Romanian-Moldovan relations
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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'.
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[edit] Introduction
The historical traditions and the cultural similarity of the populations on either side of the Prut support privileged relations between Romania and the young Moldovan state. 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. 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.
[edit] History
In 1918, at the end of World War I, Transylvania, Bukovina and Bessarabia united with the Romanian Old Kingdom. Bessarabia, having declared its sovereignty in 1917 by the newly-elected Council of the Country (Sfatul Ţării), was faced with bolshevic agitation among the Russian troops and Ukrainian claims to parts of its territory. The president of the Council of the Country called on the Russian Commander-in-Chief in Iaşi, Dmitry Shcherbachev, to send troops to protect the country. Having no troops, he transmitted the request ot the Romanians, whose military intervention was met with protest by the presidents of the Council of the Country and of the provisional government of Bessarabia and by the Soviet of Chişinău.[1] Bessarabia declared independence from Russia on January 24, 1918, and, on April 9, 1918, Sfatul Ţării voted union with Romania: of the 148 deputies, 86 voted for union, 3 against, 36 abstained (mostly the deputies representing the minorities, 50% of Bessarabia's population at the time[2]) and 13 were not present.
The union of Bessarabia with Romania was ratified in 1920 by the Treaty of Paris, which however was not recognized by the Russian SFSR and the United States of America.
Romania retained these borders from 1918 to 1940, when it accepted to give up Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina to the Soviet Union after an ultimatum. 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; this was lost again as the tide of war turned) as compensation for Northern Transylvania, lost to Hungary in 1940.
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 Romania also provided for the transfer of 4 uninhabited islands to the USSR, three in the Danube delta and one on the Black Sea.
[edit] Two States, One Nation?
Romania's official policy toward Moldova is "one nation, two states," based on shared history, language, culture and traditions. Many Romanians and Moldovans consider that they belong to the same 'nation', on grounds of their largely identical language, religion and culture[citation needed].
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.[citation needed]
The unresolved question of identity is fundamental to the sensitive, ambivalent quality of Romanian-Moldovan relations as 'international' relations.
[edit] 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. 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".
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.
On April 14, 1994, the Chamber of Deputies of Romania's Parliament adopted a Declaration of protest against the decision of the Parliament in Chişinău to vote in favour of Moldova's accession to the 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 Chişinău 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 a Eurasian 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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[edit] 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 Găgăuz 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.
[edit] Unification of Romania with Moldova
When the Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact was signed, the territories between the Prut and the Nistru belonged to Romania. 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 concerning the regulation of international relations, reconfirmed by the Charter of Paris for A New Europe in November 1990, and reiterated in the Document of the CSCE Summit in Helsinki, The Challenges of Change, in 1992:
"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.)".
[edit] Dual citizenship
Romanian President Traian Basescu estimated that the total number of Moldovans seeking to obtain Romanian citizenship could exceed 1,000,000.[citation needed] 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.[3] Meanwhile, between 1991 and 2006, 95,000 Moldovans have obtained Romanian citizenship [1]. According to Romanian president Traian Băsescu, by the end of 2006, 530,000 demands from Moldovan citizens have been written, requesting Romanian citizenship [2]. 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 [3]. 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. [4]. 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[citation needed], but said that Moldovans should have the right to call their language for Moldovan. Oleg Serebrian, the leader of the Social-Liberal Party, declared that if the Moldovans and the Romanians decided to unite, neither USA, nor Russia, could put a stop to such a union.[4]
[edit] 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 joined the European Union (E.U.).[citation needed]
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.[citation needed]
[edit] External links
[edit] References
- ^ Anarchy in Bessarabia in Charles Upson Clark, Bessarabia, New York, 1927
- ^ Results of the 1897 Russian Census at demoscope.ru
- ^ (Romanian) 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
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