Romania and the Republic of Moldova marked on Saturday the 92nd anniversary of the March 27, 1918 union. The event was marked with special celebrations in Chisinau, attended by various Moldovan and Romanian officials, including acting Moldovan President Mihai Ghimpu and Romanian Chamber of Deputies’ Speaker Roberta Anastase. On the occasion, Anastase said Romania and Moldova will be able to “find each other” inside the European Union and underlined that Bucharest is Chisinau’s best advocate on the path toward EU accession.
Ghimpu said the importance of the 1918 union was tarnished during the Soviet era and by communist authorities who led Moldova in the last few years. “The act of the union was a part of a natural process to build Romanian unity. In 1918, everybody was told we were all Romanians, we shared the same history, we spoke the same language and that is why we were uniting,” Ghimpu said, quoted by Agerpres.
Anastase also invited Ghimpu on an official visit and talked about a possible partnership in the future between the two countries’ parliaments. In a message of congratulation, Senate foreign affairs committee leader Titus Corlatean welcomed the fact that the 1918 union can now be celebrated by both Romania and Moldova and voiced hope the two countries would be together once again in the European family.
Moldova and Romania united after World War I but after 22 years, the province was yielded to the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany, under the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. Moldova declared its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.
Ahead of Saturday’s Chisinau events, Moldova’s Interior Minister Victor Caitan was in Bucharest, to sign several collaboration protocols with his Romanian counterpart Vasile Blaga. One of the protocols regarded police and state border management cooperation, under a joint project of the Interior Ministry and the Foreign Ministry. On the occasion, Blaga said Romania does not wish to “give lessons” to Chisinau authorities, but only wants to share its experience. Caitan also gave FM Teodor Baconschi a piece of barbed wire from the fence that used to separate Romania from Moldova during Soviet rule.
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