The Republic of Moldova (Republica Moldova) is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, located between Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east and south. Historically part of the Principality of Moldavia, it was annexed by the Russian Empire in 1812. At the dissolution of the latter, it united with other Romanian lands in Romania in 1918. After being occupied by the Soviet Union in 1940, and changing hands in 1941 and 1944 during World War II, it was known as the Moldavian SSR from then until 1991. Moldova declared its independence from the Soviet Union on 27 August 1991. Although independent from the USSR since 1991, Russian forces have remained on Moldovan territory east of the Dniester River supporting the Slavic majority population, mostly Ukrainians and Russians, who have proclaimed the republic of Transnistria.

Moldova is a parliamentary democracy with a President as its head of state and a Prime Minister as its head of government. The country is a member state of the United Nations, WTO, OSCE, GUAM, CIS, BSEC and other international organizations. Moldova has officially been a neutral country since its independence, and an early member of the NATO Partnership for Peace. Moldova aspires to join the European Union and is implementing its first three-year Action Plan within the framework of the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) of the EU.

Relations with Romania/Identity Politics

n 1989, Romanian became the official language of Moldova (former Romanian Bessarabia). Following independence in 1991, the Romanian tricolor with a coat-of-arms was used as the flag, and Deşteaptă-te române!, the Romanian national anthem, also became the anthem of Moldova. In those times, there was an expectation among certain groups in both countries that they were to be united soon, and a Movement for unification of Romania and the Republic of Moldova began in both countries in the early 1990s. Dual citizenship became an increasingly important issue following the 2003 local elections, and in November 2003, the Moldovan parliament passed a law that allowed Moldovans to acquire dual citizenship.

In the address to the Romanian parliament in February 1991, Mircea Snegur, the Moldovan president spoke about a common identity of the Moldovans and Romanians, referring to the "Romanians of both sides of the Prut River" and "Sacred Romanian lands occupied by the Soviets". Historically, the Romanian government had provided scholarships to Moldovan students (via a common scheme with the Moldovan Ministry of Education) at all educational levels to attend Romanian schools and universities.

However, the initial enthusiasm in Moldova was tempered and, starting in 1993, Moldova started to distance itself from Romania. The constitution adopted in 1994 used the term "Moldovan language" instead of "Romanian" and changed the national anthem to Limba noastră. The 1996 attempt by Moldovan president Mircea Snegur to change the official language to "Romanian" was dismissed by the Moldovan Parliament as "promoting Romanian expansionism".

Foreign relations

Main article: Foreign relations of Moldova

The government has stated that Moldova has European aspirations but there has been little progress toward EU membership. On May 1, 2004 many EU enthusiasts waving the EU flags found their flags confiscated by police and some were arrested under the clause of "anti-nationalism." During her first bilateral visit to Moldova, European Commissioner for External Relations and European Neighbourhood Policy, Benita Ferrero-Waldner opened the new Delegation of the European Commission to Moldova on 6 October, to be headed by Cesare De Montis. A Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (PCA) with EU is the legal basis for EU relations with Moldova. The PCA came into force in July 1998 for an initial period of ten years. It establishes the institutional framework for bilateral relations, sets the principal common objectives, and calls for activities and dialog in a number of policy areas. Moldova welcomed EU enlargement and signed on 30 April 2004 the protocol extending the PCA to the new EU member states. With the joint adoption of the EU-Moldova Action Plan on February 22, 2005, the EU and Moldova have further reinforced their bilateral relationship, providing a new tool to help implement the PCA and bring Moldova closer to the EU. The TACIS programme is used as the framework for technical assistance to support agreed objectives. Romanian President Traian Basescu is one of the strong advocates (at the EU level) for Moldova's bid to join the European Union.Romania seeks German support for Moldova's bid to join EU http://english.people.com.cn/200707/03/eng20070703_389584.html Romanian President Traian Basescu on Monday urged Germany to support the inclusion of Moldova in the next enlargement wave of the European Union (EU). Basescu made the appeal when meeting with his German counterpart, Horst Koehler, who started a two-day official visit to Romania on Monday, Basescu's office said. At the meeting, Basescu requested Germany to analyze the possibility of supporting the inclusion of Moldova in the next group of EU acceding countries in a future enlargement. In June 2007 the Republic of Moldova joined the International Parliament for Safety and Peace (see [1]and [2]).

