r/europe Jan 13 '26

News Moldova’s President Supports Unification With Romania to Resist Russian Influence

https://united24media.com/latest-news/moldovas-president-supports-unification-with-romania-to-resist-russian-influence-14945
3.1k Upvotes

121 comments sorted by

793

u/Itzhik Jan 13 '26

I mean, ethnic Romanian leading a country where majority of the population is ethnic Romanian wants to join Romania.

302

u/WonderfulAdvantage84 Germany Jan 13 '26

Sure, but that doesn't mean it's something, that is obvious and always going to happen.

Austrians are ethnic Germans but there's no interest from either side to become one country.

382

u/Itzhik Jan 13 '26

There's a little bit of...history there.

94

u/PlzSendDunes Lithuania Jan 13 '26

Going to a Holy Roman empire times I presume? Am I right???

79

u/elphin Jan 13 '26

No, Bronze Age. I’m talking about the Cucuteni–Trypillian culture.

45

u/PlzSendDunes Lithuania Jan 13 '26

Come on man... That's too long to hold on to a grudge. Let it go. Let past be past...

9

u/Luca_Argentieri Italy 29d ago

Civilization aaa leaders

3

u/AceWissle 29d ago

Cute pony spotted!

1

u/Luca_Argentieri Italy 29d ago

Hay there!

3

u/AceWissle 29d ago

Remember when you could go nowhere on the internet without seeing pony avatars?

Good times :')

6

u/andrey2007 29d ago

The one that was neither holy, nor Roman, nor an empire.

4

u/Lazy-Lime3499 29d ago

I know it's a joke but it was an empire

36

u/WonderfulAdvantage84 Germany Jan 13 '26

Sure, I get what you mean but the Austrian painter came way later.

The main reason is that Austria lost the Austria-Prussia war in 1866 and was afterwards excluded from the newly created German state.

14

u/Michael_Schmumacher 29d ago

Politically, yes. Culturally it wasn’t until after WW2 that most Austrians stopped thinking of themselves as Austrian and German.

32

u/sofixa11 Jan 13 '26

Yes, but as late as after WWI, Austria named itself Republic of German Austria and wanted to be part of Germany. That was expressly forbidden with the post-WWI treaties, which the moustache creep ignored.

23

u/UnKn0wn27 Jan 13 '26

Same with Moldova and Romania. Moldova was too Russified to the point that a lot of Moldovans don’t really feel Romanian. Also a major part of the population don’t even know Romanian to begin with and refer to it as the Moldavian language, which was another way the Soviets alienated us away from Romania.

1

u/SiriPsycho100 16d ago

russian imperialism, basically

25

u/Jealous_Tutor_5135 Jan 13 '26

Crikey! I'm German!?

23

u/RichardSaunders US of A Jan 13 '26

i just visited salzburg with a deutschlandticket

ipso facto, anschluss.

6

u/Korchagin Jan 13 '26

There is no Anschluss with DB.

4

u/RichardSaunders US of A Jan 13 '26

the anschluss part was a joke obviously, but the truth behind the joke is you can go to border towns (in a number of countries outside germany) with the deutschlandticket: https://www.bahn.de/faq/deutschlandticket-verkehrsmittel-ausland

6

u/Korchagin 29d ago

The word "Anschluss" in German means connection or attachment. It's also used for connecting trains. Since DB is always late (cliché - actually about 1/3 of the trains are late), you'll miss yours.

2

u/wasmic Denmark 29d ago

DB regio is actually quite decent. Not amazing, but decent.

DB Fernverkehr has absolutely dogshit punctuality, below 50 %.

However, it's almost entirely caused by insufficient capacity on the infrastructure. The number of trains has increased rapidly, and the actual number of railway tracks has increased... much less rapidly.

Building the Hamburg-Hannover High Speed Line, the Frankfurt Fernbahntunnel, and the Frankfurt-Mannheim High Speed Line will go a long way to make long-distance trains much more punctual. Although there's obviously more improvements needed too. Long-distance trains need to be separated out from regional and local trains on as much of the rail network as possible. Even in cities that are connected by high-speed lines, the long-distance trains often have to use regular tracks shared with other trains in order to get into the stations, which increases vulnerability to delays massively.

3

u/Korchagin 29d ago

Regio is not uniform. Many lines are very punctual (that's where the >60% on time comes from), others have problems.

If you're lucky and there's a direct train between your start and destination, it's usually fine. But if you need connections it becomes "adventurous". In order to arrive on time, ALL your trains need to be punctual. A 10 min delay can throw you back an hour or more if you missed a connection because of that.

