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| In 1940, Romania was forced to cede eastern Moldova to the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (U.S.S.R.), which established the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic by merging the autonomous republic east of the Dniester and the annexed Bessarabian portion. | In 1940, Romania was forced to cede eastern Moldova to the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (U.S.S.R.), which established the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic by merging the autonomous republic east of the Dniester and the annexed Bessarabian portion. | ||
| ==The name and its meanings== | |||
| The original Romanian term ''România Mare'' did not carry the expansionist and ] sense of its English translation. The literal translation in English is actually ''Great Romania''. The name was coined right after ], when Romania came to include all the historical Romanian provinces, by comparison with ''Small Romania'', or the ], which did not include the provinces of ], ], and ]. An alternate name for ''România Mare'', coined at the same period, was ''România Întregită'' (Whole Romania or Integrated Romania). ''România Mare'' was seen (and is still seen by many) as the natural national Romanian state, and a symbol of national renaissance. | |||
| The term ''România Mare'' acquired an irredentist meaning after the ] and the ] which lead to the separation from Romania of Northern Transylvania, Bessarabia, and Northern Bukovina. | |||
| Nowadays, the term is most often used in English to convey a ] meaning, though it does not have expansionist meaning in Romanian. When used in a political context, especially with reference to the ], is conveys in English an irredentist connotation, mainly concerning territories taken after ] by the Soviet Union, and now part of the ] and ]. In Romanian, the ] (or rather ''Great Romania Party'') is known as the party formed around former ] officers and some former Communist Party activists, lead by ], which appeals to nationalist sentiments to promote an anti-reform agenda. The party is known for anti-Western, anti-Hungarian, ] declarations, but very few anti-Slav ones. | |||
| ==History== | ==History== | ||
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Moldova and Romania have experienced many ups and downs in their relationship since Moldova's independence in 1991. Pan-Romanianism has been a consistent part of Moldovan politics, and was adopted in the Popular Front of Moldova's platform in 1992. Romania's relations with neighbour Moldova have been strained since 1994. Most of Moldova was part of Romania during the interwar period and linguists generally agree that the Moldovan language is identical to Romanian (and by almost all accounts, the same as Romanian). However, the Moldovans have been ambivalent about whether they consider themselves Romanians or Moldovans. Early signs that Romania and Moldova might unite after both countries achieved emancipation from communist rule quickly faded. Romania remains interested in Moldovan affairs, especially that country's civil conflict with the breakaway republic of Transnistria. However, the two countries have been unable even to reach agreement on a basic bilateral treaty; Romania is insistent (against determined Moldovan resistance) that such a treaty would have to refer to Romania and Moldova's 'special relationship'.
Introduction
The historical traditions, the cultural identity of Romanians on either side of the Prut and the long history of common statehood command privileged relations between Romania and the young Moldovan state. The natural desire for unification, evinced by many Romanians in both countries, is the outcome of a complex historical process which was brutally interrupted in 1812 and in 1940 by the invading armies of a big neighbouring power. It is no less true, however, that the current political realities require a new approach of the relations with Moldova.
The relationship between Romania and Moldova began to deteriorate shortly after Moldova's independence. Because of their different histories, with Moldova part of the Russian Empire and later the Soviet Union, Moldovans and Romanians have different attitudes about basic social and political issues, such as the extent of social payments (i.e. welfare). Many Romanians see the Moldovans as "Russified" and hold the condescending view that they are in need of assistance to overcome their cultural disabilities. This has been a source of growing resentment among the majority of Moldovans.
Soviet occupation. Annexation
In 1940, Romania was forced to cede eastern Moldova to the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (U.S.S.R.), which established the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic by merging the autonomous republic east of the Dniester and the annexed Bessarabian portion.