[edit] Administrative divisions

Administrative divisions of Moldova

Main article: Administrative divisions of Moldova

Moldova is divided into thirty-two districts (raioane, singular raion); three municipalities (Bălţi, Chişinău, Tighina); and two semi-autonomous regions (Găgăuzia and Transnistria). The cities of Comrat and Tiraspol also have municipality status, however not as first-tier subdivisions of Moldova, but as parts of the regions of Găgăuzia, respectively Transnistria. The districts are:

Transnistria is a de jure part of Moldova, as its independence is not recognized by any country, although de facto it is not controlled by the Moldovan government. It is administered by an unrecongnized breakaway authority seeking closer ties with Russia, and its status is still disputed.

[edit] Geography

General map of Moldova

Main article: Geography of Moldova

The largest part of the country lies between two rivers, the Dniester and the Prut. Moldova's rich soil and temperate continental climate (with warm summers and mild winters) have made the country one of the most productive agricultural regions and a major supplier of agricultural products in the region.

The western border of Moldova is formed by the Prut river, which joins the Danube before flowing into the Black Sea. In the north-east, the Dniester is the main river, flowing through the country from north to south. Moldova Online TV

The country is landlocked, even though it is very close to the Black Sea. While the northern part of the country is hilly, elevations never exceed 430 metres (1,411 ft)—the highest point being the Dealul Bălăneşti. The country's main cities are the capital Chişinău, in the centre of the country, Tiraspol (in Transnistria), Bălţi and Tighina.

See also: List of cities in Moldova and List of localities in Moldova

[edit] Economy

Moldovan leu.

Main article: Economy of Moldova TV

Moldova enjoys a favorable climate and good farmland but has no major mineral deposits. As a result, the economy depends heavily on agriculture, featuring fruits, vegetables, Moldovan wine, and tobacco. Moldova must import all of its supplies of petroleum, coal, and natural gas, largely from Russia. After the break up of the Soviet Union in 1991, energy shortages contributed to sharp production declines. As part of an ambitious economic liberalization effort, Moldova introduced a convertible currency, freed all prices, stopped issuing preferential credits to state enterprises, backed steady land privatization, removed export controls, and freed interest rates. The government entered into agreements with the World Bank and the IMF to promote growth. Recent trends indicate that the Communist government intends to reverse some of these policies, and recollectivise land while placing more restrictions on private business. The economy returned to positive growth, of 2.1% in 2000 and 6.1% in 2001. Growth remained strong in 2002, in part because of the reforms and because of starting from a small base. Further liberalization is in doubt because of strong political forces backing government controls. The economy remains vulnerable to higher fuel prices, poor agricultural weather, and the skepticism of foreign investors. In agriculture, the economic reform started with the land cadastre reform. Moldova Online TV

Following the regional financial crisis in 1998, Moldova has made significant progress towards achieving and retaining macroeconomic and financial stabilization. It has, furthermore, implemented many structural and institutional reforms that are indispensable for the efficient functioning of a market economy. These efforts have helped maintain macroeconomic and financial stability under difficult external circumstances, enabled the resumption of economic growth and contributed to establishing an environment conducive to the economy’s further growth and development in the medium term. Despite these efforts, and despite the recent resumption of economic growth, Moldova still ranks low in terms of commonly-used living standards and human development indicators in comparison with other transition economies. Although the economy experienced a constant economic growth after 2000: with 2.1%, 6.1%, 7,8% and 6,3% between 2000 and 2003 (with a forecast of 8% in 2004), one can observe that these latest developments hardly reach the level of 1994, with almost 40% of the GDP registered in 1990. Thus, during the last decade little has been done to reduce the country’s vulnerability. After a severe economic decline, social and economic challenges, energy uprooted dependencies, Moldova continues to occupy one of the last places among the European countries according to the income per capita. In 2002 (Human Development Report 2004), in Moldova the registered GDP per capita was US $381 equivalent to US $ 1,470 PPP, which is 5.3 times lower than the world average (US $ 7,804). Moreover, GDP per capita is under the average of all regions in the world, including Sub-Saharan Africa (US $ 1,790 PPP). In 2004, about 40% of population were under the absolute poverty line and registered an income lower than US $ 2.15 (PPP) per day. Moldova is classified as medium human development and is placed on the 113 spot in the list of 177 countries. The value of the Human Development Index (0.681) is below the world average. Moldova remains the poorest country in Europe in terms of GDP per capita: $ 2,500 in 2006. Moldova Online TV

