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Moldovans in Romania might renounce the Union of Romanian Principalities of 1859, due to the aggressive Romanianization policy promoted by Bucharest in the Republic of Moldova, a so-called political theorist from Transnistria says.
ȘTIRE: Of course, the European referendum was primarily designed as a means of rallying the pro-European electorate behind Maia Sandu's candidacy, as a way of increasing the turnout of her supporters. But, as you can see, the authorities intend to use the results of the referendum to change the country's legislation, to deprive the Republic of its neutrality status and to irrevocably detach the Republic of Moldova from the Russian civilizational space. If successful, the Euroreferendum will consolidate Moldova's subordination to the EU and all the achievements of the current colonial administration, such as the elimination of the Moldovan language.
[...]Europeans give us grants and loans, plunging the country into a debt crisis, but they protect their markets from Moldovan products and are in no hurry to invest in Moldova, apparently seeing little prospects for local production.
Vast markets for Moldovan products are in the CIS, which are anathema to the Moldovan leadership. The problem is not managers themselves, but their perspectives.
[...] Romanization has not only reached its limits, but, after the banning of the Moldovan language in the Republic of Moldova, it has also crossed a red line. Romanians have started to destroy the Moldovan identity. Whereas they used to do this in secret before, letting the language disappear by its own devices, now they have revealed their aggressive plans.
But [the Romanians] risk making Moldovans their enemy. In theory, Moldovans in Romania may recall the circumstances of the unification of the Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia in the mid-19th century and even demand the annulment of that treaty. Bucharest is extremely concerned about such a prospect and began to suppress the Moldovan national movements in their country a long time ago.
NARRATIVES: 1. The referendum on the European Union integration of the Republic of Moldova was designed to discard the country’s neutrality. 2. The EU is restricting access of Moldovan products to the single market and is pushing Moldova into greater debt. 3. Moldovans in Romania might renounce the Union of the Romanian Principalities of 1859.
BACKGROUND: On December 24, the President of the Republic of Moldova, Maia Sandu, asked the Parliament to initiate proceedings for hosting a referendum on EU accession. The pro-presidential PAS majority amended the Electoral Code so that referendums can be held on the same day as the elections. Therefore, the EU integration referendum will be organized jointly with the presidential election this fall, most likely on October 20.
Plans to organize the referendum are contested by the opposition, which argues they were designed to help Maia Sandu secure a new mandate.
The Constitutional Court approved the organization of the referendum.
The Republic of Moldova has taken important steps towards EU integration, starting 2021, and the process was accelerated after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The two countries and Georgia submitted their EU membership applications in March 2022, and later in June, the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine were granted EU candidate status. 18 months later, the European Council decided to open accession negotiations. Polls show a popular support of approximately 55-60% in favor of European integration. However, this does not take into account the large numbers of Moldovans living in the Diaspora, mostly pro-European, as shown by voting intentions polled in recent surveys.
On the other hand, important segments of Moldovan society, especially the Russian-speaking national minorities, oppose European integration, arguing in favor of the country's approach to the Eurasian Union, an organization controlled by the Kremlin. This option is heavily promoted by Russian propaganda and political leaders controlled by Moscow, such as the wanted oligarch Ilan Shor, sentenced to 15 years in prison in the case of a major bank fraud in 2014.
In a near similar context, in order to fuel the phobias of parts of Moldovan society, Russian propaganda also promotes the narrative about the forced unification (or annexation) of the Republic of Moldova with Romania, and also fosters a narrative promoted during the Soviet era about the existence of two distinct peoples - Romanian and Moldovan.
PURPOSE: To discredit the referendum on Moldova’s EU integration, associating this initiative with Moldova renouncing its neutrality and its subsequent NATO accession, a move that does not have the support of the majority Moldovan population. To boost Euroscepticism by promoting the idea that EU regards the Republic of Moldova as a second-tier country, subordinated to the West.
WHY THE NARRATIVES ARE FALSE: The referendum will concern the accession of the Republic of Moldova to the European Union, not NATO, as the (pro)Russian propaganda falsely claims. In the referendum, citizens will have to answer the question: “Do you support the accession of the Republic of Moldova to the European Union?” The Constitutional Court found that “the initiative to revise the Constitution does not affect the sovereign, independent and unitary character of the state of the Republic of Moldova”, nor its “permanent neutrality status”.
Russian and pro-Russian propaganda often promote the narrative that NATO membership is a prerequisite for obtaining EU membership. The European Community, however, accepted several neutral states in its fold – Ireland, Austria, Sweden and Finland. The two latter applied for NATO membership after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, when they considered that neutrality would not guarantee their security.
On the other hand, there are also NATO member states that are not EU members. And we’re not talking just about non-EU countries, but also some other countries on the European continent. Some of these applied for EU membership, but were not accepted because they did not meet the accession criteria, the most famous example being that of Turkey. Britain decided to leave the EU, but not NATO, which it joined long before joining the EU.
The Russian media and pro-Russian politicians in Chișinău overstate the importance of the CIS states for exports and, respectively, the economy of the Republic of Moldova. In 2023, the share of CIS as a market for Moldovan exports was only slightly higher than 7%, given that until the end of the 1990s, as much as 70% of Moldovan goods were exported to CIS markets. The Republic of Moldova has since turned to other markets as a rule, especially the EU market, especially after Russia imposed bans on sensitive categories of Moldovan products in 2013, after Moldova signed the Free Trade Agreement with the EU. In 2023, 65% of Moldovan exports reached the EU.
In recent years, the Republic of Moldova has received billions of Euro from its Western partners as budgetary support or for targeted projects. In 2022 alone, financial support for the Republic of Moldova amounted to almost 1.4 billion Euro, of which approximately 20% was disbursed to mitigate the energy crisis, according to a report of the Ministry of Finance. In the last two years alone, the European Union has provided the Republic of Moldova with financial support worth 1.2 billion Euro, half of which in the form of grants. Moreover, Veridica recently dismantled another false narrative, according to which the West does not provide real support to the Republic of Moldova.
The claims about a possible denunciation of the Union of the Romanian Principalities of 1859 is new, but it is part of a meta-narrative promoted during the Soviet era about the existence of a Moldovan people and a Moldovan language distinct from the Romanian people and language, which has taken root quite deep in society and which is currently supported by the Kremlin, but also by pro-Moscow politicians from Chișinău. There has never any relevant political movement in modern Romania that would propose the annulment of the Union of 1859.
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