History
In 1918, at the end of World War I, Transylvania, Bukovina and Bessarabia united with the Romanian Old Kingdom. Transylvania (the last of the three to do so) united by a Proclamation of Union of Alba Iulia voted by the Deputies of the Romanians from Transylvania, and supported two weeks later by the vote of the Deputies of the Germans from Transylavania (the Hungarians from Transylavania, about 32% at the time, did not elect Deputies at the official dissolution of Austro-Hungary, since they were considered represented by the Budapest government of the Hungarian part of the Austro-Hungary). In Bukovina (the second of the three to vote for union), a National Council representing the entire population of the province voted for union with Romania. However, while the Romanian, German, Polish and Jewish deputies voted for, the Ukrainian deputies (representing 37% of the population at the time) voted against. Bessarabia, having declared its sovereignty in 1917 by the newly-elected Council of the Country (Sfatul Ţării), was faced with the disorderly retreat of disbanded Russian troops through its territory in January 1918, and called in Romanian troops to protect the province from the Bolsheviks who were spreading the Russian Revolution. The orderly retreat of the Romanian troops after the marauders were pushed over the Dniester river impressed the Moldavian intellectuals and after declaring independence from Russia on 24 January 1918, Sfatul Ţării voted union with Romania on 9 April 1918: of the 148 deputies, 86 voted for union, 3 against, 36 abstained (mostly the deputies representing the minorities, 30% at the time) and 13 were not present.
The union of the regions of Transylvania, Maramureş, Crişana and Banat with the Old Kingdom of Romania was ratified in 1920 by the Treaty of Trianon which recognised Romanian sovereignty over these regions and settled the border between the independent Republic of Hungary and the Kingdom of Romania. The union of Bukovina and Bessarabia with Romania was ratified in 1920 by the Treaty of Versailles. Romania had also recently acquired the Southern Dobruja territory called the Cadrilater ("Quadrilateral") from Bulgaria as a result of its victory in the Second Balkan War in 1913.
Romania retained these borders from 1918 to 1940. In that year, it lost Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina to the Soviet Union after the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact, lost the considerable territory of Northern Transylvania to Hungary in the Second Vienna Arbitration, and lost the Cadrilater to Bulgaria in the Treaty of Craiova. In the course of World War II, Romania (in alliance with the Axis Powers) took back Bessarabia and was awarded further territorial gains at the expense of the Soviet Union (Transnistria or western Yedisan or western New Russia; these were lost again as the tide of war turned) as compensation for Northern Transylvania.
After the war, Romania regained the territories lost to Hungary, but not those lost to Bulgaria or the Soviet Union, and in 1948 the Treaty between the Soviet Union and communist and Soviet-occupied Romania also provided for the transfer of 4 uninhabited islands to the USSR, three in the Danube delta and one on the Black Sea.
Two States, One Nation?
Romania's official policy toward Moldova is "one nation, two states," based on shared history, language, culture and traditions. Many Moldovans support unification. Many Romanians and Moldovans consider that they belong to the same 'nation', on grounds of their largely identical language, religion and culture. But they live in two separate states. The majority of Moldovans consider themselves to be Romanians living in a second Romanian state.
However, while some Moldovans see their separate statehood as a temporary anomaly and expect eventual reunification with Romania, others (along with Moldova's minorities of Slavs and Gagauzi) are committed to maintaining the separate state. Moreover, as many as a million (40 percent) of Moldovans have availed themselves of the right to obtain Romanian passports.
The unresolved question of identity is fundamental to the sensitive, ambivalent quality of Romanian-Moldovan relations as 'international' relations.