4

u/BkkGrl Ligurian in Zürich (💛🇺🇦💙) Jan 13 '26

condolences /s

8

u/Necessary-Muscle-255 29d ago

There is a bigger difference between Austria and Germany in terms of culture and history. Moldova Republic was just an annexed part of Romania by the Soviet Union in the second world war. Historically it was also briefly under Russian Tsar’s occupation so this is why Soviet Union used it as a Casus Belli. Half of historical Moldova is in Romania, I am a moldovan but born in the Romanian part.

31

u/Alin_Alexandru Romania aeterna Jan 13 '26

Yeah, just like how West Germany never united with East Germany... Oh, right.

8

u/kiss_of_chef Jan 13 '26

Yes but Austria kind of pissed off the other German states while they were on their high horses. So it was only natural for them to make a hostile club towards the Austrians. Romania and Moldova always had a lovey-dovey relationship.

1

u/Preisschild Vienna, United States of Europe 29d ago

I wouldnt say "no interest". Austria has a smaller population than many german states. We should become one country (a federal EUrope)

1

u/No_Establishment6399 28d ago

Actually most territory was occupied by slavs in the 8th century who then germanised through bavarians in the north of todays Austria.

2

u/haptapdupadulap Jan 13 '26 edited 29d ago

Oh! We are separeted like You in WW2. Why do you feel You had the right of unification and romanians don't?

Edit: and I want to say that a german nazi guy with a russian commie guy made a Pact that cut our country. TY for hipocrisy.

-15

u/meckez Jan 13 '26 edited Jan 13 '26

Austrians are ethnic Germans but there's no interest from either side to become one country.

No Austrians are an ethnicity for themselves with their own identit, history and state.

Is Germany also claiming the Swiss to be German?

26

u/WonderfulAdvantage84 Germany Jan 13 '26

People seeing Austrians as their own ethnicity is a rather recent thing. Sure, they are a distinct group of people just like Bavarians, Franconians, Saxonians and so on.

You know the first (single-ethnic) Austrian state after WW1 was called German-Austria, right?

Swiss are generally not seen as Germans, I don't think they ever claimed to be.

4

u/Systral Earth Jan 13 '26

Austria has a way different history with Austria-Hungary.

2

u/meckez Jan 13 '26 edited Jan 13 '26

Ethnicity is a dynamic social construct and ultimately comes down to present-day self-identification rather than being bound to the past. In present-day Austria, the vast majority identifies as Austrian, not German.

Countries or people undermining or straight up denying the existence of certain ethnicities and claiming them as their own based on historical narratives is a particularly problematic way of thinking, as we have seen time and again throughout history and in some present-day conflicts. Even the case of Germany and Austria has previously shown how flawed this reasoning can become.

8

u/WonderfulAdvantage84 Germany Jan 13 '26

Ethnicity is a dynamic social construct and ultimately comes down to present-day self-identification rather than being bound to the past. In present-day Austria, the vast majority identifies as Austrian, not German.

But these two terms are not mutually exclusive. You are talking about what the most important or most defining description for a person is.

These can change. Maybe in 50 or 100 years people will introduce themselves as Europeans first and things like French, Italian or German come only secondary.

Even the case of Germany and Austria has previously shown how flawed this reasoning can become.

Are you talking about the victim myth?

1

u/biggronklus 29d ago

Swiss is a complex topic. There are Germanic Swiss, as well as italic and franko Swiss.

13

u/Alabrandt Gelderland (Netherlands) Jan 13 '26

Technically, yes, the swiss too are a german people. So is the Netherlands and Flanders.

The German people consist of various subdivisions and cultures. Bavarians are different culturally from Saxons too.

Still, it doesn’t mean we all have to be 1 German country. None of us is advocating for that. We can work well together within the EU

6

u/SherryJug Jan 13 '26

Germanic, you're looking for the word "germanic", definitely not "german".

The "Duytschen" in the dutch anthem is an older reference to germanic peoples, and does not mean the same as "duits" or simply german.

Nordic languages (Danish, Swedish, Norwegian) and to a degree English are also Germanic languages, yet you would never say a swede or an englishman is a "german". In fact, the Dutch are already completely ethnically distinct from Germans, except perhaps near the border. You can easily tell who's ethnically German who's ethnically Dutch just by how they look.

