[KillaQueen]

Not meaning to disturb your exciting politics discussion, boys , but just to mention something.

Originally Posted by Amber

Moldova is a special case, if it were to reunite with Romania, like East Germany with West Germany, that would be acceptable, but i am opposed to Moldova joining as a full member.

moldova won't be reunited with romania any time soon, because well, that country will only pull us down with its economical and political status. i mean we're already bad enough by ourselves. imagine how we'd be dragging along the poorest country in europe then again, there is the cultural and historical issue. most romanians hate moldovans (we've got an area here called moldova as well, the romanian moldova, to the left of the border with moldova the country; together they used to form the whole moldovan territory which would often change borders - it was either part of romania in its wholeness or part of ukraine - and was definitely split from romania in ww2). there is this popular/traditional belief that moldovans are the laziest and stupidest of all romanians. we even use their names in bad words and mock their russian accent. and plus, we're too busy with our own crap to take moldova under our wing. all we've done is try to restore our language in the area, EVEN THOUGH a good majority of moldovans REFUSE to re-learn it, if you will. plus, ever since '89, romanians don't look eastwards, but suck up to the west, so there you have it. truth be told, under these conditions, i doubt moldova will EVER re-unite with romania.

Originally Posted by simon

I'm sure you know that Moldova can't reunite with Romania because there is a large Russian minority, like in Estonia and Latvia. I don't see why its admission as a member in its own right is a problem.

i'd have to say i agree with Amber here, Simon. i guess you can only compare estonia and latvia to moldova when it only comes to the nearly 50 year period of communist regime, but not after. i mean moldova has 'developed' VERY differently than estonia and latvia. russia has a higher influence on that country than in the baltic states, and the romanians there are only so in ethnicity and/or name. and actually the majority of names are russian there, and there's only a few that take pride in the fact that they are in fact romanians, unlike estonians, for example, where i've seen great patriotism. i mean those people are proud to be who they are, related to finns and all, and detest russians still clinging onto the remains of their power. and lets not forget they went through more or less the same ordeal the moldovans went through during russian domination. yet look at how estonians came out of it, and look at how moldovans ended up. i mean antithesis is the word here. on absolutely all levels. that on the one hand. on the other hand, like i said, moldova is the poorest country in europe. the EU raise their eyebrows at the economical status of romania and bulgaria even, so i dont see why they should even consider moldova as a potential member. then there is the fact that moldova has other internal issues, what with the restless transnistrian area.