A legislative proposal submitted by the fringe, far-right SOS Romania party regarding the union of Romania with the Republic of Moldova was adopted tacitly on Wednesday, June 24, by the Chamber of Deputies. The bill has not yet entered into force, since the upper chamber of the Parliament, the Senate, is the decision-making body in this case, but it has already prompted negative reactions from both Moldova and Russia.

The document authorises the Government of Romania to begin “urgent” negotiations with the authorities in Chișinău for the “finalisation of the union with the Republic of Moldova.” According to the text of the legislative proposal, after the adoption of the law and its publication in the Official Gazette, the competent international authorities, the Government of the Republic of Moldova, the United States of America, NATO, the UN, and the European Union would be notified for the implementation of the provisions of the law.

At the same time, the bill reaffirms the initiators’ attachment to the provisions of the Final Act of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE) in Helsinki, which allows the modification of borders through peaceful and diplomatic means.

In a reaction to the Romanian bill, the spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, Maria Zakharova, ironically advises the West to apply the term "annexation" in relation to Romania's intention regarding the Republic of Moldova, given that it is used especially in relation to Crimea, the Ukrainian territory unilaterally annexed by Moscow in 2014, and the four regions in southeastern Ukraine declared to belong to the Russian Federation after the Russian invasion in 2022.

Zaharova accuses that plans have been made in Bucharest for a long time regarding the annexation of Moldova, but she emphasised that even within the Romanian power structures, there is no full consensus on this matter, according to Digi24.

In another reaction to the bill, the president of Moldova, Maia Sandu, said in an interview with Pro TV Chișinău, that the union with Romania has always been an option for a part of the society in the Republic of Moldova, but that it can only be achieved through a massive vote of the citizens.

Maia Sandu rejected the political relevance of the project promoted by SOS Romania, which she said would aim to compromise the idea of ​​union.

Maia Sandu suggested that the document should not be treated as a serious or relevant political approach for achieving union.

"I don't think we need to discuss this document, because it's a document that was proposed by a Moscow agent, and the purpose of this action is to discredit the idea of ​​union," Sandu said, quoted by G4media.

(Photo: Sjankauskas/ Dreamstime)

iulian@romania-insider.com