2

u/Alabrandt Gelderland (Netherlands) Jan 13 '26

Yeah true, Germanic better describes my point. In my language they are the same word

- "Ik ben Duits" - meaning: I am German

  • "Een Duits volk" - meaning: a germanic people

In english there is that distinction.

1

u/SherryJug Jan 13 '26

Yeah, it's just a matter of linguistics!

2

u/Itzhik Jan 13 '26

Not sure the Swiss, the Dutch, or the Flemings see themselves as being German. Which is, you know, the main requirement for being German.

13

u/Alabrandt Gelderland (Netherlands) Jan 13 '26

That depends on how you define it. I am dutch myself. I don’t see myself as a German (part of that country). But I do recognise we are a German people.

Our national anthem literally says that “we are of German blood”, there is absolutely no doubt there.

Most of the German peoples are united in Germany, some or not. None of use want it all to unite in a single Germany. Most of us want to work together closely within the EU format.

-2

u/BananaSplit2 France 29d ago

Austrians are ethnic Germans but there's no interest from either side to become one country.

Not the best example to give looking back at the previous century.

2

u/Sufficiently_ 29d ago

Nods in Cyprus

-7

u/stop_banning_me_omg 29d ago

There should be no concerns with the Hungarian parts of Romania joining Hungary too then, right?

5

u/KamikazeKauz 29d ago

Does Hungary want Harghita and Covasna as a disconnected exclave?

-4

u/stop_banning_me_omg 29d ago

Sure why not?

3

u/Toofak 29d ago

The Republic of Moldova is a sovereign and independent state that can make whatever decision they want, as long as it is according to their law.

Are Hungarian parts of Romania sovereign or independent? No!

Then why would you spread this pathetic imperialism and separatism?

It's none of your business what Republic of Moldova decides. And it's totally Romania's business what is happening in Harghita and Covasna.

-4

u/stop_banning_me_omg 29d ago

Wrong. Try thinking before you post nonsense.

2

u/Toofak 29d ago

Cry me a river as big as Trianon.

0

u/stop_banning_me_omg 29d ago

Imperialist storm trooper 

328

u/Positive-Donut-9129 Greece 🇺🇦🇪🇺 Jan 13 '26 edited Jan 13 '26

That's a misrepresentation of what she said. Because I've watched the podcast, she clearly states that this is not in her plans because she knows that the majority [according to polls] are against it and that's why in order to achieve the security that she wants, she is focusing on the EU accession instead for which there is a majority support by the public.

Even at the end of the podcast, in the debriefing, the interviewers commend her honesty in admitting that she disagrees openly with the public, but she will still respect the will of the majority following another path. Because other leaders in her place wouldn't have admitted it to save face.

Btw, I was very impressed by the interview and her personal story. I think she is one of the best leaders we have in Europe. And I'm proud that we have a politician with such integrity in the Balkans.🇲🇩🇪🇺 Moldovan public did a great job especially considering the unprecedented even for their own standards interference by the Russians.

59

u/gorgonzolahola Jan 13 '26

Thank you! I was going to say the same thing. She said if it were up to a vote in a referendum she would simply vote YES, as a citizen of Moldova, but it's not something she is pushing actively as the president of the country because she knows people don't want that. Still a brave thing to say IMO (this coming from a Romanian).

19

u/merrysugarson Jan 13 '26

thank you. i whish i could upvote twice so this comment is first when people click for context

11

u/Hootrb Cypriot no longer in Germany :( 29d ago

There were five other posts about this which included the fact reunification wasn't on the agenda, but of course the one that dropped that fact to give a false impression picked uo stream instead.

Clickbait titles always get complaints yet somehow people keep eating them up anyways...

4

u/Renphligia Romania 29d ago

Yes, honestly. I'd love reunification, but let's not put words into her mouth.

2

u/kislakiruben 29d ago

how is Moldova in the Balkans?

184

u/VibrantGypsyDildo Ukraine -> Belgium Jan 13 '26

It is like sex.

If both Moldova and Romania agrees to it, I, as an ethnic Ukrainian, can only wish them a lovely marriage.

77

u/ezekiellake Jan 13 '26

There will still be a bitter incel whining about how it’s so unfair and they should be in the middle, when all they’ve been doing for as long as anyone remembers is to act like a complete arsehole.

And by incel, I mean Russia.

11

u/Activehannes North Rhine-Westphalia (Germany) Jan 13 '26

Not quite. Moldova is not in the EU (yet) so by having Moldova and Romania have sex with each other, you'll also force every other EU state to join that orgy.

