Legislators

Authorities are considering postponing the beginning of office hours in a bid to reduce crowding on public transport in the coming weeks when restrictions imposed to curb the spread of the coronavirus are to be lifted, Transport Minister Kostas A. Karamanlis has said.

Several countries have announced this week that they will start to gradually lift some of the measures they introduced to curb the COVID-19 pandemic, but slowly and in stages.

The US embassy in Chisinau announced on Thursday evening that procedures to send Vlad Plahotniuc back to Moldova have already been launched but that he cannot be deported quickly.

Croatia

Alemka Markotic, head of the Fran Mihaljevic Infectious Diseases Hospital in the Croatian capital Zagreb. Photo: Courtesy of N1

Migration Policy Minister Notis Mitarakis and European Commissioner for Home Affairs Ylva Johansson on Thursday jointly announced the establishment of a European Union-backed program for the repatriation of 5,000 migrants from Greece. 

Three of the four people detained on Monday in connection with an attack on the Konstantinos Mitsotakis Foundation in Athens in January were arrested Tuesday and charged with being members of an anarchist group that has claimed responsibility for a series of arson attacks against targets around the capital and assaults on riot police since the beginning of the year.

The Croatian Prime Minister on Thursday confirmed that he had accepted the resignation of Chief State Prosecutor Drazen Jelenic, who quit on Wednesday, after admitting he belonged to a masonic lodge.

Croatia's Chief State Attorney, Drazen Jelenic, resigned on Wednesday after local media revealed that he is a member of the Freemasonry organization.

According to an MIA correspondent, the prosecutor resigned after a conversation he had with Justice Minister Drazen Bosnjakovic and after Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic's call to step down or otherwise be fired.

Prime Minister Ludovic Orban stressed, in Munich, the full legitimacy of Romania's aspirations for joining the Schengen area, given that our country has long met the technical criteria in this regard. The Romanian prime minister participated as a guest of honor on Sunday in the panel discussion "Eurovision Contest: A Europe That Protects", within the Munich Security Conference.

The government will need to secure positive reports from its creditors on the reforms front in the next assessments and see the economy keep advancing if it wants a favorable response to its requests, such as a reduction in the primary surplus targets and the use of SMP and ANFA proceeds for investments, according to European Commissioner for the Economy Paolo Gentiloni's talks on Thursday with