Moldovan President Maia Sandu Open to Unification with Romania Amid Growing Security Concerns
Moldovan President Maia Sandu has come out in support of unification with Romania, framing it as a way to protect her country’s democracy from Russian pressure. Speaking on the British podcast The Rest is Politics this past Sunday, Sandu was direct about Moldova’s situation: “Just look at what is happening in the world. It is becoming increasingly challenging for a small nation like Moldova to preserve democracy and sovereignty, particularly in the face of Russian encroachment.”
She made clear that if a referendum on unification were held, she would vote in favour. That said, she knows public opinion is divided — recent polls show only a third of Moldovans with Romanian citizenship agree with her on unification.
Her party, the Action and Solidarity Party (PAS), won a fresh mandate in September’s elections on a platform centred on European Union membership by 2030. After that victory, the government approved a new defense strategy that names Russia as the country’s primary security threat and flags concern that the conflict in Ukraine could cross into Moldovan territory.
Romania, which belongs to both NATO and the European Union, would be a natural partner in any unification scenario. But Moldova still has significant reforms ahead before EU accession becomes realistic — and both Russia and Moldova’s Socialist Party are firmly opposed to the idea.
Moldova’s history with Romania runs deep. The country was part of Romania between the world wars before being absorbed into the Soviet Union during World War II. It declared independence in 1991 when the Soviet Union collapsed. Today, approximately 2.4 million people live there; most speak Romanian, while a substantial minority speak Russian.
Sandu’s push for unification is, at its core, about securing Moldova’s democratic future at a moment when the regional order feels anything but stable.
