The wish to come closer to the European space has always existed and was expressed in different ways by Moldovan society. A continuous struggle needs to be led to secure the European integration desideratum, Igor Sharov, rector of the Moldova State University, stated in a public debate hosted by IPN.

“The revolutions after 1848, which embraced the whole Europe – the Revolution in France, the Revolution in Muntenia, the Revolution in Transylvania, the Revolutionary Movement in Moldova, this national spirit that embraced the whole Europe, which led to the Union of the Romanian Principalities in 1859, the unification of Italy, the unification of Germany – were a logical process in the 19th century. Our main problem is that Bessarabia didn’t take part in this lesson and the reminiscences are very serious,” stated Igor Sharov.

He invited the participants in the debate to think when this territory of Bessarabia had success in history. He noted that if we go back into the past, we can see that this territory profited from particular opportunities ‘when Russia was weakened’, but there were also other factors, such as the favorable international context.

“Every time, the fulfillment of our dreams and the European acceptance of things were related to struggle. Nothing has changed so far. We return again to a historical perspective. The Russian world, false theories, the year 1859. The lessons of history should be learned. When we systematize them from a historical perspective, the results for us are rather clear. The struggle was, is and continues,” stated Igor Sharov.

The rector noted that this struggle could be seen also after the Republic of Moldova obtained Independence. These processes could not be stopped regardless of the governments that followed. Any attempt by the authorities to treat the problems of history, language in any period were penalized and ended in failure. There is the incapacity to learn some of the lessons and we should not be ashamed to learn from the development partners, primarily from Romania, which has this experience.

Igor Sharov said that the support of society is an important factor for the European integration process. “Both from a historical perspective and from the perspective of the developments after 1991, we practically didn’t have periods during which we could achieve this desideratum in society or at policy level,” be stated.

The public debate entitled “European genealogy tree of Moldova” was the 22nd installment of IPN’s project “Impact of the Past on Confidence and Peace Building Processes” which is supported by the Hanns Seidel Foundation of Germany.