Emergence

The union of Greek industrialists (SEV) has painted a dire picture of the state of the Greek pension system, saying basically that it is running on empty, and that the country's beleaguered private sector has taken on a disproportionate share of the burden to support pensioners and the public sector.

The analyzes show that the pension system will be stable by 2040, but then reform will be needed to avoid a crisis, announced Social Minister Bisser Petkov on bTV on Monday.

A 58-year-old man has been arrested in Artemida, in eastern Attica, for collecting his dead mother's pension for 10 years.

The man, whose name has not been made public by the authorities, is estimated to have fraudulently claimed as much as 108,836 euros since the death of his mother in 2002.

Romania's Social Democrat-led government said on Friday it would cap special pensions for the military and secret services to keep spending in check, Reuters reports.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic has announced "significant salaries and pensions hikes" by the end of the year.

"Salaries will be increased on a permanent basis, pensions will be increased. So this year there will be a significant increase in salaries and a more significant increase in pensions than in previous years," Vucic told TV Pink.

A money-lending gang masterminded by a 63-year-old and including four bank executives, has been unraveled by Greek police, reports said Thursday.

Over the last few months several major enterprises in Greece have drawn about 1 billion euros through the sale of corporate bonds and a large part of that was covered by money from mattresses and safe deposit boxes, according to credit sector sources.

Bulgaria's Parliament voted to approve on 28th of June to increase the minimum retirement pension to BGN 180 (EUR 90) per month as of 1st of July and to BGN 200 (EUR 100) as of 1st of October 2017.

The decision was adopted unanimously at second reading, with 202 MPs voting in favour, no one voting against or abstained.

The Bank of Greece has called on commercial lenders' managers to display more resolve and progress on the crucial front of nonperforming loans, as figures for the first quarter of the year were far from encouraging.

Greek banks made progress in their fight to cut their exposure to doubtful and nonperforming loans in the first quarter, data from the country's central bank showed on Tuesday.