BELGRADE (AFP) – The global economic crisis will delay a bid by Serbia to join the European Union due to EU concerns about stability, Serbian President Boris Tadic said in an interview published yesterday. “We will undoubtedly be faced with lower enthusiasm for enlargement from the EU during the economic crisis. We will have to wait,” Tadic told the Danas daily. “Europe has been hit by economic troubles and is therefore not interested in political projects that could affect the economic stability of member states,” he said. Serbia said earlier it would go ahead with plans next year to submit its candidacy to join the EU despite the crisis and lingering EU demands for assistance in finding former Bosnian Serb military chief Ratko Mladic.

BRATISLAVA (AP) – Slovak banks did brisk business as they opened on New Year’s Day for a very special occasion – issuing euros to citizens eager to get their hands on the country’s new currency. The small alpine nation on Thursday became the 16th country to adopt the European Union’s euro – a currency that also celebrated its 10th birthday this New Year’s Day. With the addition of Slovakia, the euro currency will be used by 330 million people with an annual gross domestic product of more than 4 trillion euros ($5.6 trillion). The decision by this country of 5.4 million people to join the eurozone and abandon the Slovak koruna appears even wiser now amid the global financial crisis, as other European countries have seen their currencies severely buffeted. “I congratulate Slovakia and warmly welcome all its citizens to the euro area,” said EU Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso. “The euro will help Slovakia to take part in and benefit from Europe’s collective effort to recover from the current economic crisis. But the euro is more than just money. On this historic New Year’s Day, Slovakia is a powerful symbol of economic and political progress and of European integration.”

ZAGREB (AFP) – Croatian babies born in the first hour of 2009 will be awarded a sum of 960 euros ($1,300) in a special one-off payment, a government minister announced Thursday. “It’s a symbolic amount with which we want to reaffirm that our policy on (boosting) birthrates is one of the Croatian government’s main priorities,” said Family Minister Jadranka Kosor. Croatia, home to around 4.4 million people according to a 2001 census, has seen its population decline in recent years.

Manchester United has agreed to sign Partizan Belgrade midfield duo Zoran Tosic (photo) and Adem Ljajic, the Premier League champions said yesterday. Tosic, 21 and a Serbia international, will sign with immediate effect, while an agreement is in place for 17-year-old Ljajic to remain with Partizan for the rest of 2009, United said on their website (www.manutd.com). “I could not imagine a better New Year’s present and I am at a loss for words to describe how delighted I am,” Tosic told Serbian state television. (Reuters)

Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic and former world No 1 Ana Ivanovic top the bill at the Brisbane International as the players gear up for the season’s opening Grand Slam. The Serbian duo are top seeds for the January 4-11 tournament, which replaces the Australian Men’s and Women’s Hardcourt events, at the new Queensland Tennis Center. World No 3 Djokovic won his first Grand Slam in Melbourne last year and finished 2008 in style, winning the season-ending Masters Cup. Although he is just 10 points behind world No 2 Roger Federer in the world rankings, the Serb will also be looking over his shoulder in 2009, at Britain’s rampaging Andy Murray. The Brisbane International is Djokovic’s only warmup event ahead of his Australian Open title defense later this month. (AFP)