[edit] Information technology and telecommunications

In 2004, the investments volume on the telecommunications and information market in Moldova increased by 30.1% in comparison with 2003, achieving 825.3 million lei (65.5 million US dollars). The representatives of the National Agency for Telecommunications and Information Regulation stated that 451 million lei (35.9 million dollars) were invested in the field of fixed telephone communication. Investments constituted 330 million lei (26.2 million dollars) in the field of mobile telephony, 24.2 million lei Moldova Online TV (1.9 million dollars) in the field of Internet services, 19.1 million lei (1.5 million dollars) in the field of cable television services. An essential increase of 163 million lei (12.9 million dollars) has been achieved in the field of mobile telephony. In comparison with 2003, investments in this sector practically doubled. An insignificant increase was registered in the other market segments, but the investment volume remained the same in the field of fixed telephone communication. In 2005, the volume of investments in telecommunication and information technology exceeded the level of the previous year, primarily due to the investments of the national operator of the stationary telephone communications of the Joint-Stock Company Moldtelecom for the implementation of the CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) technology, by the investments of the operators of mobile telephony Orange and Moldcell in the development of infrastructure, also by means aimed at the extension and improvement of access services to Internet by new broadband technologies. TV

[edit] Human rights

Critics accuse the government of Moldova of having a poor human rights record, accusing it of interference with political freedom and of arbitrary arrest and torture.[citation needed]

The United States Senate has held committee hearings on irregularities that marred elections in Moldova, including the arrest and harassment of opposition candidates, intimidation and suppression of independent media, and state run media bias in favor of candidates backed by the Moldovan Moldova Online TV Government.[4]

State media coverage of the street protests in 2002 regarding the Communists’ attempt to reinstate obligatory study of the Russian language and to defend the cultural identity that the majority of Moldovans share with neighboring Romania was censored. In February 2002, in response to severe censorship of the state broadcaster Teleradio-Moldova (TVM), hundreds of TVM journalists went on strike in solidarity with the anti-communist opposition. In retribution, a few journalists and staff members were dismissed or suspended from the station in March[5]. TV

However, in 2004 an improvement was made and the Moldovan Parliament removed Article 170 from the country's Criminal Code. Article 170 called for up to five years imprisonment for defamation.[6] TV

According to the OSCE, the media climate in Moldova remained restrictive as of 2004.[7] Authorities continued a long-standing campaign to silence independent opposition voices and movements. In a case widely criticized by human rights defenders, opposition politician Valeriu Pasat was sentenced to a ten-year prison term. The United States and human rights defenders from the European Union consider him a Moldova Online TV political prisoner, and an official statement from Russia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs called the judgment "striking in its cruelty".[citation needed]

See also: Human rights in Transnistria

[edit] Demographics

Main article: Demographics of Moldova

[edit] Ethnic composition

Ethnic composition in 1989.

Given that the definition of ethnic groups is the subject of an ongoing dispute, the following data must be treated with caution. The main controversy, concerns the identity between Moldovans and Romanians, as well as between the corresponding Moldovan and Romanian TV languages (see Moldovan language). The distinction between Moldovans and Romanians has been a greatly disputed political issue with one side arguing that Moldovans constitute an ethnic group separate from the Romanian ethnos, whereas others claim that Moldovans in both Romania and Moldova are simply a subgroup of the Romanian ethnos, similar to Transylvanians, Oltenians, and other groups (see Moldovans).

The last reference data is that of the 2004 Moldovan Census[8] and the 2004 Census in Transnistria:

Note: Transnistrian authorities published only the percentage of ethnic groups; the number of people was calculated from those percentages. The number or percentage of Romanians in Transnistria was not published; it is included in "others".

According to the Moldova Azi news agency,[9] a group of international census experts described the 2004 Moldovan census as "generally conducted in a professional manner", while remarking that that "a few topics… were potentially more problematic", in particular:

1. The census includes at least some Moldovans who had been living abroad over one year at the time of the census.
2. * The precision of numbers about nationality/ethnicity TV and language was questioned. Some enumerators apparently encouraged respondents to declare that they were "Moldovan" rather than "Romanian", and even within a single family there may have been confusion about theseMoldova Online TV terms. Also it is unclear how many respondents consider the term "Moldovan" to signify an ethnic identity other than "Romanian".

[edit] Largest cities

Sources: 2004 Census results in Transnistria, World Gazetteer on 2004 Moldovan Census

[edit] Religions

According to the 2004 census, the population of Moldova has the following religious composition:

Percentanges are calculated from the number of people declaring a religion; 75,727 (2.29%) of the population did not declare a religion.
a Known as Creştini după Evanghelie.
b Traditionally Orthodox Lipovans.

Orthodox Christians were not required in the census to declare the particular church they belong to. Moldovan Orthodox Church, subordinated to the Russian Orthodox Church, and Orthodox Church of Bessarabia, autonomous and subordinated to the Romanian Orthodox Church, both claim to be the national church of the country.

