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On-Line-Journal-No.18-March-2016 On-line Journal Modelling the New Europe Issue no. 18/2016 Scientific Committee: • Prof. Dr. Gérard BOSSUAT, European Union Liaison Committee of Historians/ Professor Emeritus, Université de Cergy- Pontoise, France • Prof. Dr.dr.h.c. Wichard WOYKE, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Munster, Germany • Prof. Dr. Wilfried LOTH, President of the European Union Liaison Committee of Historians/Duisburg-Essen University, Germany • Prof. Dr. phil. habil Michael GEHLER, Universität Hildesheim, Germany • Prof. Dr. Dr.h.c. Reinhard MEYERS, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität, Munster, Germany • Prof. Dr. Dietmar WILSKE, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität, Munster, Germany • Prof. Dr. Sylvain SCHIRMANN, Director of the Institut d’études Politiques de Strasbourg, France • Prof. Dr. Ioan HORGA, Institute for Euroregional Studies, University of Oradea • Prof. Dr. George POEDE, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iaşi, Iași • Prof. Dr. Nicu GAVRILUTA, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iaşi, Iași • Prof. Dr. Vasile PUȘCAȘ, Babeş-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca • Prof. Dr. Ovidiu PECICAN, Faculty of European Studies, Babeș-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca • Prof. Dr. Marius JUCAN, Faculty of European Studies, Babeș-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca • Prof. Dr. Gheorghe CLIVETI, “Alexandru Ioan Cuza” University, Iaşi • Assoc. Prof. Dr. Adrian BASARABA, West University, Timişoara • Assoc. Prof. Dr. Mircea MANIU, Faculty of European Studies, Babeș-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca • Assoc. Prof. Dr. Simion COSTEA, Petru Maior University, Tg. Mureș • Assoc. Prof. Dr. Liviu ȚÎRĂU, Faculty of European Studies, Babeș-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca • Assoc. Prof. Dr. Georgiana CICEO, Babeş-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca • Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nicoleta RACOLTA-PAINA, Babeş-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca • Assoc. Prof. Dr. Florin DUMA, Faculty of European Studies, Babeș-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca • Assist. Prof. Dr. Mariano BARBATO (Professor DAAD), Babeș-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca • Dr. Titus POENARU, Industry, Research and Energy (Policy Advisor), EP Brussels • Dr. Gilda TRUICĂ, European Institute of Romania, Head of Communication Unit Editorial Staff Prof. Dr. Nicolae PĂUN: [email protected] Assoc. Prof. Dr. Georgiana CICEO: [email protected] Lect. Dr. Miruna Andreea BALOSIN: [email protected] Lect. Dr. Adrian CORPĂDEAN: [email protected] Lect. Dr. Horațiu DAN: [email protected] Lect. Dr. Delia Flanja: [email protected] The On-line Journal Modelling the New Europe is opened to PhD students, young researchers, and academic staff interested to promote researches and present different perspectives on the EU. The papers should provide an analysis of economic, social, cultural and political perspectives and developments on subjects concerning the European Union 1 On-line Journal Modelling the New Europe Issue no. 18/2016 CONTENTS SECTION: MULTICULTURALISM, INTERCULTURALITY, MIGRATIONS, ENCOUNTERS BETWEEN CULTURES I. Valentin NAUMESCU: ALTERNATION IN POWER IN BUCHAREST AND CHIŞINĂU AND THE DISCOURSE ON ROMANIAN-MOLDOVAN RELATIONS II. Ella KALLAI, Mircea MANIU: DEVELOPMENT ON THE MOVE: OPTIMISING THE ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL IMPACTS OF MIGRATION SECTION: EUROPEAN IDENTITY, THE IDEA OF EUROPE III. Alice CUNHA, Maria Teresa PAULO: THE PORTUGUESE PARLIAMENT AND EUROPEAN AFFAIRS: AN ASSESSMENT OF PLENARY DEBATES IV. Mihai SAFTA: IS EUROPEANISM A LEGACY OF THE SECOND MIDDLE AGES? A HISTORICAL COMPARATIVE RESEARCH OF THE PAN- EUROPEAN IDENTITY IN THE LIBER AUGUSTALIS (1231) AND PANEUROPA (1923) SECTION: CONTEMPORARY CULTURE V. Lavinia–Elena VIERU: REPRESENTATION OF PORTRAITS IN MURALS OF IMPORTANT WALLACHIA LEADERS FROM THE SEVENTEENTH- EIGHTEENTH CENTURIES VI. Diana-Adela DINU: KEY ELEMENTS PERTAINING TO BAUDRILLARD’S ANALYSIS OF POSTMODERN CULTURE AND SOCIETY VII. Sumit GHOSE: EUROPEAN SOCIAL INTEGRATION: JEAN RENOIR AHEAD OF HIS TIMES SECTION: COMMUNICATION VIII. Cristiana SENIGAGLIA: A CONCEPT OF ETHICAL COMMUNICATION FOR EUROPE 2 On-line Journal Modelling the New Europe Issue no. 18/2016 IX. Grigore SILASI, Monica BOLDEA: SUBCULTURE AND THE KNOWLEDGE-BASED SOCIETY X. Gabriel C. GHERASIM: THE IDEOLOGY OF GRUPPE 47, BETWEEN LITERARY POLITICS AND POLITICS OF LITERATURE. A TRANSATLANTIC STORY. SECTION: EDUCATION XI. Aniela MATEI, Bertha SĂNDULEASA: CHALLENGES FOR AN EFFECTIVE EDUCATIONAL PARTNERSHIP BETWEEN FAMILY AND ECEC SERVICES IN ROMANIAN CONTEXT XII. Pablo M. TESTA, Fátima G. CANDELA, Rafael MORENO-GÓMEZ-TOLEDO, Griselda VILAR SASTRE, Pablo R. AYUSO, Cristian S. SAN SEGUNDO, Andrés RODRÍGUEZ AYUSO: BETWEEN PERCEPTION 3 On-line Journal Modelling