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Building Civic Resilience: Challenges and Solutions in Central Europe
12 December 2024
The second summit of the European Political Community, the brainchild of French President Emmanuel Macron, could hardly have taken a more symbolic dimension than being held in Moldova, a poor, tiny state squeezed between Ukraine and Romania and struggling to shake off Russian attempts at subjugation.
Moldova’s staunchly pro-western President Maia Sandu warmly welcomed Macron to the Mimi Castle near the capital Chisinau, where leaders from across Europe gathered on Thursday for a show of unity in the face of Russia’s belligerence.
Hosting the summit is probably the biggest diplomatic feat Moldova has accomplished since becoming independent during the breakup of the Soviet Union. Until Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Moldova was an orphan of the Cold War, largely ignored by the West and blackmailed by Moscow into effective isolation and economic despondency.
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