Sociologist from Moldova: I believe Moldova will eventually unite with Romania. More and more opinion leaders in Moldova believe in union with Romania

Unity with Romania is the most plausible scenario for Moldova’s future.

According to the director of the Institute for Public Policy, Arcadie Barbăroșie, Moldova has no long-term resources of its own to survive and the only solution is to unite with Romania.

During a public debate organised by the IPN news agency, the director of the Institute for Public Policy said that the war in Ukraine could last at least a few more years, and there will always be citizens in Moldova nostalgic for the USSR who will justify this war and support Russia in its barbaric attempt to restore its old territories.

According to the director of the Institute for Public Policy, opinion polls show that some Moldovan citizens justify Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, saying that the Russian army was “defending the Donbas and Lugansk regions of Ukraine”. Also, according to opinion polls, a considerable part of society believes that NATO and Western countries should not help Kiev in this war.

“The first war in which Russia was successful is the war against Moldova, followed by the 2008 war on Georgia, the 2014 war in which it occupied Crimea and the 2022 war. In polls, when asked whether Ukraine should have been helped by NATO in this war, 11% of respondents said yes. 33% of respondents said it was enough that NATO and Western countries had supplied Ukraine with arms. In total, 44% of respondents either support helping Ukraine or believe that NATO should have intervened. On the other hand, 31% of respondents said Ukraine should have been left alone, with another 20% of respondents not having an answer. These figures are the answer to the question of whether or not Moldovans are nostalgic for the Soviet period,” said the director of the Institute for Public Policy, Arcadie Barbarosie.

According to the IPP director, there are several scenarios for the evolution of the war in Ukraine. Arcadie Barbarasie expressed his conviction that Ukraine will win in the fight with Russia, even if it could suffer considerable losses, as the war will turn into a war of attrition.

“Russia has many sources of information in Moldova which are very powerful and through which it trains its population to support it. But there are also nostalgic people who, even if they didn’t have sources of information, would still say it was good that Russia attacked Ukraine. The first scenario would be that Ukraine wins the war started by Russia. Ukraine will stop when the 1991 borders are restored or it will stop by ceding some territory, but it will not give up Crimea. Because Crimea is very important to them. There is also the scenario that the war will continue, Russia will strike with missiles and bomb Ukraine. So it’s a war that will go on for a few years,” said Arcadie Barbarossa.

In the long term, the only way for Moldova to develop and progress is to unite with Romania, the expert believes. According to him, in the absence of its own sources and with the Republic of Moldova surviving only on loans, reunification with Romania will happen in the foreseeable future.

“In the Republic of Moldova, nostalgia for the Soviet Union will continue to exist, but I believe that eventually the Republic of Moldova will unite with Romania, because I don’t see from what resources the Republic of Moldova could exist. Look at what our young people do after graduating from high school, most of them go abroad to study”, said the IPP director.