page_title: Greater Romania
section_title: Recent developments
hierarchical_section_title: Greater Romania / Evolution / Recent developments
caption_attribution_description: English: Bessarabia - Romanian Land logo Română: Basarabia, Pământ Românesc logo
context_page_description: The term Greater Romania usually refers to the borders of the Kingdom of Romania in the interwar period. It also refers to a pan-nationalist idea.
  As a concept, its main goal is the creation of a nation-state which would incorporate all Romanian speakers. The phrase is strongly associated with the Kingdom of Romania between 1918 and 1940, often considered the realization of the pan-Romanian goal. In 1920, after the incorporation of Transylvania, Bukovina, Bessarabia and parts of Banat, Crișana, and Maramureș, the Romanian state reached its largest peacetime geographical extent ever. Today the concept serves as a guiding principle for the unification of Romania and Moldova.
  The idea is comparable to other similar conceptions such as the Greek Megali Idea, Greater Hungary, Great Yugoslavia, as well as Greater Italy.
context_section_description: The fall of the socialist regimes in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union and the economic downturn accompanying it led to a resurgence of nationalism in the region. Romania and Moldova, state comprising the bulk of Bessarabia which had become independent after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, confronted with their eastern neighbor, Ukraine. Bucharest and Chișinău announced territorial claims on Ukrainian lands (on parts of Chernivtsi and Odessa regions). Bulgaria surmised that the concept of Greater Romania stood behind Romanian foreign policy toward Moldova therefore expressed concerns about possible developments on Dobruja.
  In 1992, the issue on unification of Moldova and Romania was negotiated between Romanian and Moldovan governments and they wanted to achieve it until the end of the year. However, the "unionists" lost their dominance in Moldova in the middle of the year. Bucharest admitted the existence of the two Romanian states (Romania and Moldova) and defined priorities in reference to this matter: "the creation of a common cultural space; the creation of an economically integrated zone; and gradual political integration". The Moldovan Snegur government became more pragmatic and realized that the nationalist propaganda from Bucharest did not help their aims especially on the problem of "Soviet annexed Bessarabia". The Romanian organizations ignored the result of the Moldovan referendum on independence because the referendum did not ask Romanians in Romania. Romanian politicians blamed Russia and the Moldovan regime that unification became unreal. According to Edward Ozhiganov (Head of the Division for Ethnopolitical Research at the Analytical Center of the Federation Council in Russia), the armed conflict in Moldova was due to the Romanian ethnic nationalism, in other words, "the attempt to create a unitary, ethnic state with power concentrated in the hands of ethnic nationalists in what was actually a multiethnic society."
  Bucharest's behavior toward Ukraine did not change until 1997 when Romanian politicians realized that resolving border disputes were a precondition for NATO membership.
  Present-day Romanian irredentists (such as members of PRM) aim to take possession of territories of northern Bukovina and Bessarabia.  These regions currently belong to Ukraine and Moldova. The Russian presence and the tense political situation in Moldova also inflame their demands.  Nevertheless, radicals make territorial demands on Hungary too. The Greater Romania Party (Partidul România Mare – PRM) is an emblematic representative of the aforesaid concept, though the conception is fostered also by other right-wing groups (e.g. the organisation of the New Right –Noua Dreaptă with paramilitary inclinations).
caption: Logo of the "Bessarabia Romanian Land" campaign
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