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As Southeast Europe returns to steady economic growth, the mergers and acquisitions (M&A) market in the region is picking up again and an increasing number of both local and foreign investors push ahead with expansion plans. Romania holds the largest share of the region's M&A market, as the value of deals struck in the country last year is estimated at $3.54 billion (3.58 million euro), according to global consultancy Ernst&Young (EY). The most active M&A sectors in the region are IT, manufacturing, and wholesale&retail.

Britain's decision to leave the European Union has unleashed volatility on the global markets, and SEE is no exception. The full impacts of the vote are still impossible to predict but for once analysts seem unanimous that the balance would be negative for most of us. However, whereas EU members in the region are mostly concerned about the economic repercussions of a potential Brexit, for candidates to join the bloc the biggest fears are that it may thwart their accession plans.

An emergency government decree that eases penalties for corruption offences has triggered the biggest street protests in Romania since the fall of Communism. Protesters see the decree as an attempt to weaken the fight against corruption and help politicians avoid criminal prosecution on graft charges. The decree prompted harsh reaction on the part of the European Commission, the embassies of Western countries in Bucharest and business organisations, including AmCham in Romania. President Klaus Iohannis has said he will challenge it at the Constitutional Court.

Feeding on an abundance of high-tech talent and financial support under European-funded programmes, the fledgling start-up ecosystem in SEE has evolved significantly over the past years, in Bulgaria, Croatia and Romania in particular. The leading accelerators in Bulgaria, LaunchHub and Eleven, alone have backed financially over 150 startups.

The eletricity market of Southeast Europe is heating up after earlier in 2016 day-ahead power exchanges were launched in Bulgaria, Croatia and Serbia, opening up new opportunities for energy producers, consumers and traders. As a step towards achieving market coupling, in April the power transmission system operators, regulators and energy ministers of six countries in the Western Balkans signed a memorandum of understanding on the integration of their day-ahead markets.

On December 11, Romania held parliamentary elections following a year of technocrat governance. Romania's left-wing Social Democrat Party (PSD), won the elections and will have 221 seats of a total of 465 in the two houses of parliament. In order to have majority and have the right to choose the new prime-minister, PSD must make a coalition or attract 11 members from the other parties that entered parliament.

Telekom Slovenie Sale

Moldova will hold its first direct presidential elections in 16 years, as in March, its Constitutional Court ruled that the president will be elected by popular vote. So far, Moldova's president was elected for a four-year term by a majority of 60% of the MPs in the 101-seat parliament. The expected fight between socialist leader Igor Dodon and pro-European candidate Maia Sandu in round two of elections once again shows Moldova at its eternal crossroad between Europe integration and the more familiar Russian alternative.

The EU’s slow and disjointed response to the massive flow of refugees and migrants from the Middle East and North Africa left Southeast Europe in an unprecedented emergency. In March Slovenia sealed its borders to migrants, triggering a domino effect further south along the so called Balkan migrant route with Croatia, Serbia and Macedonia following suit. The move led to tension on the Greek-Macedonian border where thousands remained trapped, and put Bulgaria under increased pressure from illegal migrants.