 | |
 Moldova |  Romania |
|---|---|
| Diplomatic mission | |
| Embassy of Moldova,Bucharest | Embassy of Romania,Chișinău |
| Envoy | |
| AmbassadorMihai Gribincea | AmbassadorDaniel Ioniță |
The modern relations betweenthe Republic of Moldova andRomania (Romanian:Relațiile dintre Republica Moldova și România) were established afterthe Moldovan independence from the Soviet Union on August 27, 1991. As of 2025, relations are very close on both a cultural and political scale, on the account of the Western-aligned administration of the Republic of Moldova, led by PresidentMaia Sandu, who is in the office since2020.
Pan-Romanianism has been a consistent part of Romanian and Moldovan politics in the early 1990s, however the theme has become marginal afterwards, with no major Moldavian party endorsing it as of 2025[update]. The official language of Moldova isRomanian, despitean active controversy regarding language name and ethnic identity. Moldovans and Romanians share common traditions and folklore.[1]
The Republic of Moldova represents a part of the formerPrincipality of Moldavia. After theTreaty of Bucharest, which put an end of theRusso-Turkish War of 1806-1812, the eastern half was ceded by its Ottomansuzerain to theRussian Empire, which annexed it as theBessarabia Governorate. The western half remained under Ottoman rule and united withWallachia in 1859, formingthe modern Romanian state.
In 1918, after the Romanian armyoccupied its territory, Bessarabiabecame part of Romania, the Romanian administration lasting for 22 years. In 1940, it wasannexed by the Soviet Union, most of the province becoming the newMoldavian Soviet Socialist Republic. In 1991, it declared its independence and Romania was the first country to recognize its sovereignty, but most of the initial momentum for a union was lost following theTransnistrian War.
As of 2025, the two co-exist asbordering states, with low to mediumsupport for a union on both sides. Romania is one of the most important partners of Moldova and a key feature in Moldovan politics. Romania is amember state of the European Union, while the Republic of Moldova is acandidate.
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The border between the two states was established in 1991, after previously serving as the border between Romania and the Soviet Union since 1945. It is a fully fluvial boundary, following the course of thePrut river for 680.8 kilometres, and a negligible part following the course of theDanube.
The border starts at the tripoint withUkraine, close to the villages ofCriva (on the Moldovan side) andPăltiniș (on the Romanian side), and ends at another tripoint with Ukraine, close toGiurgiulești (Moldova) andGalați (Romania). As neither Ukraine or Moldova are part of the European Union, Romania's border with both represents anexternal border of the European Union.
The border is spanned by eight crossing points, five of which are road crossings and three are railway crossings. The most important of those are the Sculeni Bridge and Leușeni-Albița Bridge (routier) and theEiffel Bridge (railway).
In 1918, at the end ofWorld War I,Transylvania,Bukovina andBessarabia united with theRomanian Old Kingdom. Bessarabia, having declared its sovereignty in 1917 by the newly electedCouncil of the Country (Sfatul Țării), was faced withbolshevik agitation among the Russian troops andUkrainian claims to parts of its territory. The president of the Council of the Country called on the Russian Commander-in-Chief inIași,Dmitry Shcherbachev, to send troops to protect the country. Having no troops, he transmitted the request to the Romanians, whosemilitary 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 Chișinău.[2] Bessarabia declared independence from Russia on January 24, 1918, and, on April 9, 1918,Sfatul Țării 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[3]) and 13 were not present.
The union of Bessarabia with Romania was ratified in 1920 by theTreaty of Paris, which however was not recognized by theRussian SFSR and theUnited States of America (the United States abstaining due to theTreaty of Trianon).
Romania retained Bessarabia from 1918 to 1940, when it accepted aSoviet ultimatum to give up Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina. Most of Bessarabia was made into theMoldavian SSR, while its southernBudjak region was given to theUkrainian SSR. DuringWorld War II, Romania (in alliance with theAxis powers) took back Bessarabia and was awarded further territorial gains at the expense of theSoviet Union (theTransnistria Governorate) as compensation forNorthern Transylvania, lost to Hungary in 1940. Nonetheless, the defeat of the Axis in the war resulted in Bessarabia returning to Soviet control and the restoration of previous internal borders. Defeated Romania alsobecame a communist state within the Soviet-ledEastern Bloc.
