BACKGROUND PROFILE ROMANIAN - MOLDOVAN CASE STUDY SUMMARY Faculty of Philosophy, Department of Sociology and Social Work,“Al.I.Cuza” University ,DúL5RPDQLD GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATION Romania: Southeastern Europe, bordering the Black Sea, between Bulgaria to the South and Ukraine to the North Geographic coordinates: 46 00 N, 25 00 E Area: total: 237,500 sq km; Population: 22,303,552 (July 2006 est.) Moldova: Eastern Europe, northeast of Romania Geographic coordinates: 47 00 N, 29 00 E Area: total: 33,843 sq km; Population: 4,466,706 (July 2006 est.) IMPORTANT HISTORICAL EVENTS Moldova's territory was inhabited in ancient times by Dacians. Due to its strategic location on a route between Asia and Europe, Moldova has suffered from several invasions, including those of the Kievan Rus' and the Mongols. During the Middle Ages the territory of Republic of Moldova (including most of present-day Moldova but also including districts to the north and south, known as Northern Bukovina and Budjak) formed the eastern part of the principality of Moldavia (which, like the present-day republic, was known in Romanian as "Moldova"). Following the Russian Revolution of 1917, Bessarabia proclaimed independence from Russia in 1918, and united with the Kingdom of Romania the same year. In accordance with the June 1940 Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact with Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union forced Romania to evacuate its administration from Bessarabia and Northern Bukovine and immediately annexed these territories. Although Soviet troops were forced out in 1941 by the invasion of Axis forces, the Soviet Union re-occupied and annexed the area in August 1944. Along with the other peripheral Soviet republics, Moldova started to move towards independence from 1989 onwards; in August 1989 a language law was passed, adopting the Latin alphabet for Moldovan and declaring it the state language of the MSSR [1] . In August 1991, Moldova declared its independence and in December of that year became a member 1 of the post-Soviet Commonwealth of Independent States along with most of the former Soviet republics. At the end of that year, an ex-communist reformer, Mircea Snegur, won an election for the presidency. Four months later, the country achieved formal recognition as an independent state at the United Nations. PRIOR-EU ENLARGEMENT: KEY DEBATES BETWEEN 1996-2006 Regarding bilateral relations Romania - Republic of Moldova The history of recent relationships between Romania and Republic of Moldova had a sinuous evolution. The most debated subjects were: mvement for unification of Romania and Moldova; Transnistria; Moldovan or Romanian language; visa regimen and dual citizenship Regarding bilateral relations Romania – EU Main steps towards the EU1: Romania was the first country of Central and Eastern Europe to have official relations with the European Community. In 1974, an agreement included Romania in the Community's Generalised System of Preferences. Romania's diplomatic relations with the European Union date from 1990, and a Trade and Co-operation Agreement was signed in 1991. The Europe Agreement entered into force in February 1995. Trade provisions had entered into force in 1993 through an "Interim Agreement". On 22 June 1995, Romania submitted its application for EU membership. In July 1997, the Commission published an "Opinion on Romania's Application for Membership of the European Union". In its second Regular Report on Romania's Progress towards Accession published in October 1999, the Commission recommended starting accession negotiations with Romania (conditional on the improvement of the situation of children in institutional care and the drafting of a medium-term economic strategy). Following the Helsinki European Council's decision in December 19992, accession negotiations started with Romania on 15 February 2000. The European Council of 12 December 2003 stated the Union’s determination to conclude negotiations in 2004 – if there is “further progress on the ground”- and set the objective of welcoming Romania as member state in January 2007. The Accession treaty, further to the assent of the European Parliament on 13 April 2005, was subsequently signed in Luxembourg on 25 April 2005. The signature marks the completion of the fifth enlargement of the EU. From now on, Romania is considered as an “acceding State”, and participates, since 26 September 2005, as an active observer in virtually all the committees and bodies of the EU. Regarding bilateral relations Moldova – EU Political and legal foundations3: The Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (PCA) is the legal basis for EU relations with Moldova. With the joint adoption of the EU-Moldova Action Plan on 22 February 2005, the EU and Moldova have further reinforced their bilateral relationship, providing a new tool to help implement the PCA and bring Moldova closer to the EU. The TACIS Program is the framework for technical assistance to support agreed objectives. The Partnership & Cooperation Agreement (PCA) came into force in July 1998 for an initial period of ten years. It establishes the institutional framework for bilateral relations, sets the principal common objectives, and calls for activities and dialogue in a number of policy areas. Moldova welcomed EU enlargement and signed on 30 April 2004 the protocol extending the PCA to the new EU member states. The main instrument to implement the 1 http://ec.europa.eu/comm/enlargement/romania/eu_relations.htm 2 (Presidency conclusions of all European Summits can be found on the European Council’s webpage: http://ue.eu.int/cms3_fo/showPage.asp?id=432&lang=en&mode=g.) 3 http://ec.europa.eu/comm/external_relations/moldova/intro/index.htm 2 European Neighborhood Policy is the Action Plan developed jointly by the EU and Moldova and jointly adopted at the Cooperation Council on 22 February 2005. The institutional framework The bilateral institutionalized contacts are to a large extent determined by the PCA. The Co- operation Council (annual) at Ministerial/Commissioner level (EU-Presidency, European Commission, High Representative, Government of Moldova) has the overall responsibility for the running of the PCA. Last meeting took place on 22 February 2005. Along with TACIS, Moldova has benefited from other EC instruments: • Macro-financial aid through balance of payments loans • Humanitarian assistance • Food Security Program • European Initiative for Democracy and Human Rights Cross-border cooperation initiatives have developed in the following domains: • Education and science • Society and culture • Economy • Fighting cross-border crime and securing borders; • Environment protection • Local and regional government cooperation POST-EU ENLARGEMENT (PROGNOSIS) The evolution of the bilateral relations following the moment Romanian joins the EU will be marked by the increased opportunities for economic development expected to appear West of the Prut. The existing context within the Republic of Moldova may encourage interest of an important number of individuals and organisations in Romania. Trends towards permanent or temporary migration may also develop. Elements encouraging emigration (rejection factors) : • the economic situation in the Republic of Moldova: one of the most difficult in Europe ; • political situation : charges brought to a democracy still to young and hesitant; • the conflict in Transnistria, albeit a "frozen" conflict. • Elements encouraging immigration (attraction factors) : • the economic situation in Romania : still difficult but incomparably better than in Moldova and with potential for rapid growth ; • political situation: stable and functioning according to the EU practices ; • linguistic sameness and quasi-sameness of customs; • large numbers of young people from the Republic of Moldova having graduated from Romanian high-schools; • legislation allowing former Romanian citizens and their descendants to request Romanian citizenship. This is a theoretical opportunity, because in practice it is very difficult to obtain the citizenship. The economic agreements signed between the two countries encourage each side to use the existing opportunities of accessing third-party markets. The EU has already opened financing 3 lines for cross-border cooperation projects between Romanian and the Republic of Moldova in the structural, economic, social and cultural fields. Romania is a supporter of Moldova's interests before the regional, European and international bodies of which Moldova is not yet a member, and states – as often as the opportunity presents itself – that the safest and the most beneficial way of developing the relations between these two countries is within the future borders of the European Union. Satellite Image of Northeastern Romania and Moldova 4.