Tuesday, June 7th

Romanian President Klaus Iohannis is visiting Luxembourg

Romanian President Klaus Iohannis is in Luxembourg for an official visit. Mr. Iohannis is expected to attend an official event at the Grand Duchy’s Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday. The president’s agenda also includes a meeting with Romanian students at the Luxembourg University and a visit to the Belval Center of urban planning. In the last day of his visit to the Duchy, Mr. Johannis is also expected to meet Luxembourg’s Prime Minister Xavier Bettel at a joint press conference.

Complaints concerning alleged irregularities in local elections

Hundreds of complaints concerning alleged irregularities during Romania’s local elections on Sunday are being checked, the country’s Prosecutor General Augustin Lazăr said in a statement on Tuesday. „There are some 245 complaints and they should be checked most carefully. The complaints refer to alleged multiple voting and other errors as pointed out by our computers. There are also some 137 irregularities reported by the police currently under investigation. Preventive measures have been taken against 10 people. Judicial bodies are expected to check every single detail in order to adopt the measures required”, Mr. Lazăr said. Romania’s leftist Social Democrats of the PSD won the most votes in the countrywide local elections last Sunday. The elections were marked by low turnout as dozens of candidates were subject to graft investigations.

Romanian Parliament resumes sessions

Romania’s Parliament has resumed its sessions on Tuesday after a three-week break for election reasons. The parliament’s lower house, the Chamber of Deputies, is expected to rule on provisions previously delayed due to lack of quorum. Such provisions include among others a bill allowing local authorities to grant monthly incentives to medical staff. The Romanian lawmakers are also expected to have their say on the fate of the House’s Speaker Valeriu Zgonea who could be removed at the request of the leftist Social Democratic Party (PSD). A request put forward by the country’s anti-corruption watchdog, the DNA, will be also under debate. The DNA called on parliament to allow the prosecution of Titus Corlăţean, a former foreign minister currrently accused of preventing Romanians living abroad from voting in the presidential elections of 2014.

NATO begins „Anaconda”, its largest war game in Poland since Cold War

„Anaconda”, NATO’s largest war game in Eastern Europe begins in Poland on Tuesday. The ten-day military exercise will involve 31,000 troops and thousands of vehicles from 24 countries including 19 NATO member states and five of its associate countries such as Ukraine. It also represents the biggest movement of foreign allied troops in Poland in peace time. An airdrop of more than 1,000 parachutists will be held over the northern Polish city of Torun, a town established centuries ago by the famous Teutonic Knights who served as a crusading military order for protection of Christians in the Holy Land and the Baltics during the Middle Ages.

Alexandru Danga