Recognition by Romania
Romania was the first state to recognize the independent Republic of Moldova – only a few hours, in fact, after the declaration of independence was issued by the Moldovan parliament. Within a few days accords were signed on the establishment of embassies and consulates. Within a few weeks, visa and passport-free border regimes were established, allowing Romanian and Moldovan citizens to travel from one country to the other with identity cards only. Already in 1991, Romania started to grant textbooks to Moldovan schools and libraries and began to offer scholarships to Moldovan students for studying at Romanian high schools and universities. Romania was the first state which recognized the Republic of Moldova, after the proclamation of the state independence on August 27, 1991. From the declaration of the Romanian Government made on that occasion it clearly resulted that, in the opinion of the authorities in Bucharest, Moldova's independence was considered as a form of emancipation from Moscow's tutelage and a step towards the reunification with Romania:
"The proclamation of an independent Romanian state in the territories annexed by force, following the secret understanding set through the Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact, represents a decisive step towards the elimination, in a peaceful way, of its unfortunate consequences directed against the rights and the interests of the Romanian people".
On April 14, 1994, the Chamber of Deputies of Romania's Parliament adopted a Declaration of protest against the decision of the Parliament in Chisinau to vote in favour of Moldova's adhering to CIS. Referring to the legitimate act of the Moldovan Parliament through which the latter "was conducting as it wished its relations with other states", the protest of the Chamber of Deputies in Romania brings serious accusations to the legislative body of the other equal, sovereign and independent state:
"The vote of the Parliament in Chisinau regrettably reconfirms the criminal Pact and irresponsibly cancels the right of the Romanian nation to live within the integrity of its historical and spiritual space... Through the geographical position, through culture, history and traditions, the natural place of our brothers from across the Prut is, undoubtedly, together with us, in the great family of the European nations and by no means in an Euro-Asian structure".
The legislative body in Bucharest accuses the fundamental state institution of a country, which it has recognized as independent, of irresponsibility, of confirming criminal acts and it decides upon the place the Moldovan state should take in the configuration of international relations. That makes the way Romania understands to observe the UN and CSCE principles, in its relations with Moldova, a controversial one. No wonder that the relations between Romania and Moldova have continued to deteriorate after the Declaration of Independence of the Moldovan state.
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Snegur's opposition to immediate reunification with Romania
In October 1990, Mircea Snegur was elected president of Moldova by the Parliament. A former Communist Party official, he endorsed independence from the Soviet Union and actively sought Western recognition. Moldova declared its independence from the U.S.S.R. in August 1991. However, Snegur's opposition to immediate reunification with Romania led to a split with the Moldovan Popular Front in October 1991 and to his decision to run as an independent candidate in a December 1991 presidential election. Running unopposed, he won after the Popular Front's efforts to organize a voter boycott failed.
Moldova's transition to democracy initially had been impeded by an ineffective Parliament, the lack of a new constitution, a separatist movement led by the Gagauz (Christian Turkic) minority in the south, and unrest in the Transnistria region on the left bank of the Nistru/Dniester River, where a separatist movement--assisted by uniformed Russian military forces in the region and led by supporters of the 1991 coup attempt in Moscow--declared a "Dniester republic."
In 1992, the government negotiated a cease-fire arrangement with Russian and Transnistrian officials, although tensions continue, and negotiations are ongoing. In February 1994, new legislative elections were held, and the ineffective Parliament that had been elected in 1990 to a 5-year term was replaced. A new constitution was adopted in July 1994. The conflict with the Gagauz minority was defused by the granting of local autonomy in 1994.
The February 1994 Parliamentary elections were conducted peacefully and received good ratings from international observers for their fairness. Prime Minister Andrei Sangheli was re-elected to his post in March 1994, as was Petru Lucinschi to his post as speaker of the Parliament. Authorities in Transnistria, however, refused to allow balloting there and discouraged the local population from participating. Inhabitants of the Gagauz separatist region did participate in the elections.
