Initiative

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis declared a general nationwide lockdown as of 6am, 23 March.
The move came after a doubling of Covid-19 cases in Greece in the 24 hours prior to the announcement, although it was widely expected for days.

Senate President Calin Popoescu-Tariceanu accused President Klaus Iohannis of intending to turn the consultative referendum into "the most terrible political weapon" against all those who have different opinions.

Deputies from GERB, "United Patriots" and "Volya" undertake a legislative initiative to change the Electoral Code, which proposes to abolish the possibility of a machine vote in local and parliamentary elections. The news was announced by the chairwoman of the legal commission and GERB member Anna Alexandrova at a briefing in the parliament, BGNES reported.

President Klaus Iohannis states in a message conveyed on Sunday, on the occasion of Justice Day, that the recent years have been marked by repeated attempts to subordinate justice to politics, through hasty amendments to the legislation organizing the judiciary, the statute of magistrates and the criminal law, but this "assault" has triggered the prompt reaction of citizens and magistrates.

The parliamentary opposition parties on Monday lodged a constitution revision draft that transposes the outcome of a May 26 referendum on justice matters and fully complies with the National Pact on Romania's European Path initiated by President Klaus Iohannis, according to National Liberal Party (PNL) MP Raluca Turcan.

At the end of presidential consultation of Tuesday, national chairman of the Save Romania Union (USR) Dan Bara said the "No convict in public offices" initiative should be part of the revision of the Constitution, mentioning that President Iohannis agreed.

Chairman of Save Romania Union (USR) Dan Barna told on Thursday a press conference in Pitesti that the citizens' initiative 'No Convicts in Public Office' will necessarily lead to the amendment of the Constitution. "This citizens' initiative, supported by USR with all its energy, mandatorily amends the Constitution.

The European Commission kicks off a new race within the DiscoverEU initiative. Starting today (12:00 CET) to Tuesday 11 December (12:00 CET), young people aged 18 can apply for a travel card to get to know Europe next summer.

Chairman of the National Liberal Party (PNL) Ludovic Orban on Saturday stated in Timisoara that he will go to vote, for the referendum is the most profound form of democracy and the costs shouldn't be an issue when three million citizens initiated the procedure of revising the Constitution and the Parliament adopted it.

Bulgaria is moving closer to a ban on fur farms, according to the NGO The Civic Initiative for Banning the Extraction of Valuable Skins in Bulgaria, reports Livekindly.