Moldova,officially the Republic of Moldova,is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe,on the northeastern corner of the Balkans. The country spans a total of 33,483 km2 (12,928 sq mi) and has a population of approximately 2.42 million as of January 2024. Moldova is bordered by Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north,east,and south. The unrecognised breakaway state of Transnistria lies across the Dniester river on the country's eastern border with Ukraine. Moldova is a unitary parliamentary representative democratic republic with its capital in Chișinău,the country's largest city and main cultural and commercial centre.
Chișinău is the capital and largest city of Moldova. The city is Moldova's main industrial and commercial centre,and is located in the middle of the country,on the river Bîc,a tributary of the Dniester. According to the results of the 2014 census,the city proper had a population of 532,513,while the population of the Municipality of Chișinău was 700,000. Chișinău is the most economically prosperous locality in Moldova and its largest transportation hub. Nearly a third of Moldova's population lives in the metro area.
Vladimir Voronin is a Moldovan politician. He was the third President of Moldova from 2001 until 2009 and has been the leader of the Party of Communists of Moldova (PCRM) since 1994. He was Europe's first democratically elected communist party head of state after the dissolution of the Eastern Bloc.
Klaus Werner Iohannis,sometimes referred to by his initials KWI in the Romanian press,is a Romanian politician,physicist,and former physics teacher who has been serving as the sixth president of Romania since 2014.
The European Social Democratic Party is a centre-left,populist social-democratic political party in Moldova. Established in 1997,the party holds pro-European views,and is an associate member of the Party of European Socialists (PES) and a full member of the Socialist International. According to its statute,the PSDE pleads that Moldova is an independent,sovereign,and democratic state,based on law,and integrated in the united family of European democracies. Reflecting former leader Marian Lupu's views,but also the strong influence of the Moldovan Orthodox Church,the party is more conservative on social issues,such as LGBT rights.
The ȘOR Party was a populist political party in Moldova. Known from its foundation in 1998 until October 2016 as the Socio-Political Movement "Equality",the party holds Eurosceptic and Russophilic stances.
Moldova has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 19 times,debuting in 2005. The Moldovan participant broadcaster in the contest is Teleradio-Moldova (TRM). The country's best result is a third-place finish with "Hey Mamma" by SunStroke Project in 2017.
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.
Relations between the European Union (EU) and Moldova are currently shaped via the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP),an EU foreign policy instrument dealing with countries bordering its member states.
Moldova–Russia relations are the bilateral relations between the Republic of Moldova and the Russian Federation,two Eastern European,post-Soviet,ex-communist countries. Russian support for the self-proclaimed Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic (Transnistria) and a substantial Russian military presence therein strained Moldovan relations with Russia.
There are currently nine states recognized as candidates for membership of the European Union:Albania,Bosnia and Herzegovina,Georgia,Moldova,Montenegro,North Macedonia,Serbia,Turkey,and Ukraine. Kosovo formally submitted its application for membership in 2022 and is considered a potential candidate by the European Union. Due to multiple factors,talks with Turkey are at an effective standstill since December 2016.
Vladimir Plahotniuc,commonly referred to as Vlad Plahotniuc,is a Moldovan politician,businessman and oligarch. He was the chairman of the Democratic Party of Moldova and previously was a member of the Parliament of Moldova for three terms,and served as First Vice President of the Parliament of Moldova. Until leaving the territory of the Republic of Moldova in 2019,he was considered to be the powerhouse of Moldovan politics in matters of influence,controlling Moldova's government and parliamentary majority. Since fleeing Moldova in June 2019,Plahotniuc has resided in Turkey.
Maia Sandu is a Moldovan politician who has been the President of Moldova since 24 December 2020. She is the founder and former leader of the Party of Action and Solidarity (PAS) and former Prime Minister of Moldova from 8 June 2019 until 14 November 2019,when the government collapsed after a vote of no-confidence. Sandu was Minister of Education from 2012 to 2015 and member of the Parliament of Moldova from 2014 to 2015,and again in 2019.
Siegfried Mureșan is a Romanian economist and politician,vice-president of the European People's Party (EPP) since November 2019,vice-president of the European People's Party Group in the European Parliament and member of the National Liberal Party (PNL). He was elected as Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from Romania in 2014 and 2019. Previously,he was a member of the People's Movement Party (PMP) between 2014 and 2018 and the Democratic Liberal Party (PDL) before 2014.
The Party of Action and Solidarity is a liberal political party in Moldova. The PAS was founded by Maia Sandu,the former Minister of Education and the incumbent president of Moldova. A pro-European party,it is an observer of the European People's Party (EPP) and the International Democracy Union (IDU).
The accession of Moldova to the European Union (EU) is on the current agenda for future enlargement of the EU.
Snap parliamentary elections were held in Moldova on 11 July 2021. Following the resignation of Ion Chicu,the position of Prime Minister became vacant,with the Parliament being obligated to form a new government within three months. After the expiration of the constitutionally mandated period and two failed attempts to win parliamentary approval for the proposed cabinets,the Constitutional Court ruled on 15 April that the circumstances justifying a dissolution of the parliament were met. President Maia Sandu signed the decree dissolving the Parliament on 28 April and snap parliamentary elections were called on.
The Alliance for the Union of Romanians is a right-wing populist and nationalist political party active in Romania and Moldova. It was founded on 19 September 2019 ahead of the 2020 Romanian local and legislative elections. The party president is George Simion. The party ran in the local elections,not obtaining many votes and only winning in three towns. However,in the legislative elections,the AUR won 9% of the votes in all of Romania and its diaspora,thus becoming the fourth-largest party in the country at the central level,which surprised observers.
Natalia Gavrilița is a Moldovan economist and politician who served as prime minister of Moldova from 2021 until her resignation in February 2023 after failure to get her reform package enacted.
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.
