Moldovan or Moldavian is one of the two local names for the Romanian language in Moldova. Moldovan was declared the official language of Moldova in Article 13 of the constitution adopted in 1994, while the 1991 Declaration of Independence of Moldova used the name Romanian. In 2003, the Moldovan parliament adopted a law defining Moldovan and Romanian as glottonyms for the same language. In 2013, the Constitutional Court of Moldova interpreted that Article 13 of the constitution is superseded by the Declaration of Independence, thus giving official status to the name Romanian. The breakaway region of Transnistria continues to recognize "Moldavian" as one of its official languages, alongside Russian and Ukrainian. Ukraine also continued until recently to make a distinction between Moldovan and Romanian, with one village declaring its language to be Romanian and another declaring it to be Moldovan, though Ukrainian officials have announced an intention to remove the legal status of Moldovan. On 16 November, the Ministry of Education and Science of the Ukrainian government stated that it has initiated steps to abolish the Moldovan language and to replace it with Romanian. On 13 January 2024, Ukrainian newspaper Dumska reported that the Ukrainian Ministry of Education and Science had announced all 16 schools in Odesa Oblast teaching "Moldovan" had dropped the term in favor of Romanian. On 16 March 2023, the Moldovan Parliament approved a law on referring to the national language as Romanian in all legislative texts and the constitution. On 22 March, the president of Moldova, Maia Sandu, promulgated the law.
The leu is the currency of Moldova. Like the Romanian leu, the Moldovan leu is subdivided into 100 bani. The name of the currency originates from a Romanian word which means "lion".
Chișinău International Airport is Moldova's main international airport, located 13 km (8.1 mi) southeast of the centre of Chișinău, the capital city. It served as headquarters for Air Moldova, the country's national airline.
The unification of Moldova and Romania is a popular concept and hypothetical unification 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 March 2022 survey following 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 right moment.
Ioan Viorel "Ionel" Ganea is a Romanian professional football coach and former player who played as a striker.
Modern Moldova-Romania relations emerged after the Republic of Moldova gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. Pan-Romanianism has been a consistent part of Moldovan politics, and was adopted in the Popular Front of Moldova's platform in 1992. The official language of Moldova is Romanian. The peoples of the two countries share common traditions and folklore, including a common name for the monetary unit – the leu. At present, relations between the two states are exceptionally friendly, especially on account of the pro-Romanian administration of Maia Sandu in Moldova.
Igor Armaș is a Moldovan footballer who plays as a centre-back for Liga I club Voluntari, which he captains. He played for the Moldova national team.
Maxim Igorevich Dubarenco is a Moldovan-born Belarusian tennis player.
Maxim Potîrniche is a footballer who plays as a defender for Moldovan Super Liga club Petrocub Hîncești.
2011–12 season is the 10th Moldovan National Division season in the history of FC Dacia Chisinau.
Alexandru Iulian Maxim is a Romanian professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder for Süper Lig club Gaziantep.
Monica Babuc is a politician and historian from the Republic of Moldova, who was Minister of Culture of the Republic of Moldova in four consecutive cabinets from 2013 to 2019.
Gheorghe Anton is a Moldovan footballer who plays as a midfielder. In his career, Anton also played for teams such as Zimbru Chișinău, Sheriff Tiraspol or SCM Gloria Buzău.
Starting in the spring of 2015, Moldova experienced large-scale protests amid a worsening economic situation and corruption scandals. The protests gained momentum in September, when up to 100,000 people demonstrated in the largest protest since Moldova's independence from the Soviet Union in August 1991.
The COVID-19 pandemic in Moldova was a part of the worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2. The virus was confirmed to have reached the Republic of Moldova on 7 March 2020, when a Moldovan woman who returned from Italy tested positive for the novel coronavirus. As the number of infected people started to rise during the next days, the Parliament declared a state of emergency on 17 March 2020 for the entire territory of the Republic of Moldova for a period of 60 days.
The COVID-19 pandemic was confirmed to have reached the Autonomous Territorial Unit of Gagauzia, in Moldova, in April 2020.
Presidential elections are scheduled to be held in Moldova on 20 October 2024.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Romania has supported Moldova on several occasions, supplying it with medical equipment and supplies, volunteer Romanian experts and doctors and even a series of COVID-19 vaccine units that arrived on 27 February 2021, which allowed Moldova to start its vaccination program.
On 18 September 2022, protests in Moldova began in the capital city of Chișinău, demanding the resignation of the country's pro-Western government, amid an energy crisis causing rising natural gas prices and inflation, caused in part by the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
