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Southeast Europe
July 13, 2018 www.intellinews.com I Page 16
ship numerous corruption probes were launched into party members. Dragnea was recently con- victed to three years and six month imprisonment for instigation to abuse of office, though he has the chance to appeal the sentence. He had al- ready received a two-year suspended sentence for voter manipulation.
The procedure to remove Kovesi was initiated
in February by Justice Minister Tudorel Toader over alleged misconduct within the agency. After Iohannis refused to endorse the government’s request to dismiss Kovesi. Romania’s govern- ment appealed to the Constitutional Court, which ruled on May 30 that Iohannis should dismiss the head of the DNA. Kovesi has repeatedly rejected
Nato invites Macedonia to start accession talks
Valentina Dimitrievska in Skopje
Nato invited Macedonia on July 11 to start acces- sion talks with the alliance, and once it imple- ments the name deal with Greece it can join Nato as its 30th member state.
The invitation was announced at the first day of the Nato summit in Brussels. It was expected after the country concluded the historic name deal with Athens, which sets a new name for the country – Republic of North Macedonia – and solves the long-standing dispute between the two neighbours. Previously Nato member Greece had blocked Macedonia's accession to the alliance.
“We warmly welcome last month’s historic agree- ment between Athens and Skopje and today we
Toader's accusations, while Romania’s magis- trates body, the CSM, issued a negative review of Toader’s request to dismiss her back in February.
Under Kovesi’s management, the DNA has achieved important results in fighting corruption, indicting and sending to prison former MPs, min- isters and mayors. Last year alone, the DNA sent to trial 997 defendants, including three ministers, a former head of the Chamber of Deputies, and six MPs. The number of cases completed by DNA prosecutors increased by 16.5% y/y to more than 3,800 in 2017. At the same time, the institution sent 189 people to trial for abuse of office, an of- fence the Romanian parliament voted to partially decriminalise last week.
Macedonian Prime Minister Zoran Zaev at the Nato summit in Brussels.
agreed to invite the government of Skopje to start accession talks,” Nato secretary general Jens Stoltenberg said.
Stoltenberg added that, “once all national proce- dures have been completed to finalise the name agreement the country would join Nato as our 30th member.”
The invitation will be formally handed to Prime Minister Zoran Zaev on July 12.
The pre-accession process is expected to last six to 18 months.
The deal with Greece, concluded in June, un-