Czech Republic

ARANDJELOVAC - Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic announced on Thursday Czech PM Petr Fiala would visit Serbia soon, and noted that he expected even greater Czech involvement in infrastructure projects in Serbia.

Vucic said this during a tour of a new plant of non-alcoholic beverages producer Knjaz Milos in Arandjelovac, central Serbia.

Bulgaria remains the EU's poorest country, with a minimum wage that feels out of reach compared to central European standards, according to Dariknews.bg. While a minimum wage above 1,500 euros may seem unrealistic for many Bulgarians, in the heart of Europe, these figures are quite common.

European Commissioner for Internal Affairs Ylva Johansson addressed the European Parliament in Strasbourg, urging the abolition of land border controls for Bulgaria and Romania by the end of 2024. She emphasized that both countries had fulfilled all necessary requirements to join the Schengen area, highlighting the importance of free movement for EU citizens.

Rescue teams from Bosnia's neighbors and European Union countries on Monday were joining efforts to clear the rubble and find people still missing from floods and landslides that devastated parts of the Balkan country.

In Bulgaria, purchasing a 100 sq.m. apartment requires the equivalent of 199 monthly salaries, according to a recent study that compares real estate prices across 62 countries against average local wages. The report by BestBrokers.com identifies Denmark as the most affordable country in Europe for homebuyers relative to average income, where the average cost of a 100 sq.m.

Antalya, Türkiye's major holiday destination on the Mediterranean coast, has hosted a record 14 million tourists in the first nine months of 2024.

This marked an 8 percent increase from a year ago and an all-time high figure for the January-September period, according to a statement from the Culture and Tourism Ministry.

Since late 2022, Bulgaria and Romania have been primarily focused on Austria regarding their inclusion in the Schengen Agreement. This agreement, initiated in 1985, allows for border-free travel across Europe. However, Austria's unexpected veto halted the EU's plan to incorporate both countries into the Schengen zone.

The black box from the crashed L-39 "Albatros" has been successfully read, with the data sent to the aircraft's manufacturer in the Czech Republic for analysis. Initial findings suggest that the likely cause of the crash was a flight at an extremely low altitude prior to a vertical ascent, as reported by BNT.

Research by the international rating agency Moody's reveals that the Czech Republic, which accounts for just 2.4% of the EU's population, hosts over a quarter of the approximately 46,000 companies linked to Russia operating across the 27 EU member states. Bulgaria ranks second, with 9,500 Russian-connected companies, while Germany follows in third place with 4,200 such firms.

If the energy crisis was a nightmare, the spike in energy prices, since July, seems like a rude awakening back to the nightmare reality: while in winter prices – due to high demand for heating – are high across Europe, in the summer when Eastern Europe is hit by cold weather (and increases consumption by at least 40%) prices (re)rise locally.