Zieleniec and Frckovski gave a positive assessment of the perspectives for bilateral cooperation. They said a number of mostly economic agreements will be drawn up and should be ready to be initialed soon. Meanwhile, the same daily reported that Bulgarian Foreign Minister Georgi Pirinski canceled an official visit to Macedonia scheduled for 24-25 April. The Romanian Senate on 22 April voted to strip Corneliu Vadim Tudor, the leader of the extreme nationalist Greater Romania Party, of his parliamentary immunity. There are also 16 other pending cases against Tudor brought on by private plaintiffs.
Romanian law forbids persons with a criminal record from running for the presidential office.
Even if the sentence were not passed till then, Tudor's candidacy could be contested in court by private persons, Evenimentul zilei wrote on 23 April citing Senate Judicial Commission chairman Ion Predescu. The Foreign Ministers of Romania and rump Yugoslavia, Teodor Melescanu and Milan Milutinovic, on 22 April initialed in Bucharest a 20-year friendship treaty, Romanian and international media reported. The treaty will be officially signed by the two countries' presidents later this year. Milutinovic was also received by President Ion Iliescu and by the chairmen of the bicameral parliament, Adrian Nastase and Oliviu Gherman. Under the Bulgarian constitution, the president and parliamentary deputies are not allowed to have dual citizenship.