 Moldavian SSR |  Romania |
|---|---|
In August 1976,Nicolae Ceaușescu,his wife, and his son were the first high-level Romanian visitors to theMoldavian SSR since World War II. The MoldavianCP First SecretaryIvan Bodiul met them at the frontier and escorted them toChișinău. In December 1976, Bodiul and his wife Claudia arrived for a return visit of five days at Ceaușescu's invitation. Bodiul's visit was a "first" in the history of postwar bilateral relations. At one of his meetings in Bucharest, Bodiul said that "the good relationship was initiated by Ceaușescu's visit to Soviet Moldavia, which led to the expansion of contacts and exchanges in all fields."[4]
On November 5, 1978 theStânca-Costești Hydroelectrical Plant (at Stânca-Costești) onPrut was inaugurated six years after ratification of the basic Romanian-Soviet agreement on its construction. Romania was represented byIon Iliescu, while Bodiul represented the USSR.
A visit was paid from 14 to 16 June 1979, to the Moldavian SSR by aRomanian Communist Party delegation headed byIon Iliescu, Political Executive Committee alternate member and Iași County Party Committee First Secretary.[4]
At theRomanian Communist Party's final conference in November 1989, Ceaușescu raised the issue of Bessarabia yet again, denouncing theMolotov–Ribbentrop Pact of 1939 and implicitly calling for the region's restoration to Romania.[5]
Romania was the first state to recognise the independent Republic of Moldova – only a few hours, in fact, after theMoldovan Declaration of Independence was issued by theMoldovan parliament. From the declaration of theRomanian 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:
Proclamarea unui stat românesc independent pe teritoriile anexate cu forța în urma înțelegerilor secrete stabilite prin Pactul Molotov–Ribbentrop reprezintă un pas decisiv spre înlăturarea pe cale pașnică a consecințelor nefaste ale acestuia, îndreptate împotriva drepturilor și intereselor poporului român.[6]
[The proclamation of an independent Romanian state in the territories annexed by force following the secret agreements of the Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact represents a decisive step toward the peaceful elimination of this pact's unfortunate consequences directed against the rights and interests of the Romanian people.]
Within a few days agreements were signed for the establishment of diplomatic ties. Within a few weeks, visa and passport-free border regimes were established, allowing Romanian and Moldovan citizens to travel across the border with identity cards only. Already in 1991, Romania started donating books for Moldovan libraries and textbooks for schools and began to offer scholarships to Moldovan students to study in Romanian high schools and universities.
During theWar of Transnistria, Romania was the only nation to support Moldova.Transnistria received support from Russia and Ukraine, meaning Moldovan forces were pitted not only against Transnistrian troops but also Russian cossacks and volunteers, as well as Ukrainian volunteers. Romania, however, sent a contingent of volunteers and military advisers to fight alongside Moldovan forces, as well as supplying Moldova with weapons and equipment.
On 14 April 1994, the RomanianChamber of Deputies adopted a declaration of protest against the decision of the Moldovan Parliament in favour of accession to theCIS. The protest contained serious accusations to the legislative body of the newly established neighbouring country:
Votul Parlamentului de la Chișinău reconfirmă, în mod regretabil, Pactul criminal și anulează iresponsabil un drept al națiunii române de a trăi în integritatea spațiului ei istoric și spiritual ... Prin poziția geografică, cultură, istorie și traditii, locul natural al fraților noștri de peste Prut este, fără îndoială, împreună cu noi, în marea familie a națiunilor europene și nicidecum în cadrul unei structuri euro-asiatice.[7]
[The vote of the Parliament in Chișinău 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, 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.]
In March 2002, the new Communist president of Moldova,Vladimir Voronin, announced that he was ending Romania's "colonial policy" towards Moldova by seeking a closer relationship with Moscow.[8]
In 2007, tension between the two governments increased in context of a resumption of Romanian program for granting some Moldovan citizensdual citizenship. In February 2007, Voronin declared that 10 million "ethnic Moldovans" were being persecuted in Romania by not being allowed to officially register as anethnic minority.[9] Voronin's statement was criticized in harsh terms by various Romanian organizations.[10] Romanian newspaperGândul pointed out that this alleged minority was about half the Romanian population.[11] Constantin Iordachi interpreted Voronin's statement as: "Moreover, blaming Romania’sirredenta policies, Voronin put forward his own plans for a Greater Moldova, raising territorial claims to Romania’s province of Moldova."[12]: 194 A month later Voronin declared that the "Moldovan language is the mother of the Romanian language. [...] Attempts to call it Romanian, attempts to call it anything else, are attempts to cheat history and deceive one's own mother."[13] In November, Voronin accused Romania of being "the last empire of Europe".[14][15]
Thecivil unrest in Moldova in April 2009 led to a diplomatic row between the countries, after President Voronin accused Romania of being the force behind the riots in Chișinău.[16] Romania denied all charges of being involved in the protests.[16]
The Romanian ambassador in Moldova,Filip Teodorescu was declaredpersona non grata by the Moldovan government, being required to leave the country within 24 hours.[16] The following day, the Romanian parliament nominated a senior diplomat, Mihnea Constantinescu, as the new ambassador to Moldova,[17] but two weeks later the Moldovan government rejected him without explanation, deepening the crisis.[18]
The Moldovan government instituted visa requirements for Romanian citizens and closed theborder between Romania and Moldova on 7 April. Moldovan students studying in Romania and international journalists were not allowed to enter the country. The following day, train connections between Romania and Moldova were cancelled for undefined period, because of "technical" issues.[19] Romania announced that it will not reciprocate on the expelling of the ambassador and it will keep the same visa regime, with visas free-of-charge for Moldovan citizens.[16] It also condemned as "arbitrary and discriminatory" the new measures brought against Romanian nationals in Moldova and has stated that the visa scheme was "reckless" and broke a Moldova-EU pact.[20]
The Romanian government changed the regulations that allow foreigners who had ancestors with Romanian citizenship (including most Moldovans) to gain theRomanian citizenship. The new law allows people with at least a Romanian great-grandparent (instead of just a grandparent as before) to request Romanian citizenship, while it added a maximum term of five months for giving a response to the request.[21]
On 9 February 2010, theRomanian Parliament approved a new ambassador to Moldova,Marius Lazurcă.
