EC vice president Timmermans visits Romania next week

The European Commission’s first vice president Frans Timmermans will make a two-day official visit to Bucharest next week, on February 28 and March 1. His visit comes amid new protests in Romania generated by the justice minister’s decision to ask for the dismissal of chief anticorruption prosecutor Laura Codruta Kovesi. In the last year, Timmermans expressed his concerns related to the ruling coalition’s initiatives to change the criminal codes and justice laws. He and EC president Jean Claude Juncker asked Romania’s Parliament to have an open debate on the justice laws and warned on the risks of weakening the rule of law in the country. editor@romania-insider.com