





WHEN Moldova became the first Eastern Partnership country to ratify its association agreement with the European Union last week, many in Chisinau celebrated a milestone. But further from the capital city, in the ethnically concentrated regions that comprise much of Moldova’s countryside, the news struck a raw nerve.









Local authorities see EU standards subverting the regional powers they enjoy, at least on paper. Resistance to this erosion of their power is fuelling another battle in the EU-Russia information war, as minorities of all origins deploy increasingly radical pro-Russian rhetoric. In the parts of Moldova where the young tend to sport the orange-and-black St George’s ribbon, a sign of military valour in modern Russia, rather than the gold-starred blue EU flag, political rhetoric has taken a tone of mutual suspicion.









“Moldova Could Have Its Own Donbas” in reaction to the association agreement, says

Nezavisimaya Gazeta

, a Russian newspaper of dubious editorial independence. The article refers to Gagauzia, the predominantly Orthodox Turkic autonomous region in southern Moldova. And it is not only the inflammatory Russian press that is worried about Gagauz separatism. In Chisinau, a local reporter says the region’s bashkan (president), Mihail Formuzal, has already ordered 10,000 military uniforms for the militia he is allegedly planning to build.

The suspicion cuts both ways. In the northern city of Balti, Victor Kalashnikov, who heads the local Russian Youth League, is convinced that Moldova’s most notorious oligarch, Vladimir Plahotniuc, is building a private army of some 17,000 men near Iasi, a Romanian city. Claims of phantom armies lack substance, but regional politicians have an incentive to stoke the rumour mill. Crying separatism is the latest gambit for the regions to capture the attention of a Chisinau government thus far reluctant to address the poverty and underdevelopment in its peripheries.

Gagauzia held its own independence referendum in February, and a majority of Gagauzians apparently voted to leave Moldova. Not much happened after the referendum, but the separatist rhetoric continues at full volume. “In its own way, Gagauzia has already declared its independence,” said Mihail Formuzal, the Gagauzian president. If Moldova should “lose its sovereignty” by joining the EU, said Mr Formuzal, his region will head its own way. He did not elaborate how the four discontinuous territories that comprise Gagauzia might be coagulated into a single state.

Dissatisfaction in Comrat, the capital of Gagauzia, has less to do with geopolitics and more to do with local economics, says Mihail Sirkeli, a local lawyer and NGO activist. For instance, EU-inspired tax reforms are forcing Comrat to send half of its VAT revenue to the state budget. Gagauz leaders also complain they had no seat at the negotiating table when decisions related to the EU were made whereas even representatives of the staunchly anti-Europe Transdniestrian quasi-state were invited.

Fear of Romanian annexation is one of the reason the largely Russian-speaking groups might oppose the EU association agreement. The document was officially signed in Romanian and not Moldovan, which typifies a national conundrum: How can you negotiate with minorities when the majority (the Moldovans) are unsure of their own identity? History books present the history of the Romanians, not the Moldovans. As a popular joke goes: Mom’s Russian, Dad’s Romanian, but little Ivan is Moldovan.

Another factor distancing these largely Orthodox Christian regions from Europe is the familiar trope of Gayropa. In reaction to the EU law on anti-discrimination, which ensures the rights of ethnic and sexual minorities alike, one Gagauz assemblyman expressed his distaste: “Couldn’t they have a separate bill? Why boil us in the same pot?"

Alexander Garanovski, head of Taraclia, a region with a majority of ethnic Bulgarians, says his region’s ties to Bulgaria show that association with the EU will not solve development problems overnight. “We have family in the European Union. When we visit Bulgaria, we see they still have their problems.” In nearby Comrat, even the ethnic Poles say they can’t understand why Warsaw takes such a strong line against Russia.

“There is a cold war among elites that is playing out in Moldovan villages,” said Claude Cahn, a UN human-rights adviser. Until Moldova's leaders elaborate a development plan for the entire country, he argues, the country's future will remain uncertain.