Serbia’s foreign minister is looking for a Serbian minority in Bulgaria

In a Sunday show on "Pink" TV, the Foreign Minister of Serbia, Ivica Dacic, said that Sofia does not recognize national minorities in its country, but constantly reacts to the situation of the Bulgarian national minority in Serbia.

"When you tell them - and what about Serbs in Bulgaria, they say - there are no Serbs in Bulgaria. This is the same as if we say that there are no Bulgarians in Serbia and then there are no problems for the Bulgarian national minority," commented Dacic.

This is not the first such comment by the politician. In front of the RTS in 2020, he stated: "What kind of internal affairs are being talked about in the EU today. There you have some Bulgarians, who in Serbia are only 0.26% of our population. That's how many Bulgarians there are in Serbia. But at every meeting of the European Council Bulgaria raises the question of the rights of the Bulgarian national minority", BGNES recalls.‎

The EU and Turkey renew negotiations on the modernization of the customs union

The EU and Turkey are negotiating to update the customs union agreement, Bloomberg reports. The talks resumed as relations between Ankara and Brussels warmed after Turkey agreed at the NATO summit in Vilnius in July to lift its veto on Sweden's admission to the pact.

"Despite some obstacles, I have always believed that updating the customs union is achievable," said EU Budget Commissioner Johannes Hahn.

European Commissioner for Economic Affairs Paolo Gentiloni has already met on the subject twice with Turkish Finance Minister Mehmet Simsek in the last two weeks.

Meanwhile, on the orders of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Ankara banned the export of unbottled olive oil from Turkey until October 31 in order to maintain the price on the domestic market. ‎

Macedonian supporters in the US  call for recognition of the Macedonian language, culture and history

In the US Senate, Republican Mike Brown introduced a resolution declaring September as Macedonian American Heritage Month to celebrate the language, history and culture of Macedonian Americans. The chairman of the United Macedonian Diaspora, Metodija Koloski, told Skopje's ALFA TV that the purpose of the resolution was to highlight the numerous contributions over the last 150 years of Macedonian settlers in the US in areas from culture and art to politics, business, medicine, science and sports. 

The resolution states that after 1880 Macedonians moved en masse to the USA and there are already 500,000 Macedonian immigrants there. Recently, the German Bundestag passed a similar resolution that recognizes Macedonian culture, identity and language.‎

Foreign tourists on Rhodes affected by the fires will be compensated with free vacation

The Greek government, in coordination with local authorities, will offer a week's free holiday to tourists who were forced to cut short their holidays due to the devastating fires on the island of Rhodes in July. This was announced by the Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis in an interview for the British television ITV.

Tourists will be able to take advantage of the offer in the spring or autumn of 2024 and have the opportunity to visit the island again. Mitsotakis recalled that about 20,000 people were evacuated during the fire, and due to the timely actions, there were no victims or injured people.

"We have always had fires, but what has changed because of climate change is their intensity," the Greek prime minister said, noting that the fire had affected 1/5 of Rhodes, but the island was now back to normal life and that Greece is a safe country.‎

The draft law on the Croatian language was presented in Zagreb

The Ministry of Science and Education of Croatia presented a draft law on the Croatian language prepared by the government and supported by the Matica Hrvatska Institute. According to the law, language norms will be determined by a council with 14 specialists from various scientific and state institutions, hrt.hr television reported.

At the presentation at the National and University Library in Zagreb, it was explained that this is not a question of language police and no new language norm will be drawn up. The new law is not repressive and there will be no fines.

"The law is not purist, but the development of the language must be ensured in keeping with the times and other social conditions," said Education Minister Radovan Fuchs. The law is expected to be adopted in the autumn.‎