Nationalist Senator Initiates Law for Taking Back former Romanian Territories from Ukraine

The dispute between Romania and Ukraine reached a new level: a Romanian nationalist senator, president of the SOS political party, initiated a law for Romania to receive its old territories, now under Ukrainian occupation.

In the senator’s view, Romania must regain its old territories by 2027. This will be accomplished by modifying the existing Treaty between Romania and Ukraine.

We request the annexation of the historical territories of Romania, namely Northern Bucovina, Herța, Buceag (Cahul, Bolgrad and Ismail), historical Maramureș and Serpent Island, Romanian territories stolen by the USSR and abusively owned by Ukraine.

Law initiated by Diana Sosoaca for regaining the old Romanian territories from Ukraine

In 2020, the current president of Ukraine had a different opinion, contradicting history and facts. In his view, Northern Bukovina was occupied by Romania in 1918, and what came after that, when Romania was deprived of its old territory, was a historical repair.

This request has few chances of getting a favourable vote in Parliament, yet it is enough to fuel the existing fire. Despite the political and diplomatic attempts to calm the situation, there are tensions between Romania and Ukraine, and people in Romania pay close attention to Ukraine’s behaviour.

The recent dispute between Romania and Ukraine started when the minister of Transport in Romania announced data showing Ukraine had dredged Bystroye Canal for economic purposes, thus endangering the very existence of the Danube Delta. Ukraine forbids the Romanian authorities to measure on Bystroye, but they allowed measurements on Chilia Canal at the border between the two countries. The measurements show that Ukraine secretly dredged until it reached 9 meters in depth, 2 meters more than Romanian authorities knew. This means that Bystroye Canal could have been dredged similarly, which, according to specialists, could endanger Danube Delta.

The presence of wealthy Ukrainian refugees in Bucharest doesn’t help from this perspective, and the help the Romanian state offers the refugees is another discussion topic that animates the society.

Also, the fact that the Romanian minorities in Ukraine don’t benefit from the same rights the Ukrainian minority has in Romania is another preoccupation of the Romanian politicians.

Unfortunately, our Romanian brothers in Ukraine do not have the right to learn in their mother tongue; there is a risk of losing their cultural identity. Instead, at Sighetul Marmației, a high school teaches the Ukrainian language. We note the lack of the principle of reciprocity, a principle applicable in international law (principle of international relations, enshrined in agreements, treaties and legal assistance conventions, according to which the beneficiary state of the treatment applied by its partner undertakes to provide it with identical treatment or equivalent); thus the ethnic Romanians from Ukraine do not have a representative in the Kyiv Parliament, while the Ukrainians from our country have a representative in the Romanian Parliament.

Reasons exposed in the law initaitve of SOS Party

Yet, not all agree that Ukraine should be “bothered” during this period, as it is under attack. This and the international pressures from the allies don’t offer any chance for such laws.

Apart from that, Romanian diplomacy labels any such attempts as coming from Russian propaganda. Recently, when one Romanian politician criticized the minister of Foreign Affairs for failing to get Romania admitted to Schengen, he was labelled as “Russia’s spokesman”. “I feel like Sputnik criticizes me”, the Romanian minister Bogdan Aurescu tells the journalists when he found out the Liberal Party Vice-president Rares Bogdan criticized him. This is why this initiative is likely to be labelled as coming from Russian propaganda as well.