Before the Holocaust, the country had a substantial Jewish community, 7%, or slightly over 200,000, in 1930. In June-July 1941 approx. 2/3 of Jews fled (mostly in miserable conditions) to the interior of USSR (Uzbekistan, Siberia, other regions) before the retreat of the Soviet troops. In 1941-1942, approx. 1/3 of Bessarabian Jews (alongside Jews from several other districts of Romania) were deported to ghettos and Online TV labor camps in Transnistria (WWII), where more than half perished in extreme conditions. Approx. 10,000 Jews (both military and civilians) were executed during the military action in June-July 1941 by German Einsat TV zkommando D, and (at least on four occasions) by Romanian troops. By mid 1942 fewer than 20,000 Jews remained in the region. After the Soviets took back the region in 1944, most of the Bessarabian Jews returned. During the Soviet period some Jews from Moldova moved to other parts of the former USSR, while some Jews from other regions moved to Moldova. During late 1980s and 1990s, there was mass migration of Jews to Israel, with a total number of emigrants estimated at over 100,000. The Online TV Jewish population was estimated at 1.5% as late as 2000.

[edit] Culture

Mihai Eminescu, national poet of Moldova and Romania.

Main article: Culture of Moldova

Located geographically at the crossroads of Latin and Slavic cultures, Moldova has enriched its own culture adopting and maintaining some of the traditions of its neighbors.

The Prince Dimitrie Cantemir is one of the most important figures of Moldavian culture of the 18th century. Cantemir wrote the first geographical, ethnographical and economic description of the country in Descriptio Moldaviae (Berlin, 1714).

Mihai Eminescu was a late romantic poet, probably the best-known and most influential Romanian language poet.

The Culture of Moldova became very important with the first apparition of the Television. The first Moldova Online TV appeared in the 19 th century and was very good station. Internet TV also developed because of the new era television.

[edit] Language

Main articles: Moldovan language and Romanian language

The state language, according to Title I, Article Online TV 13 of the Moldovan Constitution, is Moldovan. In Moldova's Declaration of Independence, the same language is called Romanian[10]. There is no particular linguistic break at the Prut River, which divides Moldova from Romania. In formal use, the languages are identical except for minor orthographical issues (the Moldovans often, but not always, write î in some contexts where Romanians would use â; this same TV form used to be normal in Romania until 1990s). There is, however, some regional variation, as might be found within any linguistic territory, and the common speech of areas such as Chişinău or Transnistria can be distinguished from the speech of Iaşi, a Romanian city that is also part of the former Principality of Moldavia, while the difference in the common speech between Iaşi and the capital of TV Romania Bucharest is even greater. Linguistically, Moldovan is considered one the the five major spoken dialects of Romanian, all five being written identically. In general, before 1988-89, the less educated, the greater the difference from standard Romanian, and the more words were borrowed ad hoc from Russian into the daily speech.

Opinions vary on the status of Moldovan as a language. Most linguists consider standard Moldovan to be identical to standard Romanian, an Eastern Romance language, although one Moldovan linguist[11] disputes this. There are, however, more differences between the colloquial spoken languages of Moldova and Romania, most significantly due to the influence of Russian in Moldova which was not present in Romania. These differences in speech vocabulary are being slowly diluted after 1989. TV The matter of whether or not Moldovan is a separate language is a contested political issue within and beyond the Republic of Moldova. The 1989 law on language of the Moldavian SSR, which is still effective in Moldova according to the Constitution [12], asserts the existence of "linguistic Moldo-Romanian identity". [3] A significant minority speaks native Russian, and there are more Slavicisms in common speech in Moldova than in common speech in Romania. Nonetheless, Moldovans are generally aware when they are using a word of Slavic origin not found in common Romanian, and are capable of choosing whether or not to use these words TV in a particular context.

In some cases Russian is used alongside Moldovan (Romanian) within state institutions, despite not having legal status. This is generally in direct relation to the political context in the government, which can be either pro-Russian or pro-Romanian/pro-Western. As of 2006, five members of the Moldovan government were not able to speak Moldovan, the main language used in government meetings being Russian[13]. In Transnistria, the breakaway authorities consider its old Cyrillic form co-official with Russian and Ukrainian, and persecute inhabitants that use the standard Latin alphabet.

[edit] Sport

Football has traditionally been Moldova's national sport, however, rugby union has risen to become a very popular sport with the national team earning promotion to Division one of the European Nations Cup with some brilliant displays attracting many spectators to their matches. Online TV

See also: List of Moldovans, Music of Moldova, and Religion in Moldova