Global Policy Forum

By Guy-Pierre Chomette

Almost no one crossed the Sculeni bridge over the Prut river between Romania and Moldova from 1945 to 2000. Both the USSR, which had taken in Moldova (former Romanian Bessarabia) in 1945, and Romania sealed the frontier. But in April 1990 the first free elections in the Soviet Socialist Republic of Moldova opened the way for supporters of reunification. A few weeks later, tens of thousands of Moldavians and Romanians converged on Sculeni. Yielding to popular pressure, the governments opened the border. The scenes on the bridge were as emotional as events in Berlin when the wall came down. In a powerful symbolic gesture, people tossed a flower into the river as they crossed the "bridge of flowers".

Those flowers have wilted. As Colonel Tudose, the officer commanding the Romanian border post, says: "We missed a chance. We should have reunified then. But the political determination was lacking on both sides. Now it's too late. The Moldavians have decided to look east, and we've turned west."

In December 1991 Mircea Snegur won Moldova's presidential election on an independence platform, ending dreams of reunification. There are several reasons why Moldavians lost interest so quickly (1). Romanian rule of Bessarabia (1918-40, 1941-44) left bad memories; power was concentrated in Bucharest; Romanian officials were brutal. At the beginning of the 1990s many Moldavians were afraid of absorption into a Greater Romania, and the political and economic conditions in Romania in 1990-92 dissuaded the Moldavians, who were better off at the time.

Reunification created tension among Moldova's ethnic minorities. The Gagauz, Turkish-speaking Christians from the south of the country (3.5% of a population of 4.5m), proclaimed independence in August 1990. Transnistria, a thin strip between the Dnestr river and the border with Ukraine, followed; here 60% of the population of 800,000 speaks Russian. Gagauz and Transnistria threatened secession if Moldova reunified with Romania. This cooled enthusiasm. When the time came to decide, Moldavians opted for independence, postponing plans for reunification, and though many still want it, it seems increasingly remote.

A shifting centre of gravity

The last decade has changed things, particularly since Romania started negotiating European Union membership. Relations with its neighbour have suffered. Romania's economic centre has shifted to Europe, although it is still a long way from regaining its prosperity of 10 years ago. In 2000 its GDP was only 82% of GDP for 1989. But it has had substantial development funds; between 1991-2000, the EU injected more than $1.1bn ($47 per capita). Direct investment since 1990 accounts for $7.2bn ($313 per capita). Moldova was not as fortunate. In 2000 GDP was 62% of the 1995 figure. In 1991-2000 it only received $86m in European aid ($19 per capita) and $495m in direct investment ($110 per capita). GDP in 1995 amounted to $1,568 per capita in Romania, and only $470 in Moldova. In 2000 it was still $1,540 in Romania, but $296 in Moldova (2).

Living standards have slipped less dramatically in Romania. Moldova has little claim on western support and is disoriented by the collapse of the Soviet economy. Life is extremely difficult. Even in the capital, Chisinau, water, electricity and heating are no longer dependable.

A rift is opening. Moldavians are beginning to feel inferior to Romanians, and accuse them of being condescending. Rosina and Ludmilla, who study at Cahul, in the south, say: "We have lots of friends who left to study in Brasov or Bucharest. When they come back they tell stories of being ignored and how their teachers look down on them, making fun of them in front of other students. Over there, we feel like poor relations."

Romania is targeting the EU and also Nato, to which it has applied for membership. Moldova has looked increasingly eastwards since the Communists won the elections last February. As in other eastern European countries, their return to power under a Social-Democrat label reflects the profound disenchantment of the electorate. The party openly favours a return to Russia's sphere of influence. Its leader, Vladimir Voronin, is a Russophile. He won the presidential election in April, after campaigning for Moldova to join the Russia-Belorussia union.

