Moldova’s Constitutional Court deemed the organisation of the EU referendum on the same day - 20th October - as the presidential elections legal. Two key events for Moldova’s European future

Xi Jinping's coming May visit to Europe:

🇫🇷 France
🇷🇸 Serbia
🇭🇺 Hungary

The rumour has it that Xi Jinping will visit Serbia on the 25th anniversary of NATO bombing of the 🇨🇳 embassy in Belgrade.

szabadeuropa.hu/a/hszi-csin-pi…

Neu: Die höchste Wahlbehörde der Türkei hat beschlossen, dass die Wahl des DEM-Kandidaten Zeydan anerkannt wird. Er kann nun doch Oberbürgermeister von Van werden.

Viel Ärger unter türkischen Regierungskritikern über diese Aussage. Ich kann nur wiederholen, was ich nach der 🇹🇷 Präsidentschaftswahl 2023 gesagt habe, als Weber und ich in einer Runde saßen: Ein Abbruch wäre falsches Signal an alle, die an eine 🇪🇺+demokratische Türkei glauben

Some descriptive data shows the drop in turnout in Istanbul was more significant in AKP compared to CHP strongholds.

It looks like some AKP voters’ “silent boycott” played a role in the outcome.

Of course, also telling that despite all the disillusionment the CHP kept its base

NEW: Turkey’s election board in the city of Van denies mandate to recently elected pro-Kurdish mayor Abdullah Zeydan over a court ruling which suggests he doesn’t qualify to run for an election.

The board instead assigns the ruling AKP candidate.

Bei den Kommunalwahlen in der Türkei hat die Opposition klar gewonnen. Erdogan fuhr mit seiner Partei das schlechteste Ergebnis seiner Karriere ein. Der Präsident wirkt angezählt. Meine Einschätzung aus Istanbul WELT TV ⬇️

Since the start of the war in Ukraine, NATO has shifted focus to the #BlackSea . A visit to the Romanian air base that NATO uses as a base to monitor its southeastern flank, with open questions even among allies. @Corajamine for @Welt in EN via @Worldcrunch worldcrunch.com/world-affairs/…

Quoted in this piece by Carolina Drüten for WELT on Außenministerin Annalena Baerbock's visit here to #Sarajevo . Inter alia, I state that Germany needs to push within EU and NATO for a long overdue Western #StrategicRecalibration toward the #WB6 : welt.de/politik/auslan…

We sighed in relief when Putin did not mention Transnistria in his speech on 29th February. But some voices said his mention of Novorossiya was a nod to Transnistria too, as the Kremlin sees it as a part of the region...

Who is Ghenadie Ciorba, the 'opposition politician' in Moldova's breakaway region Transnistria, who launched the rumour that Tiraspol would request to join Russia today? A former Transnistrian comms 'minister' who served time in prison for criticising the new Tiraspol govt 1/6

Vučić confirms Xi Jinping, a “great friend of Serbia”, will visit Belgrade in his first post-pandemic trip to Europe later this year.

In October, Serbia was the first CEE/SEE country to sign an FTA w/ China. Both countries strongly back each other’s positions on Kosovo & Taiwan.