Marian Lupu invited to Strasbourg

Moldova's acting President and concurrently Speaker Marian Lupu will travel on an official visit to Strasbourg Wednesday, March 2, on the invitation or Council of Europe's Secretary General Thorbjørn Jagland. Marian Lupu told reporters earlier on Wednesday he was going to have a number of meetings with CoE leadership members and officials from CoE's Parliamentary Assembly. Discussions will focus on the need for reform in the areas of justice and human rights. Other issues to be discussed include Moldova's efforts to harmonize its laws with the Community acquis, the completion of CoE's monitoring proceedings in respect of Moldova and the initiation of post-monitoring dialogue. Marian Lupu will meet in particular with Gianni Buquicchio, President of the Venice Commission; Thomas Hammarberg, CoE's Commissioner for Human Rights; Jean Louis Laurens, CoE's Director General of Democracy and Political Affairs, and Raphaël Alomar, Governor of the Council of Europe Development Bank. Marian Lupu will be accompanied to Strasbourg by Deputy Speaker Vlad Plahotniuc and MP Andrian Candu, member of the Parliament's Legal Commission. The Commission's chair, MP Victor Popa, and Justice Minister Alexandru Tanase were also expected to join, but declined the invitation due to their busy agenda.