Moldova

Forestry companies received 42 pieces of forestry equipment worth 60 million lei (over €3.000.000) to prepare the land and plant the forests, as a step in the implementation of the reforestation programme

A new law authorising the Intelligence and Security Service to determine the case for withdrawing Moldovan citizenship from certain categories of people risks making them stateless, according to legal experts

The Anaesthesia and Intensive Care Section of the Balti Clinical Hospital was inaugurated after repairs, modernised and equipped to European standards

Beneficiaries of temporary protection working in Moldova will receive health insurance, thanks to a project approved by MPs; the persons concerned will have the same rights and obligations in the compulsory health insurance system as Moldovan citizens

The country will implement postal voting and the countries will be selected according to criteria set out in document regulating the principles of exercising the right to vote by post, the specific electoral procedures and the powers of electoral bodies

The Constitutional Court ruled that the referendum on EU membership is constitutional and can therefore be held on October 20; it will contain the question "Do you support Moldova's accession to the European Union?"

The population and housing census, organized once every 10 years, is scheduled from April 8 to July 7 and the information obtained will be crucial for policy making, monitoring and evaluation, scientific research and more

The country expelled a Russian diplomat over the opening of polling stations for the Russian presidential election in the breakaway region of Transnistria, after summoning the Russian ambassador

The Council of Europe's anti-corruption body listed reforms Moldova needs to make, focusing on lobbying in government, police and border police integrity, and the work of the country's anti-corruption prosecutor's office

During the election period legal research organisations or public associations registered in the Republic of Moldova may conduct opinion and exit polls if they have obtained permission by electoral authority, the Central Election Commission informed

A grant agreement worth €5,4 million was signed between Moldova and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development for the financing of investments to develop infrastructure in the field of solid waste management

The pro-Russian Moldovan separatist region of Transdniester has declared that it needs more Russian natural gas to run its industry; last year, the country had met its gas needs from European markets, leaving Russian gas for the separatist region