Rally in Support of Moldova – Romania Union

The union of the neighbouring Republic of Moldova with Romania was again at the forefront of Romanian politics this past weekend.

Bogdan Matei, 24.10.2016, 14:12

Only about 2,000 people, substantially fewer than the organisers had expected, took part on Saturday in Bucharest in a new rally in support of the Republic of Moldova joining Romania. According to the participants, many of whom were coming from the neighbouring country, in the current geopolitical context the union of the two countries is the only solution for the ethnic Romanians in Moldova to secure their protection by the EU and NATO, which Romania is a member of, and to thwart a prospective Russian aggression similar to the one against Ukraine. Moreover, the Romanian, and therefore European citizenship, would guarantee their access to the Western standards of lawfulness, prosperity and democracy.

Already a tradition in Bucharest, such pro-Bessarabia rallies have been organised since 2012, when they commemorated 200 years since the first annexation of this Romanian province by the then Tsarist Russia. The Republic of Moldova was established on part of the territory of this province, which returned within Romanian borders after World War I, but was once again annexed by the Soviet Union in 1940.

This time, the protesters demanded that the union be embraced by Romanian politicians as the next national project. On Sunday, after talks with the leaders of the main parties taking part in the parliamentary elections of December 11, the Unionists said they had been assured things were moving in the direction they wanted. They had meetings with officials of the Social Democratic Party, which has a majority in the current Parliament, of ALDE, headed by the Senate Speaker Calin Popescu Tariceanu, and Peoples Movement Party, led by ex-President Traian Basescu, and of the Save Romania Union and United Romania Party, which have no representatives in Parliament at present.

Unlike past unionist rallies, however, incidents were reported between the participants and gendarmes this weekend. A few protesters tried to push through the security forces blocking their access to Calea Victoriei, a major road in Bucharest which they had not been authorized to enter. Arrested by the police, five of them, including the leader of the unionist movement George Simion were detained for several hours before the police allowed them to walk out. However, much to the delight of the opponents of the union, footage of the clashes between the participants and police has been aired by Romanian and foreign television channels.

Under these circumstances, the peaceful participants in the rally and the media supporting the unionist cause admit that Saturdays incidents put wind in the sails of the leader of the pro-Russian Socialists in the Republic of Moldova, Igor Dodon. A fierce opponent of the West in general and Romania in particular, and seen by many as Moscows puppet, Dodon is the most likely to win the presidential elections of October 30, according to opinion polls. And on Saturday he got unexpected help precisely from where he had least expected it.