PHOTO GALLERY // “Documentary Notebooks”: Romania, Moldova together on European path – volume by 90 authors launched in Chisinau

The tenth volume in the “Documentary Notebooks” series, entitled “Romania and the Republic of Moldova. The Partnership for the EU,” coordinated by Andrei Stoian and Victor Vevera, was launched in Chisinau today. The event took place at the University of European Studies of Moldova, in the presence of the institution’s teaching staff and students. The launch was followed by a discussion on the partnership between Romania and Moldova on the path toward European integration.

The volume brings together contributions from experts in more fields and analyzes the institutional, economic, strategic and cultural dimensions of the relationship between the two states, with an emphasis on interconnections and interdependencies in the context of Moldova’s European path.

In an interview with MOLDPRES, volume coordinator Andrei Stoian emphasized that the relationship between Romania and Moldova had gone beyond the stage of discourse about identity and shared values, while developing a complex institutional, economic and strategic reality.

“We started from a very simple reality: the relationship between Romania and Moldova has already moved beyond discourse about it. Obviously, we are talking about identity, the same language and everything that unites us culturally, but in the meantime, an extremely complex institutional, economic and strategic reality has also been built. For example, the Prut is now crossed by electricity, databases, investments, and, more importantly, people. We wanted to capture this transformation in the volume and brought together experts from more fields – energy, infrastructure, culture, and security,” the coordinator noted.

The work is structured into six chapters and addresses such topics as infrastructure, interdependencies, interconnections, energy, culture, identity and digitalization. An important place is given to the documents and mechanisms concerning Moldova’s process of accession to the European Union. The volume also includes a message from the Royal House of Romania, delivered by His Royal Highness Prince Radu.

Andrei Stoian said that the publication had not been conceived as an ordinary book, but as a documentation tool that readers can return to depending on their area of interest.

“Readers will be able to identify a particular area of interest, such as the economy, and find in this volume all possible aspects and implications of that subject. First and foremost, we are distributing the volume free of charge among decision-makers and businesspeople. Ultimately, this is a tool that makes it possible to measure political promises and the distance between commitments made and results achieved,” he said.

The central thesis of the work is based on the concept formulated by Vasile Puscas, Romania’s former chief negotiator for accession to the European Union, which envisions moving from systemic interconnection to strategic interdependence and, ultimately, strategic independence.

For his part, Marius Stoian, coordinator of the “Documentary Notebooks Series” editorial project, said that the new volume concluded a ten-year cycle of documenting and analyzing relations and developments in Romania.

“This represents ten years of work during which we managed to create an overview of the ideas and concepts concerning what Romania means today. We felt it was extremely useful and important to conclude this cycle of the Documentary Notebooks with the relationship between Romania and the Republic of Moldova, viewed through the lens of the partnership for the European Union,” Marius Stoian said.

Stoian said that the project’s next edition would be dedicated to a vision of the future, as well as to a retrospective of Romania’s European path, in the context of the country marking 20 years since joining the European Union in 2027.

Coordinator Victor Vevera highlighted the importance of expanding infrastructure interconnections between the two states, so that Moldova can be more closely connected to regional and European networks.

“We will soon find ourselves within the European Union. We are united by what we feel, as well as by the expansion of infrastructure areas and the development of roads’ networks, so that Moldova is not somewhere on the periphery in relation to Romania, but connected to everything that a greater Romania represents. The objective is to be as close as possible,” Victor Vevera said.

Cristian David referred to his institutional experience in Romania’s European integration process. David noted that he had served as Minister of European Affairs in 2006 and coordinated activities related to Romania’s accession, in partnership with the Department for European Integration, as well as serving as Minister for Romanians Abroad.

The launch of the volume was followed by discussions on the lessons of Romania’s experience of European integration and how they can be used by Moldova in its process of joining the European Union.

The volume, “Romania and the Republic of Moldova. The Partnership for the EU” was launched in Bucharest on October 22. The event took place at the “Carol I” Central University Library.