The EU’s Foreign Affairs Council decided, on 22 February, to prolong for another 12 months the restrictive measures introduced in 2008 against Moldova, namely travel restrictions in the EU for certain members of the de facto authorities of Transnistria. Its conclusions state, however, that “in order to encourage progress,” the Council also decided to suspend the implementation of the restrictive measures until the end of September 2010 and deleted three names from the list of targeted persons. On the one hand, the Council welcomes the openness of the new government of Moldova and the de facto Transnistrian leaders to engage in dialogue, but on the other it “regrets the fact that no substantial progress has been made towards a political settlement of the Transnistrian conflict” and that “the situation of some Latin-script Moldovan schools in the Transnistrian region remains problematic”. The Council also regrets that “the de facto Transnistrian authorities continue to place obstacles to the free movement of persons” (see Europolitics 3920). The Council conclusions are available at |www.consilium.europa.eu/uedocs/cms_data/docs/pressdata/EN/foraff/112952.pdf