Time later, on 20 April 2012, Moldova and Romania signed a Defence Cooperation Agreement.[22] The agreement was expanded on 21 June 2024.[23]
Under PresidentIgor Dodon, bilateral relations deteriorated significantly. Throughout his presidency, Dodon never undertook an official visit to the Romanian capital ofBucharest. In March 2018, he announced his belief that Romanians who support the unification of Moldova and Romania as the country's "number one enemy", going further in an interview withRadio Free Europe by saying that the Bucharest government supports any attempt at unionism.[24][25] Even further, Dodon, was greatly and staunchly against EU membership. Despite this deterioration, Dodon, during a meeting with PresidentKlaus Iohannis inNew York City, said that the development of Romanian relations was a "key priority" for his government.[26][27] In May 2020, during aFacebook fight with RomanianMEPSiegfried Mureșan, Moldovan Prime MinisterIon Chicu declared Romania to be the most corrupt country in Europe. Chicu's words caused controversy in Romania, with a Romanian deputy requesting the withdrawal of Chicu's Romanian citizenship. Chicu would later apologize during a meeting with the Romanian ambassador in MoldovaDaniel Ioniță.[28]
Moldova under the currentpresidency of Maia Sandu has reoriented to become much more pro-Romanian and pro-Western, despite Russian pressure.[29]
During theinternational andnational COVID-19 pandemic, she had a meeting with Iohannis atChișinău on 29 December 2020. On it, Iohannis promised that Romania would donate 200,000 vaccine units to Moldova as part of acollaboration program on matters of the COVID-19 pandemic and other topics between the two countries.[30]
Sandu accelerated the process for Moldova's integration into the EU, and has declared that "the Republic will integrate into the European space with the help of Romania".[31]Moldova formally applied to join the EU in March 2022, after growing concern over Russian expansionism (as seen in Ukraine), and was granted candidate status in June 2022.
Public support in Moldova for union with Romania has significantly risen since Sandu took power, jumping to 42.5% in the last poll in November 2022,[32] compared to only 24% support in 2018.[33] Sandu herself has said that she would vote "yes" in a hypothetical unification referendum.[34]
On 2 March 2023, the Moldovan parliament passed a law affirming that the state language wasRomanian and not "Moldovan",[35] clearing up previous ambiguities.[36] The idea was supported by the rulingParty of Action and Solidarity and was strongly opposed by theBloc of Communists and Socialists.[37][38] TheAcademy of Sciences of Moldova also supported this decision.[39]
A movement for the unification of Moldova and Romania began in both countries after theRomanian Revolution and theglasnost policy in theSoviet Union, advocating the peaceful integration of the two states. Individuals supporting the movement are called "Unioniști" (Unionists). In Moldova, those against the movement are called "Moldoveniști" (Moldovenists).[40] Unionist organizations in Romanian and in Moldovan civil society include "Noii Golani" (The NewHooligans)[41] or "Deșteptarea" (The Awakening).[42]
When theRibbentrop-Molotov Pact was signed, the territories between thePrut and theDniester 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.
