Minority protection policies in Eastern Europe: Comparing the role the Council of Europe, the OSCE and the European Union in Moldova

(eng) Moldova is member of the Council of Europe and the OSCE and, since 2003, beneficiary of the new European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP). The most important minority issues at stake in the Republic of Moldova concern the Gagauz people and the language issue in the separatist region of Transnistria. This communication aims at analysing the minority protection policies, in particular the promotion of local and regional democracy, implemented by three International Organisations in Moldova. The analysis will enable us to draw some conclusions on the effectiveness and on the coherence of the policies implemented to better protect minorities. In particular, compared to the enlargement process, the impact of the ENP on the minority question, designed to avoid drawing « new dividing lines » in Europe, has been under-studied so far. The communication concludes that the international efforts made in Moldova illustrates the emergence of a paneuropean system of minority protection that emphasis both on the importance of the local and regional level of governance and on the importance of international actors.