You might be forgiven for not noticing it, but Moldova has been chairing the 45-member Council of Europe for the last six months, and is preparing for a meeting of Europe's foreign ministers in Chisinau in November. Lucky old Jack Straw. Moldova's Chairmanship page
outlines what it wanted to achieve, particularly in the field of frozen conflicts, but it's hard to tell if any real progress has been made. Government is, after all, an exercise in managing low expectations.
It's a bit unfortunate that as there are only two Romanian-speaking countries on the planet, that Moldova and Romania have f?allen out.
Moldova Azi reports that the latter has abolished a fund for relations with the former Soviet Republic, which appears to be symptomatic of a difference of opinion regarding interstate relations, according to Interfax.
Interestingly, Communist President of Moldova Vladimir Voronin in the Interfax piece clings to the fiction that Moldovan and Romanian languages are different.
Just to demonstrate the economic difficulties that the Moldovan government face, Gateway to Russia reports that Moldova owes as much to Russian energy giant Gazprom, as Russia itself does. Oh dear.
And the Netherlands beat Moldova 5-0 in the European Football Championship. Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear.
