Romania bans gambling venues in small towns and villages

The Romanian parliament passed a law banning gambling venues in towns and villages with population of less than to 15,000 residents, Digi24 reported. This is a compromise to the Social Democrats' original ambitious project banning gambling venues in all settlements. Texts stipulating that gaming halls with slot machines be moved to the outskirts of towns were also dropped, as was the ban on gambling advertisements. The opposition accused the ruling coalition of Social Democrats and National Liberals of caving in to the gambling business. "Right now we are fighting an industry that has a total turnover of EUR 10-12 billion, they have the best lawyers, specialists", said Alfred Simonis, President of the Chamber of Deputies.

President Emmanuel Macron receives Aleksandar Vucic at the Elysee Palace

"Serbia should not doubt, despite the wounds of the recent past, that its future lies in the European Union and nowhere else", French President Emmanuel Macron said after a meeting with his Serbian counterpart Aleksandar Vucic in Paris. Macron called on Belgrade and Pristina to overcome tensions following Kosovo's decision to ban transactions in Serbian dinars. ''I must say in front of the cameras. You said that both Belgrade and Pristina have done something. One side has done nothing’’, said Aleksandar Vucic at the joint press conference. After a Serbian-French business forum, Aleksandar Vucic added that Belgrade was very close to signing a contract for the delivery of 12 new French Rafale fighter jets. The possible construction of a French nuclear power plant in Serbia has also been discussed, BTA reported.

Croatia is one of the European hotspots of whooping cough

Politico identifies Croatia as a hotspot for the infectious disease pertussis or 'whooping cough'. ''The retro infection, a staple of Charles Dickens’ novels, is the latest Victorian-era ailment to stage a comeback in the West after and increase in measles, syphilis, gout, leprosy and malaria. There have been sharp rises in Croatia, Denmark, Belgium, Spain and the UK. The current European hotspot is Croatia, which reported 6,261 cases in the first two and a half months of this year. While whooping cough can be very unpleasant for adults — cracked ribs can be a side effect of the ailment known in Serbian as the “donkey cough” because of the hacking sound sufferers make — pertussis can have serious complications in babies’’, Politico writes.

Skopje lags behind in legal reforms and the fight against corruption

In its latest report ''Nations in Transit 2024'', Freedom House describes North Macedonia as a cyclical hybrid, a combination of political pluralism and superficial institutional change

''Judicial Framework and Independence rating declined from 3.25 to 3.00 due to the poor performance of the State Judicial Council and allegations of nepotism in the appointments of prosecutors and judges’’, the report reads. ''Nations in Transit'' evaluates 29 countries and points out that regional security is an excuse for many political leaders in the Western Balkans to undermine democratic institutions and disregard democratic norms

Airports in Balchik and Tuzla to check Schengen regime by air

Between 20 and 30 Romanian planes are expected to land at Balchik Airport on Saturday, April 13. The symbolic flights will mark Bulgaria and Romania's accession to the Schengen Area by air and water, announced Albena resort. The Schengen check event is organized jointly with the airport in the city of Tuzla and is intended for small aircraft pilots. On the day of the event, all services at Balchik Airport will be free of charge for pilots from Bulgaria and Romania. On April 27, Tuzla Airport will host the same event. Meanwhile, the Faculty of Architecture at Varna Free University and the Faculty of Urban Planning at the University of Architecture and Urban Planning in Bucharest have announced an international student competition for creative ideas themed "New Life for Balchik Airport", Varna University said.

Compiled by: Ivo Ivanov