Unification of Romania with Moldova
Main article: Unification of Romania with MoldovaWhen the Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact was signed, the territories between the Prut and the Nistru belonged to Romania. Moreover, the mentioning of the "rights and interests of the Romanian people" clearly expresses the objective of the reunification. Since the recognition of the independence of the Republic of Moldova many references were made in Romania to the necessity of eliminating the consequences of the Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact. As a matter of fact, in June 1991, Romania's Parliament adopted a declaration through which the above mentioned Pact was declared null and void. Moreover, in the second half of 1991, high Romanian dignitaries, as for instance the minister of foreign affairs at that time Adrian Nastase, looked upon reunification in very optimistic terms, identifying also a model in this respect: the German model. Obviously, the international juridical framework for the achievement of this desideratum was taken into account, namely the Helsinki Final Act of the Conference for Security and Cooperation in Europe that stipulates in the first of the ten principles' text concerning the regulation of international relations:
"They (the states-a.n.) consider that their frontiers can be changed, in accordance with international law, by peaceful means and by agreement (a.e.)". The ten principles of the Final Act were reconfirmed by the Charter of Paris for A New Europe in November 1990, and were to be also reiterated in the Document of the CSCE Summit in Helsinki, The Challenges of Change, in 1992.
Naturally, the idea of Union has its legitimacy. The Romanians on the other side of the Prut should benefit by Romania's whole support in consolidating the common spiritual space. But the idea of Union cannot be fostered by incendiary statements of the Romanian Parliament and Government with respect to the decisions of the legitimate Moldovan authorities. Such statements seriously harm Romania's endeavours to adhere to the Euro-Atlantic institutions which make renunciation of territorial claims and observance of international law and of the principles on which institutionalized Europe has been built an essential condition of integration. Moreover, such statements damage the very relations between Romania and the Republic of Moldova, the latter being thus justified to consider, as shown in the Declaration of the Government of the Republic of Moldova on the Government of Romania's Declaration of August 1, 1994, that Romania nurtures the ambition to "take the posture of an elder brother entitled to give advice and to practice the same policy of dictate and supremacy".
Dual citizenship
Romanian President Traian Basescu recently estimated that the total number of Moldovans seeking to obtain Romanian citizenship could exceed 1,000,000. In the autumn of 2006, the Unionist movement has gained some momentum as the subject was more regularly discussed in prominent Romanian language newspapers and as many Moldovans have applied for Romanian passports in August and September of 2006, alone. Meanwhile, between 1991 and 2006, 95,000 Moldovans have obtained Romanian citizenship . According to Romanian president Traian Băsescu, by the end of 2006, 530,000 demands from Moldovan citizens have been written, requesting Romanian citizenship . Băsescu has also mentioned that the real number is higher as many of these demands are signed by not just one person but in many cases by entire families . In a subsequent televised interview, Băsescu further explained that so far, based on the over 500,000 demands, about 800,000 Moldovans have requested Romanian citizenship and that it is estimated that by the end of 2007, this number will increase to 1,500,000, which is almost 50% of Moldova's population. . However, it is important to note that requesting Romanian citizenship does not automatically infer one's Unionist view. Hence, it is unclear whether the relationship between the citizenship demands and Unionism is a strong one or whether there are other causes for Moldovans seeking Romanian citizenship. In 2007, the President of Moldova, Vladimir Voronin, declared in an interview that the two languages are identical, but said that Moldovans should have the right to call their language for Moldovan. Oleg Serebrean, the leader of the political party Social-Liberal, declared that if the Moldovans and the Romanians decided to unite, neither USA, nor Russia, could put a stop to such a union.
Free trade agreement
Romania and the Republic of Moldova signed a free trade agreement. The agreement was suspended between Moldova and Romania on January 1, 2007, when Romania is joined the European Union (E.U.).
The foreign trade between Romania and Moldova totalled 412 million dollars in 2005, with a negative balance of 240 million dollars for Moldova. Exports to Romania turned over 85 million dollars last year, while imports accounted for 326 million dollars, according to Romanian statistics.
External links
References
- Template:Ro icon Varujan Vosganian, Cat ne costa idealul reintregirii? (How much does the ideal of reintegration cost us?), Ziua, 5 October 2006
- Politician moldovean: Unirea Moldovei cu Romania ar putea avea loc in 2009