The unionist current in the Republic of Moldova is on the ascent. Polls show 20% of the Moldovan people are in favor of Moldova’s immediate union with Romania. But the unionist movement in Moldova is heterogeneous, political analyst Igor Botan said in an interview for Radio Free Europe, quoted by IPN.
He noted that there are Romantic unionists in Moldova who only sensitize the public opinion by all kinds of messages to the world leaders to help Moldova and Romania overcome the consequences of the Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact. “We have oscillating unionists and I refer first of all to Mihai Ghimpu, who says that the union does not bring votes and that’s why he invokes the necessity of the union when the moment is opportune and forgets about the union when things are calmer. And we also have a new generation of unionists who assert themselves on the civic dimension,” he said.
The analyst underlined that the idea of union is not yet supported by a roadmap. As to the unionists’ insistence that 2018 should be the year when Moldova will unite with Romania, he said that this is a wanted thing, but nobody contributes to achieving it by working out roadmaps.
“At least two basic elements are needed for starting work on a roadmap. Firstly, Romania should include a clause about the union of territories in its Constitution, as Germany, South Korea and the Russian Federation did,” said Igor Botan.
He also said that for those from Moldova to know that the rulers want to take part in drawing up a roadmap for ensuring the union, the latter should at least make effort to remove the obligation to swear an oath to serve the sovereignty and independence of Moldova from the Constitution. “I don’t think the current government is really interested in the union project, but seems to accept unionism under pressure,” stated the analyst.
Igor Botan noted that he saw young unionists who are sincere people who yet lack experience, but these can make effort. If they want their effort to be consistent, they must have the preliminary conditions and basic elements for thinking up a roadmap first. Judging by the behavior of the young unionists in 2015, they can do this.
