This republic of the former Soviet Union is made up of two main parts. One was the former Romanian province of Bessarabia. Like the Baltic republics, it was annexed to the Soviet Union following the Nazi-Soviet Pact of 1939. Called by the Soviet Union Moldavia, it was renamed by the local government during 1990. To it Stalin added parts of Russia and Ukraine in which there were some Romanian speaking inhabitants. But there were also non-Romanians. He ordered that the language should be written in Cyrillic characters, which cut the people off from their heritage.

Now that the Ceausescu regime has fallen some of the people would like to rejoin Romania. As a preliminary has declared sovereignty and has restored the Roman script.

There is a Turkic minority, the Gagauz, a Christian group who are opposed to joining Romania and who have declared their own Republic, as well as Russian and Ukrainian minorities. The Russian minority too has declared its independence as the Trans Dniestria Republic which is based on the district around Tiraspol and occupies a strip alongside the river Dniester.

The government refused to sign the proposed Union Treaty reconstituting the Soviet Union in 1991.

Changing the frontier will take a lot of negotiating and may add to the instability of the region. The independence of the Ukraine has added another complication. The Russian-speaking area is now cut off from Russia by the Ukraine but Cossack volunteers have moved there to defend it from the Romanian dominated government. The government of Romania itself has expressed support for the Romanian group. Union with Romania seems likely at some time, but perhaps after war. There has been fighting in Trans-Dniestria.

A referendum in March 1994 voted for independence, against merger with Romania. Will the country be viable on its own? The enthusiasm for rejoining Romania seems to have diminished, possibly a result of Romania's lack of economic success.

Moldavian

(Romanian)

Russian

Turkic (Gagauzz)

The most recent (April 2002) government was formed by the former Communist party.

Elections are due in 6 March 2005. There is reported to be interference from Moskva on behalf of the Russian minority in Trans-Dniestria in the hope of getting a pro-Russian government. However the current government, though Communist in name wishes to follow the recent events in Ukraine with pro-EU policies. Perhaps they hope to join the EU with Romania.

However the regime continued to resemble the former Soviet regime.

Elections were held in April 2009. The announced result was a victory for the pro-Russian Communist party, supported mainly by rural voters. Urban voters however voted for pro-European parties. Following the result there were riots and demonstrations in the capital. Will the election be accepted?

Elections in July 2009 resulted in a victory for a coalition of pro-EU parties, pledged to begin negotiations for membership. This would resolve the problem of whether or not to rejoin Romania, as the frontier between the two countries would become porous.

Is it the poorest country in Europe? Maybe it's just a little better off than Albania - but not much.

The Soviet era economy has collapsed but there are few signs of a modern one to replace it. A quarter of the population is believed to be working outside the state. Their remittances stave off complete collapse.

Notorious for a mafia exporting women for forced prostitution.