After Slovenia introduced measures to reduce pressure on the mid-term sustainability of the pension system, the European Commission is calling for a reform that would guarantee sustainability after 2020. Trade unions are warning that even an announcement of a new reform could trigger a wave of new retirements. Vice-President of the European Commission Valdis Dombrovskis, in charge of the euro and social dialogue, said, as he visited Ljubljana on Friday, that the reform should build on intergenerational solidarity. Given the demographic changes, the issue needs to be addressed, he said. ‘The longer you delay with a solution, the harder it will get,’ he pointed out. The effects of the 2012 pension system reform are positive and a bill creating a demographic fund is expected to be passed soon, the Commission said. But the Commission believes additional reforms will be needed to ensure long-term sustainability of the system.
Foreign Christian mission presence has plateaued but more workers could be utilised for both evangelism/church planting and training. The Apostolic Church now sends Slovak missionaries cross-culturally. Pray that mission agencies and local churches cooperate to the best effect, with joy and humility. Ask the Lord to burden Slovaks for world evangelisation. Hungarians make up more than 10% of the population. Tensions persist over minority rights and language use; pray for fair and just solutions. A Hungarian-specific political party enjoys strong support from this community. Most Hungarians are Catholic, but with a number of Reformed congregations and a few evangelical groups. Pray that Hungarian Christians may be mobilised to reach their kin in Slovakia. The Romani (Gypsies) are misunderstood and marginalised and suffer from low education and a high level of poverty - but they are the most responsive people to the gospel in all Central and Eastern Europe.
Serbian prime minister Aleksandar Vucic told VOA that his country is ready to accept US calls to reduce dependency on Russian gas. During an interview in Washington, Vucic said Serbia wants to add alternative energy sources and pipelines that would bring gas to the country through Hungary and Croatia. Vucic was on his first official visit to the United States as Serbia's leader, during which he met with US officials. He said, ‘The officials I met want to encourage the EU to open association talks with Serbia. Our better mutual understanding with the US will help us to get into the EU faster. Washington is a destination of extraordinary importance for us.’ Vucic, a former pro-Russian nationalist who has become a pro-EU advocate, has promised painful reforms to help Serbia's economy, which has been ravaged by wars and international sanctions.
Citizens of the Republic of San Marino, police and foreign residents have been heavily involved in an operation called 'Titan' on the Adriatic coast to stamp out drugs counterfeit money-laundering and prostitution. Some 100 agents with dogs and a police helicopter targeted a well-known local seafront in Rimini. They focused on drug dealing and dubious business practices of a popular night club, for which measures will be taken to close it down.They seized cocaine and 23,000 counterfeit euro notes. The squad of Rimini has performed 29 similar precautionary measures against many people belonging to a criminal organisation dedicated to drug dealing on the Adriatic Riviera. The operation came at the end of a year-long investigation. The operation was called 'Titan' because of the location where the first drug dealer was identified.
Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu on Monday ordered the speeding up of construction of military and civilian infrastructure on a chain of islands in the Pacific Ocean where Moscow and Tokyo have rival territorial claims. Dispute over the islands, known as the Kuriles in Russia and the Northern Territories in Japan, has strained relations between the two countries since World War Two, when Soviet forces occupied four islands at the southern end of the chain. Shoigu was speaking in Russia's Far East city of Vladivostok while inspecting the eastern military district, his ministry said in a statement. It did not provide more detail. Moscow has angered Tokyo in recent years by having state officials visit the island chain and stepping up military activities there. Japan says the islands are part of its territory and wants Moscow to hand them over.
Romania's parliament has refused to lift prime minister Victor Ponta's immunity from prosecution after he was questioned by Romania's powerful DNA anti-corruption agency last Friday on suspicion of forgery, tax evasion and money laundering. Mr Ponta, who has come under pressure to resign, said he would stay on to prevent a protracted political crisis. Anti-corruption officials are looking at his work between 2007 and 2011. Parliament is dominated by Mr Ponta's centre-left coalition, so Tuesday's vote to block prosecution was unsurprising. It has been investigating allegations that Mr Ponta used forged invoices from a law firm, Sova and Associates, to buy two luxury apartments and a Mitsubishi Lancer car. The Social Democrat prime minister, in office since 2012, has denied any wrongdoing and says his government will survive a no-confidence vote in parliament due on Friday 19 June. President Klaus Iohannis said he regretted that parliament was obstructing justice and acting as a shield for the prime minister ‘in contempt’ of the Romanian population.
A new study has found that more than 40 percent of Portuguese doctors claim that a lack of material interferes with their work, and the majority believe their national health service cannot take any more cuts without compromising the quality of care it provides. The survey, carried out by a Lisbon University at the request of the Doctors’ Register, indicates that almost 60% of health centre workers and 44%of professionals in public hospitals have noticed a lack of basic materials such as paper, gloves or needles. Over 3,000 doctors filled out the questionnaire developed for the survey.
On Thursday 11 June former Florida Governor Jeb Bush met Poland’s newly elected president in Warsaw. Andrzej Duda, who won a Tea Party-like victory against the Polish establishment last month, had an informal meeting with Bush in the afternoon. Bush, who represents the Republican establishment in the wide-open race for the party's US presidential nomination, met him at the beginning of a five-day tour through Europe. All three countries Bush is visiting have thriving economies, and he is expected to use the trip to highlight pro-growth policies in Europe while trying to make a connection to his own campaign, in which he has called for 4% annual growth in the US. There will also be obvious defence policy implications. All three countries have been among Ukraine’s strongest supporters amid the country’s conflict with Russia. Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko said earlier this month that 7,000 civilians have died since the fighting started in April 2014.