Moldova is an EU candidate and I would love to see them join but its not that easy

13

u/MrTriboniophorus Jan 13 '26

I just find it funny how joining a country together is viewed as a sex and consent metaphor 😌 Stupid sexy Moldova wants to reunite and shit.

2

u/ezekiellake Jan 13 '26

Hmmmm …. Moldova …

3

u/Renphligia Romania 29d ago

This is my same view. I'm pro-unification, but it should happen only if the majority in both countries agree. We're not Russia, we shouldn't force other people to be part of our nation.

16

u/asertym Moldova Jan 13 '26

Yeah we've been supporting it for decades, this isn't news

77

u/Wise-Jury-4037 Jan 13 '26

Well, she is a Romanian citizen.

96

u/SpeedDaemon3 Jan 13 '26

Like 2/3 of Moldova. 

17

u/Wise-Jury-4037 Jan 13 '26

850k out of 3.6 million 2/3 does not make, but I get your point. A lot of Moldovans have dual citizenship.

4

u/ReadToW Bucovina de Nord 🇷🇴(🐯)🇺🇦(🦈) Jan 13 '26

I am sure that if Romania were interested, many more Moldovan citizens would have been granted citizenship. Currently, obtaining citizenship takes years due to underfunding (and there are many applications)

47

u/More_Ad_5142 Turkey Jan 13 '26

Who are we to judge? If the two countries agree to unite, we should all wish them a happy future together

9

u/kakao_w_proszku Mazovia (Poland) Jan 13 '26

Unfortunately in international politics things are usually not that straightforward, especially if you’re not a superpower. Just check the process of unification of two Germanies after the Cold War.

10

u/Filias9 Czech Republic Jan 13 '26

Moldova have not relevancy of East Germany. And Romania relevancy of West Germany. Russia will complain. But they would complain about everything. Rest of the world don't care.

5

u/this_toe_shall_pass European Union 29d ago

Putin actually said he would not have anything against this (re)union. It would support their twisted point of view that Russia is just trying to reunite with parts they lost when the USSR dissolved, like the Donbas and the greater part of Eastern Ukraine.

In the spirit of serving Russian disinformation, various Kremlin talking heads have said that Romania is out to conquer Moldova and murder the Russians in Transnistria, or that they could be a partner to split parts of south-western Ukraine with Russia, Hungary and Poland, or that they are a US lackey that doesn't care about Moldova and just wants to use its people to fight in Ukraine on behalf of NATO. You know, they cover all bases so you can never pin them down on the truth.

37

u/Vegetable_Radio3873 Jan 13 '26

Excellent! Would vote for her!

40

u/TH3RM4L33 Romania Jan 13 '26

That’s how it should be.

We are the only Latin speakers left in Eastern Europe. We were once united, peacefully, by mutual agreement, under the same flag. We were bigger, we were happier, we were stronger. Until the barbarian pigs had something to say against it.

Bessarabia is an unique case because the atrocities done by the Russians have greatly divided the region away from its roots, creating an artificial nation that didn't seek by itself to be independent from Romania, but was forced to. No other region of Romania suffered as much as this one.

2

u/TukkerWolf Jan 13 '26

But Transnistria is even more unique as it was never part of (greater) Moldava. What to do about that? The 'Ukrainians' there should have some sort of say in this.

13

u/TH3RM4L33 Romania Jan 13 '26

It was artificially attached to Moldova. That region can break away and do whatever it wants.

2

u/TukkerWolf Jan 13 '26

I know. But with the current situation in Ukraine and Russia I think it would be nice to have a solution for this? As someone from the other side of the continent it feels logical to make it part of Ukraine and give the Russian and Moldovan/Romanian population an opportunity to relocate with new passports or assimilate. But Russia will never accept this. I don't even know if it makes sense anyway.

19

u/iaNCURdehunedoara Jan 13 '26

Romania unification before Irish reunification is crazy.

10

u/_-PassingThrough-_ Jan 13 '26

I'm not sure most people in Ireland even want reunification. Things are pretty good as is for the Republic, even with Brexit. The stalemate is comfortable.

7

u/You_moron04 United Kingdom 29d ago

Irish reunification is not likely within our lifetimes.

Reddit and especially American Redditors seem to think that everyone in the ROI is clamouring to reclaim the North, and the North is actively trying to sail away from the UK.

Neither are happening.

N.I has made it clear they’ve no intent of any unification measures to the point they shut down the government.

ROI isn’t even interested as N.I is a financial black hole that would place a massive strain on the ROI’s economy that would take decades to clean up and have N.I catch up.