In Lipacani, in northern Moldova, Gheorghe, 58, is unemployed, as is half the population. He does repairs for friends, who give him fruit in exchange. He is Romanian, but that no longer means anything. "I couldn't give a damn about union with Romania," he says. "All I want is to eat. And I don't mind whether it's with Ukraine, Russia, or Romania." At the bottom of his vegetable garden there is a field, then the Prut, and on the other side Romania. Sometimes, he watches Romanians from the village opposite. Does he envy them? "In a few months' time they won't need a visa to enter the EU. But we will. What is worse, the border over there, they're closing it."

Brussels to blame

For Moldavians this is the most serious consequence of Romania's rapprochement with the EU. Since 1 July they have needed a passport to cross to Romania, whereas an ID card had been enough for a decade. Who is behind it? Everyone in Moldova is convinced that it is Brussels. As a condition for membership negotiations, the European Commission asked Romania to require Moldavians to carry a passport, supposedly to secure the border and restrict illegal immigrants from Asia. As a countermeasure, Moldova has introduced a similar rule (3).

The measures have hit the cross-border economy. For years many Moldavian farmers crossed to Romania every day to sell their produce where the standard of living is four times higher. But a Moldavian passport costs $30 in a country where the average monthly pay is $40. This is bound to affect informal trading. "It's the thin end of the wedge," explains Micha, 27, who lives in Giurgiulesti, a village on the southwest border. He imports and resells spare car-parts. "If one day the EU asks Romania to require visas, it will end the cross-border trading that provides a living for many here." Claudia crosses regularly to visit her daughter who is studying in Romania. She says: "I have four children and as many passports to buy. It's a lot of money. But I'm worried about my daughter and whether she will be able to study properly. Now it's passports. Who knows what they'll think of next."

Romania has promised to give Moldova $1m towards passports and the EU will donate the same amount. The Moldavian government is keen to encourage students by issuing free passports. But many people feel they have been rejected, and some feel doubly rejected, first by the EU and now by Romania.

It has not stopped them travelling to Western Europe. There are perhaps 600,000 Moldavians working illegally in the EU, although there is often nothing illegal about their entry. Costea, 30, comes from Balti, the second largest town. He started by trying to cross without papers and was turned back at the border between Poland and Ukraine. So he bought a Schengen visa. In Chisinau there are "travel agents". They wangle the necessary letters of invitation for embassies to issue tourist visas. Costea had to pay $1,250. On arriving in Paris he applied for political asylum. During the year that it took for his application to be processed and refused, he worked illegally on building sites. He claims to have earned $1,050 a month, two thirds of which he sent home to his wife Stella. She bought a 60 square metre flat for $2,600 and fitted it out "just like in the West", with a washing machine, dishwasher and shower, and water heaters.

Hundreds of thousands of Moldavians try their luck. Billboards for Western Union, the international fund transfer company, have sprung up all over the country. As Fortress Europe's new border hardens, is this flow of immigrants Moldova's last lifeline to the west?

Perhaps not. Although the government is officially against double citizenship, in practice it is easy for native speakers to obtain Romanian citizenship, and a passport. Thousands of Moldavians have travelled to Bucharest to complete the formalities perhaps as many as 500,000 of them, with a steep increase recently. In a few months Romanians will no longer need a Schengen visa to enter the EU. A passport will suffice. The Moldavians, pushed to Europe's outer limits by the spread of the EU, hope they have found a chink in the fortress wall.

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* Journalist

(1) See Vladimir Socor, "Why Moldova does not seek reunification with Romania?", Radio Free Europe-Radio Liberty Research Report, Prague, 31 January 1992.

(2) Sources: French Economic Development Agency in Bucharest; European Commission; French public-sector investment bank (Caisse des Dépí´ts et Consignations).

(3) The same problem arises on all the eastern borders of prospective members of the EU. Poland, for instance, has demanded a flexible approach to securing its border, justified by its special relations with the Ukraine. It only plans fully to apply the Schengen Convention on achieving membership.

(4) Romania is the last of the 10 central European countries applying for EU membership whose nationals still have to obtain a Schengen visa to enter the EU. The visa entitles its holder to travel freely in all the countries that signed the Schengen agreement.

Translated by Harry Forster

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