Today marks 105 years since the moment of the Union of Bessarabia with the Kingdom of Romania, following the vote by the Country Council in Chisinau, on 27 March 1918, of the Declaration of Union.

“This act confirmed, in a period of great transformations on the entire European continent, the deep community of language, history, culture and spirituality shared by the inhabitants of both sides of the Prut river”, according to the Minister of Foreign Affairs in Bucharest, Bogdan Aurescu, who came with a message on this occasion.

“It is a national holiday, as established by Law No. 36, promulgated on 27 March 2017 by the President of Romania. This year, its marking is all the more special as it takes place just a few days after the promulgation by the President of the Republic of Moldova of the Law confirming that the state language of the Republic of Moldova is Romanian.

Bucharest and Chisinau are now joining forces for the essential common goal of Moldova’s accession to the European Union. This is a priority objective of Romania’s foreign policy, firmly committed since 2010 when the bilateral Strategic Partnership for the European integration of the Republic of Moldova was concluded. A goal that has become closer after, on 23 June 2022, with Romania’s strong and important support, the Republic of Moldova became a candidate state for EU membership.

We are facing a complex, difficult period, in which the Republic of Moldova is acutely feeling the consequences of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. The Republic of Moldova is going through overlapping crises, the most aggressive of which are artificially targeted against it, including destabilising actions aimed at derailing the European course democratically chosen by the citizens of the Republic of Moldova.

Romania has been, is and will remain fully committed to supporting the Republic of Moldova. Whether we are talking about non-reimbursable financial assistance, support for reforms, for energy and transport interconnection with Romania and the EU, firm and priority support for EU integration, as well as support at European level to strengthen the resilience of the Republic of Moldova or to mobilise comprehensive international support for the Republic of Moldova, including through the Support Platform for the Republic of Moldova, which I initiated last year together with my counterparts in Germany and France.

We remain fully behind the Republic of Moldova in its efforts to offer stability and prosperity to all its citizens, in a society based on the rule of law and European values, in which the citizens of the Republic of Moldova so naturally find themselves”, Bogdan Aurescu said.

In 1918, the Council of the Country (Sfatul Țării in Romanian) in Chisinau, meeting in solemn session, voted for the Union of the Romanian province of Bessarabia with Romania. The president of the Council of the Country Ion Inculeț and the secretary Ion Buzdugan signed the Declaration of Union, which specified:

“The Moldovan Democratic Republic (Bessarabia) in its borders between the Prut, the Dniester, the Danube, the Black Sea and the old borders with Austria, torn by Russia one hundred and more years ago from the body of the old Moldavia, in the power of the historical right and the right of the nation, on the basis of the principle that the nations alone decide their own fate, from today onwards and forever unites with its mother Romania”, according to the work “History of Romania in dates” (Ed. Enciclopedica, 2003).