Leo van Doesburg

On the 28th of August, the 1st Moldovan Parliamentarian Prayer Breakfast took place. In total, 10 Members of the Parliament of Moldova from 3 different parties participated (the Moldovan parliament has 101 MPs) as well as an MP from Canada and representatives from the Canadian Christian Embassy. I addressed the participants on be half of the ECPM and expressed the importance of parliamentary prayer groups all over Europe (see my message here ) and read a message from the Ecumenical Prayer Group from the Romanian Parliament addressed to the participants of the 1st Moldovan Prayer Group. It was a good and friendly atmosphere with personal messages based on the love of Jesus and the Holy Scriptures. It was encouraging to see the open and personal message also of the participants and to see that the principles of Jesus unites politicians of different parties. I was impressed by MP Valeriu Ghilețchi (Moldovan MP and member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe) who organ...

Together with Anca Bulica (Care for Europe), I wrote an article about the fact that with the proposal for the new anti-discrimination legislation in Moldova with as title: "Freedoms of Religion and Conscience under serious attack in the Republic of Moldova". You can read the article here . That this threat is serious (even before the acceptance of the proposed anti-discrimination law), is proven by the fact that Marian Vitalie is taken into court by the organization "Gender Doc-M" that defends the rights of sexual minorities in the Republic of Moldova. On August the 1st, the court issued a conclusion, by which he was banned from disclosing to the public while the charges against him have not been proven by the court yet.  Even in case the new law on anti-discrimination would not be accepted by the Moldovan parliament, it seems that already the freedom of expression is in quite danger in the Republic of Moldova. Therefore he started a campaign: "In the Rep...

The coming days I will be traveling again. The coming time, the posts on this blog will mainly focus on a report about my travels and my impressions. My travel schedule is as follows: 28 October-1 November : I will participate to the ECPYN regional congress: “Georgia and Post-Soviet Space in common European context”. I was asked to speak about the topic: "The role of Christianity in post Soviet politics". More information about this congress you will find on www.ecpyn.org 2-4 November : I will be in Moldova where I will have several meetings and trainings with our partners in Moldova. Also there will be a special training and discussion organized by the Youth Parliament where I have to speak about: "European Union between identity and integration" 5-8 November: I will be in Riga to participate amongst others to the Latvian National Prayer Breakfast. All these activities are planned Deo Volente. And would like to ask your prayers for the trip and all the events

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Poland and Sweden have in a joint strategy paper indicated the EU is unlikely to invite any of its post-Soviet neighbours to join the bloc in the next 10 years. Polish foreign minister Radek Sikorski and Swedish foreign minister Carl Bildt set out their vision for the EU's future relations with neighbouring countries in a letter on 6 October to EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton and neighbourhood commissioner Stefan Fuele. The letter noted that Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine could one day become EU members, unlike countries in north Africa and the Middle East. "Some [countries bordering the EU] are European and thus enjoy special status in accordance with the treaties, others will remain neighbours of Europe," it said. But the four-page-letter nowhere said the EU should give the group 'an enlargement perspective.' It instead set out an everything-but-enlargement vision in which the six gradually adopt the E...

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS – EU ambassadors have agreed to the "political goal" of moving towards a visa-free regime with Moldova in a boost for the pro-EU coalition in Chisinau ahead of November elections. The ambassadors' decision on Thursday (21 October) could see foreign ministers meeting in Luxembourg on Monday task the European Commission with drawing up an Action Plan for visa-free travel for Moldova, on the model of a plan already drafted for Ukraine. The ambassadors could not agree on the final wording of the ministers' communique because France insisted on language underlining that EU countries will have to approve the Moldova plan if the commission prepares one. "All the discussions were about the visa issue. The European Ccommission is rushing to start things, but we have to make sure all the necessary guarantees are there," one EU diplomat told that website. Moldova - a post-Soviet country of 4 million people sandwiched between Romania and Ukraine o...