Liberal democracies

VIENNA - The ties between Austria and Serbia are better than ever and can only be expected to become stronger, Serbian Foreign Minister Ivan Mrkic has said.

"In many areas our cooperation has been exemplary," Mrkic told Tanjug on Thursday after a Serbian delegation headed by President Tomislav Nikolic ended the first day of its official visit to Vienna.

Bulgarian pensioners become more frequent visitors to Greek islands for Easter. 

A survey of Bulgaria's Darik national radio among tourist agencies found that this spring Greece and Turkey are more preferred by Bulgarians above middle age. 

Bulgaria had the lowest hourly labor costs in the EU in 2013, yet it was the country to register the highest increase in the segment since 2008, according to Eurostat.

According to Eurostat data, in 2013 Bulgaria registered the lowest hourly labor costs among EU member states, at EUR 3.7, followed by Romania with EUR 4.6.

Croatia "won't use bilateral issues" against Serbia

BELGRADE -- Croatia "will not use bilateral issues to impose conditions" on Serbia during the country’s negotiations on EU membership, Gordan Markotić has said.

Croatia's ambassador to Serbia explained that these issues "include border demarcation on the Danube and mutual genocide charges."

Contrary to popular belief, the “salary in an envelope” is a thing of the past in Bulgaria, shows a recent Eurobarometer survey on “undeclared labour”. 

"Serbia's stance should be close to that of EU"

BELGRADE -- European Parliament Rapporteur for Serbia Jelko Kacin says Serbia is expected to take a similar stance towards Ukraine as the European Union.

Bulgaria is last but one in the European Union by citizens' trust in the independence of the judiciary, according to the 2014 EU Justice Scoreboard.

Members of the Hungarian government on Saturday voiced support for territorial autonomy for ethnic Hungarians in Romania, a day after Bucharest unexpectedly imposed an unprecedented entry ban on several Hungarian nationals accused of being extremists.

Croatia and Serbia will look to the future, officials say

BELGRADE – Serbia’s First Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic said Sunday that Serbia has more serious and stronger legal arguments than Croatia in the current genocide case before the International Court of Justice (ICJ), but pointed out that Serbia does not want to damage relations with anybody.