New Democracy in second on 19.7 percent.

New Democracy’s candidate for Athens mayor, Aris Spiliotopoulos, on Friday hit back at criticism from leftist parties over his pledge that he will hold a referendum on building a mosque in the Greek capital should he win May’s municipal election.

The center-right needs a clear ideological identity. Political instability and the absence of an organized center-left have left it with the task of representing the people who believe in true democracy as well as Greece’s future in the European family.

There will be no referendum on election rules in Bulgaria alongside the May 25 European Parliament elections.

More than 300,000 signatures have been collected in favour of a referendum on Bulgaria's election rules and procedures.

Estimates from Tuesday morning claim the number has even reached 350,000, according to Bulgarian news agency Mediapool, which cites sources from the referendum's initiative committee.

BELGRADE - The civil society in Serbia has to claim the role which societies have in well-developed democracies - the role of government work supervisor and instigator of democratic processes, participants concluded at the Thursday conference on the strategy for sustainable development of the civil sector.