Romania’s President Klaus Iohannis will be in Strasbourg on January 24-25, where he will address the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, Romanian Presidency spokesperson Madalina Dobrovolschi announced on Friday.

“It is a practice for this forum to invite high-level personalities, heads of state, Government leaders, heads of international institutions to hold such speeches in the annual plenary sessions,” she said.

While in Strasbourg, the Romanian President will also have meetings with the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, the president of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, the president of the Venice Commission, and the president of the European Court for Human Rights.

Klaus Iohannis will also attend the ceremony marking the International Day of Commemoration of Holocaust victims, together with the Secretary General of the Council of Europe and the President of the Republic of Cyprus. Moreover, Romania’s President will also meet with the Council of Europe’s Romanian employees, and representatives of the Romanian community in Alsace.

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe winter plenary part-session will be held in Strasbourg from January 23 to January 27, 2017. Besides Klaus Iohannis, Cyprus’ President Nicos Anastasiades, and European Commissioner for European Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations Johannes Hahn will also address the Assembly. Moreover, Thorbjørn Jagland, Secretary General of the Council of Europe, will present his statement to Assembly members, and Ioannis Kasoulides, the Cypriot Foreign Minister, will be speaking in the context of the Cypriot Chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers.

The fact that President Iohannis will be in Strasbourg on January 24-25 means that he will not attend any of the events to be organized in Romania on January 24, the day when the country celebrates the Union of the Romanian Principalities. According to the Presidency spokesperson, the Presidential Administration will be represented by the Presidential and State Advisers.

Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com