On its front page, Timpul wonders: "Is the iron curtain on the Prut a thing of the past?" Now that a treaty on cross-border travel has been signed with Romania, the Moldovan daily delightedly reports that, "more than a third of the Moldovan population, that is more than a million people, will no longer need a visa to enter Romania." Given the official seal of approval on Tuesday 20 October in Chisinau, the treaty grants free access to Romania – and as a consequence to the European Union – to Moldovans living in counties along the common border between the two countries, marked by the river Prut. Residents of villages that are situated less than 30km from the border in both countries will be able to cross the Prut and travel up to 50 km. "It's a sign that we are finally beginning to normalize our relations with Romania and the EU," remarks Lurie Leanca, the Moldovan Minister for Foreign Affairs. However, the treaty will be subject to approval from the European Commission before it comes into force in late 2009.
The leader of Greece’s leftist alliance SYRIZA is the new bright hope of Greek politics. Steering a course between pragmatism and the rhetoric of class warfare, he has unsettled Berlin, and not just those who back Angela Merkel's austerity policies. 
Europe’s economic woes have forced us to try to understand the secret Olympian world of global finance. But now that we pay more attention to bond yields and stability mechanisms, isn’t it clear that the experts up on their lofty peaks don’t know what’s going on either? 
This year’s Eurovision Song Contest is hosted by Azerbaijan, a country that is far from being a model democracy. An Estonian journalist takes a critical look at the deferential treatment enjoyed by the regime in Baku.