The unification of Moldova and Romania is a popular concept in the two countries that began during the Revolutions of 1989. The Romanian Revolution in 1989 and the independence of Moldova in 1991 further contributed to the development of a movement for the unification of the two Romanian-speaking countries. The question of reunification is recurrent in the public sphere of the two countries, often as a speculation, both as a goal and a danger. Though historically Romanian support for unification was high, a 2022 survey during the Russian invasion of Ukraine indicated that only 11% of Romania's population supports an immediate union, while over 42% think it is not the moment.
A majority in Moldova continues to oppose it. However, support in Moldova for reunification has increased significantly, with polls asking "if a referendum took place next Sunday regarding the unification of the Republic of Moldova and Romania, would you vote for or against the unification?" rising from approximately 20% to 44% support from 2015 to 2022. Support for unification with Romania is much lower in Transnistria and Gagauzia than in the rest of Moldova.
Individuals who advocate the unification are usually called "unionists" (). The supporters of the union may refer to the opponents as "Moldovenists" (). When referring to themselves as a group, opponents of the unification sometimes use the term "Statalists" ().
Background
The Principality of Moldavia was a vassal state of the Ottoman Empire and its eastern territories between the Prut and the Dniestr (approximately half of the principality) were annexed by the Russian Empire in 1812, in accordance with the Treaty of Bucharest. The Russians referred to this new region as Bessarabia, taking a name that had previously only applied to a southern portion of the region (known also as the "Budjak") and extending it to cover the entire newly annexed territory. The name derives from the Wallachian Basarab dynasty, who had presided over the southern portion in the Middle Ages. During the Russian Revolution of 1917, a newly formed regional parliament (Sfatul Țării) declared Bessarabia's autonomy within Russia. In 1918, after the Romanian army entered Bessarabia, the makeshift parliament decided on independence, only to review its position and ultimately decide on a conditional union with Romania. The conditions, including the provisions for autonomy, were ultimately dropped. This unification is now commemorated by unionists in Romania and Moldova as the Day of the Union of Bessarabia with Romania on 27 March.
In 1940, during World War II, Romania agreed to an ultimatum and ceded Moldova to the Soviet Union, which organized it into the Moldavian SSR. In the middle of 1941, Romania joined the Axis Powers in the invasion of the Soviet Union, recovering Bessarabia and northern Bukovina, as well as occupying the territory to the east of the Dniester it dubbed "Transnistria". By the end of World War II, the Soviet Union had reconquered all of the lost territories, reestablishing Soviet authority there. The Soviets strongly promoted the Moldovan ethnic identity, against other opinions that viewed all speakers of the Romanian language as part of a single ethnic group, taking advantage of the incomplete integration of Bessarabia into the interwar Romania.
The official Soviet policy also stated that Romanian and Moldovan were two different languages and, to emphasize this distinction, Moldovan had to be written in a new Cyrillic alphabet (the Moldovan Cyrillic alphabet) based on the reformed Russian Cyrillic, rather than the obsolete Romanian Cyrillic alphabet that ceased to be used in the 19th century in the Old Kingdom and 1917 in Bessarabia.
Developments after 1989
In September 1989, with the liberalization in the Soviet Union, the parliament of the Moldovan SSR declared Moldovan as the official language, and asserted the existence of a "Moldovan-Romanian linguistic identity".
On 6 May 1990, after several decades of strict separation, Romania and the Moldovan SSR temporarily lifted border crossing restrictions, and thousands of people crossed the Prut River which marked their common border.