In the aftermath of the2009 Chișinău riots, director of the Moscow Institute for National StrategyStanislav Belkovsky reaffirmed his support for the movement, declaring he believes the civil unrest to be a prelude of a political union between the countries. Belkovsky had already authored another plan for the unification between Romania and Moldova, notably excludingTransnistria, which would either become an independent republic or, if it is unviable on its own, unite with Ukraine.[43]
On 29 November 2013,Georgia andMoldova signed the association agreements with theEuropean Union at a summit inVilnius dedicated to the EU'sEastern Partnership countries.[44] In this context, the Romanian PresidentTraian Băsescu stated that Romania's next project of national importance is the reunification of the two countries, reunification demanded on the streets ofBucharest,Chișinău andBălți by tens of thousands of people.[45] More than three quarters of Romanian citizens agree with an eventual union with Moldova, according to an opinion poll conducted by IRES in November 2013.[46] A press release of the pro-union organizationAction 2012 claimed that a poll conducted in Moldova, excludingTransnistria andGagauzia, before theannexation of Crimea by Russia in February 2014 and revealed that 52% of Moldovan citizens would want the union with Romania.[47]
In 2017, theDay of the Union of Bessarabia with Romania commemorating the union between both on 27 March was officially promulgated in Romania.[48]Eugen Tomac, then deputy of thePeople's Movement Party (PMP) and main person behind this project, declared that "forgetting history is the same as betrayal".[49] Although it is not officially recognised in Moldova despite attempts to make it so,[50] unionists in Moldova[51][52] and Transnistria celebrate it regardless.[53]
In 2018, celebrating the centenary of theGreat Union (the unification of Romania with Bessarabia,Bukovina andTransylvania), a demonstration called theCentenary March was organized by several Romanian and Moldovan activists for unification.[54] It started inAlba Iulia on 1 July 2018 and ended in Chișinău on 1 September 2018.[55] One of its main objectives was to achieve the unification of Moldova with Romania. The participants tried to collect 1 million signatures for the organization of areferendum.[56] Although at first the Moldovan authorities prohibited the participants to cross the border, they were allowed to enter later.[57][58]
A 2013 study by theSoros Foundation found that from the passing of theRomanian citizenship law in 1991 until the end of 2012, the number of successful applications from Moldova was 323,049.[59] This is an increase of 96,542 successful applications since 15 August 2011.[60] In the same period, the number of applications was 449,783, meaning that around 125,000 applications still need to be finalised.[59] In 2011 and 2012, 100,845 and 87,015 applications were submitted respectively.[59]
The actual number of persons granted citizenship in these applications remains unclear because each application may includeminors dependent on the adult filing. The number of persons is estimated to be around 400,000, with a potential of 150,000 more persons if all outstanding applications are successful.[59]
In 2001, theEU pressured Romania to require aninternational passport for all Moldovan travelers.Immediately thereafter, a substantial number of Moldovans began to apply for Romanian citizenship. Unofficial data from 2001 suggested that about 200,000 Moldovans also held Romanian citizenship, despite the fact that dual citizenship was officially illegal in Moldova at the time. Due to the overwhelming number of applications, the Romanian embassy imposed a moratorium in 2002. Dual citizenship became an election issue during the2003 local elections in Moldova. In November that year, the Moldovan parliament passed a law which allowed dual citizenship; this applied to other countries besides Romania, particularly Russia and Ukraine.[61]
Between 1991 and 2006, 95,000Moldovans have obtained Romanian citizenship.[62] In September 2007, Romania resumed its policy of granting (orrestoring as it says) Romanian citizenship to Moldovans who requested it. In response, the Communist-led Moldovan parliament passed a law (in October 2007[63]) prohibiting anyone holding dual citizenship or residing abroad from holdingpublic office.[12]: 203 In 2009, Romania granted 36,000 more citizenships and expects to increase the number up to 10,000 per month.[64][65] Romanian presidentTraian Băsescu claimed that over 1 million more have made requests for it, and this high number is seen by some as a result of this identity controversy. TheCommunist government (2001–2009), a vocal advocate of a distinct Moldovan ethnic group, deemedmultiple citizenship a threat to Moldovan statehood.[66][67]
The Moldavian law limiting the political rights of dual-citizenship holders was challenged to theEuropean Court of Human Rights in the case ofTanase v. Moldova. On 27 April 2010, the Grand Chamber of the ECHR decided the ban was "disproportionate with the government’s purpose of ensuring loyalty" of its public servants and members of parliament.[68]
One applicant interviewed byDer Spiegel said: "I want to go further West with this passport. I don't care about Romania."[69] TheEU Observer wrote "Many Moldovans regard the Romanian passport as the key to the EU, according to Marian Gherman, a Bucharest prosecutor whose office has investigated a network of touts and bureaucrats who were expediting citizenship applications for money. “Everybody knows it,” he said. “They ask for Romanian citizenship only because it gives them the freedom to travel and work within the EU.” An official from the National Citizenship Authority, NCA, in Bucharest, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed that Moldovans had shown little interest in acquiring Romanian nationality until 2007."[70]
Sandu's election in 2020 realigned Moldovan foreign policy towards Romania, a major departure from the anti-EU, pro-Russia position of her predecessor, Igor Dodon.
... Moldova's 1991 declaration of independence called the nation's language "Romanian" while the 1994 constitution labeled it Moldovan.
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