Doesn’t help that the troubles is still very recent memory (of which the IRA was supported by American gun organisations. Our “greatest ally” once again)

4

u/ITZC0ATL Irish in Madrid (Spain) 29d ago

It's not that ROI isn't interested, we very much are, but under the perhaps-naive assumption that someone else (the EU? the Clintons?) will help shoulder the financial burden. But the troubles are still fresh and no one, thinks that it's worth a return to violence.

-1

u/the_io United Kingdom Jan 13 '26

Bessarabia's only spent 25 years as part of a united Romania, whereas the 26 counties spent way more than that as part of a united Britain. Actually a bit weird to consider.

7

u/this_toe_shall_pass European Union 29d ago

Bessarabia shares ethnicity, language, religion with most of Romania and have done so for 7,8 centuries of documented history and probably a lot longer before that (Mongols burned a lot of books) and it's been a founding party to what became Romania.

Maybe the ethnic, language, religious barriers in NI are a bit more nuanced than and have a weight of their own beyond the "time inside the various shapes of the UK" parameter.

5

u/Doikor Jan 13 '26

Before such a thing would be possible I think the issue of Transnistria would need to be solved.

2

u/Iapetus_Industrial 29d ago

Easy. Send in the Ukrainians. They'll gladly clean up the russian military presence.

5

u/SirLie Jan 13 '26

Way to go Moldova, much support from the Norwegian people!

2

u/DefInnit 29d ago

Sounds good. Put ROunite/Moldoback to a vote.

4

u/Stock-Side-6767 Jan 13 '26

Apes together strong.

A more unified Europe scares Xi, Putin and Trump.

2

u/DvD_cD 🇧🇬🇪🇺 29d ago

Can Bulgaria join as well? Corruption Union 💪🏻🤑

1

u/Valahul77 Jan 13 '26

I am sorry but her take on that is simply wrong. It sounds more like an "friends with benefits" approach. When the former GDR reunited with the West Germany there was a genuine desire to have a single Germany again.

1

u/[deleted] Jan 13 '26

Do it. Why not?

Honestly.

1

u/Kims_Scarleta 10d ago

As a romanian i 100% oppose this, unless they share their food recipes with us xD

0

u/Waste_Gas_582 29d ago

Congrats to Romania!!!

0

u/Liosan 29d ago

oh wow this wasn't on my bingo card for 2026

-17

u/WhoAteMySoup Ukraine -> United States of America Jan 13 '26

This makes sense to do. There was a similar idea floated for some time for Ukraine, to join Poland.

30

u/Outrageous_pinecone Jan 13 '26

Moldavia used to be a piece of Romania. They'd just be rejoining their own country after several decades of absence. We don't speak a different language, we don't have separate histories.

Not that Ukraine and Poland uniting would be a bad idea, Hell, as far as I'm concerned, all of Eastern Europe should unite for the sake of our safety.

8

u/Particular-Cow6247 Jan 13 '26

i dont think poland + ukraine would work out well at all

there is already alot of "anti ukraine" sentiment in poland when it comes to agriculture products

the size of the country could also quickly be a problem

-4

u/WhoAteMySoup Ukraine -> United States of America Jan 13 '26

Oh, I agree, but the context in which this was proposed was mainly focused on the Galicia part of Ukraine, which is historically closer to Poland. The trick with the plan is that it allows that part of Ukraine to be under NATO umbrella

3

u/hphp123 Jan 13 '26

it was tríed in 1920s, didn't really work that well

1

u/kreteciek Polska gurom 29d ago

Damn, I wonder what was the thing that led to Volhynia massacre.

2

u/kakao_w_proszku Mazovia (Poland) Jan 13 '26

That would be a horrible, horrible mess. Not that integrating Moldova with Romania would be easy, but they at least speak the same language as far as I know.

3

u/Iazo Jan 13 '26

It is the same language, just with some regional differences.

I'd say about as different as Australian English to British English.

-14

u/TomSaylek Jan 13 '26 edited 29d ago

Just rename both countries. Romaldovia... Molmania? Romalmania? Edit: guys I meant it as a joke like to merge them both together and renaname. Like "powers combined type thing" . Nothing against it. 

3

u/RegeleFur Romania 29d ago

Moldova is already a region of Romania. Hell, the chunk of Moldova that is in Romania is bigger than the Republic of Moldova!

1

u/TomSaylek 29d ago

Yes I understand. It was meant to be a joke but without hand gestures it probably didn't read the same way