the New Europe Issue no. 18/2016 Section: Multiculturalism, interculturality, migrations, encounters between cultures 4 On-line Journal Modelling the New Europe Issue no. 18/2016 ALTERNATION IN POWER IN BUCHAREST AND CHIŞINĂU AND THE DISCOURSE ON ROMANIAN-MOLDOVAN RELATIONS Valentin NAUMESCU Associate Professor, PhD Habil. Faculty of European Studies, Babeş-Bolyai University Cluj-Napoca. [email protected] Abstract: The article explores the political consequences of successive alternations in power in Bucharest and Chişinău on the bilateral relations between Romania and the Republic of Moldova. The main interrogation is whether and how Romania’s accession in the European and Euro-Atlantic order influenced the way in which both capitals relate to each other. As the comparative research clearly indicates, predictability and consistency in foreign policy is to a large extent depending on the status of the country in relations to a stable system of values, policies and institutions. Keywords: Romania, Republic of Moldova, alternation in power, Romanian-Moldovan relations, European integration. 1. Introduction Under the historical name of Bessarabia, the Republic of Moldova belonged until 1940 (excepting the secessionist region of Transnistria) to Romania. Using the Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact of August 1939 and its secret clause regarding the “Soviet interest for Bessarabia” (Wilson Center Digital Archive, 1939), Stalin decided to occupy the region in June 1940, giving an ultimatum to the Romanian government to leave immediately the territory between the Prut and the Dniester Rivers. In August 1991, amid the disintegration of the Soviet Union, the Republic of Moldova declared its sovereignty. Romania was the first country to recognize the new 5 On-line Journal Modelling the New Europe Issue no. 18/2016 state, as Charles King noticed, “a few hours after the declaration of independence” (King, 2004, 64), which was later seen as a very controversial issue of “lost opportunity”, still dividing politicians, historians, analysts and public opinion on both sides of the River Prut. 2. Transfer of power in the post-communist Romania and the Republic of Moldova: benchmarks and political relevancy Once the totalitarian regimes were dismantled in both states, at the end of the Cold War (1989), respectively after the collapse of the Soviet Union (1991), the successive transfers of power from one president/government to another, in now politically pluralistic Romania and the Republic of Moldova, have been usually non-violent and based on constitutional, democratic mechanisms reflecting the will of voters. With the exception of the April 2009 riots in Chişinău, followed in a few months by the dissolution of the Parliament and early general elections leading to the resignation of the former Communist President Vladimir Voronin, the overwhelming majority of government changes as well as the sequence of presidential terms, both in Romania and the Republic of Moldova, were peaceful and based on the results of elections at the end of electoral cycles or changes of majority in the legislative. From this perspective, Moldova has been a notable exception among the non-EU and non-NATO post-Soviet republics, having no “color revolution” and no dramatic change of power. Taking into consideration the former Soviet Union, only the Baltic republics have had more successful political transitions but this group of countries is being part of the European Union and NATO since 2004, meeting therefore higher democratic standards. Considering Moldova the most democratic state in the post-Soviet space (with the already mentioned exception of the Baltic countries), Nicu Popescu sees the transfer of power in Chişinău as “widespread use of administrative resources and perhaps small-scale fraud (2–4 percent) here and there, but Moldova has largely avoided the massive fraud that has often canceled outright the value of elections in many post-Soviet states” (Popescu, 2012, 38). On a different analytical tone and with a more critical approach, Lucan Way describes the Moldovan politics as “pluralism by default” and affirms that “Moldova lacks 6 On-line Journal Modelling the New Europe Issue no. 18/2016 most of the qualities that social scientists consider critical for democratic development. […] Prospects for pluralism in Moldova would also seem to be threatened by divisions over national identity” (Way, 2002, 127-141). According to Lucan Way, local political pluralism would be therefore only the result of government fragmentation within the post- Soviet system of interests and also a consequence of the societal division between the Romanian-speaking western and central zone and a Slavic-speaking, highly industrialized zone in the separatist region of Transnistria. It is also important to mention that Moldova revised the Constitution in 1999 and switched to a parliamentary republic. This way, Moldova grew apart from the post- communist
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