Ioan-Aurel Pop: 1918 Union – single country program we carried out

Ioan Aurel Pop, the president of the Romanian Academy, declared for Agerpres, that the National Day should be a reason for joy, pride and especially dignity, and the 1918 Union represents the “single country program we made and also carried out.”   “On December 1, we celebrate the completion of a process and we also consider March 28/April 9 – the Union of Basarabia and November 15/28 – the Union of Bucovina. All together they received an exceptional meaning on December 1 and in Alba Iulia, in comparison to what happened in Chisinau and Cernauti, it was a mass national event with the presence of over 100,000 peopleand 1,228 delegates with voting rights, with documents procing they voted on behalf of their communities. January 24 and May 10 symbolize all of them. As we have no right to discuss national symbols but have to accept them as they are, we welcome in our souls the National Day, the national flag, the state anthem and state emblem. As long as they are in force we have the right to respect them as citizens who respect democracy. The National Day must be an occasion of joy, pride and especially dignity. All democratic countries do the same,” said the president of the Romanian Academy.   Ion Aurel Pop says the 1918 Union represents the end of the “single country program we made and carried out.”   “The program was carried out between 1848 and 1918. This plan was in the people's minds. It was not just an event. The first fundamental moment was 1859. Without the union between Moldova and Wallachia there could not be the 1918 union. In conclusion the Union under Alexandru Cuza's reign. Secondly, the 1877-1878 Independence and Dobrogea's union or annexation and thirdly, the 1918 event. It was a project carried out over seven decades. We were led by responsible elite that knew how to lead the nation on the paty of creating the national state. Romania was created with the major contribution of the Romanian people. The modern Romanian nation drew up a country program by means ot the responsible elites we had. In my opinion, it was the single country program we drew up and also carried out in three main stages”, said Ioan Aurel Pop.   He considers that the “miracle” consists of the fact that at the end of WW I, international conditions helped Romania obtain almost everything.   “Romania obtained Basarabia. We had a round, beautiful country of about 300,000 sq.km, with many minorities, but with a democracy level appreciated internationally. That is why the inter-war period is considered by many a kind of golden age. Maybe for the fact that it was followed by the communist regime that laste 4 decades, which stirred the waters,” the academician said. Pop explains how, from the historical point of view, from the provinces which made up Greater Romania in 1918, only Transylvania, Banat, Crisana, Maramures remained within the country body.   “Because they were not direct neighbors with Russian Empire and then the Red Empire. Lenin and Stalin wanted to seize everything that had belonged to the tzars. A very serious problem for us,” says the president of the Romanian Academy.   He says that Transylvania, Banat, Crisana and Maramures remained because the West was and is a democratic world and because the principle of national self-determination prevailed.   “That does not mean there are no contestations from Hungarian or Austrian nostalgic people who still dream about the former empire. But, for the time being, the political and territorial structure of this Europe, and we are part of the European Union and NATO, is a stable one. Transylvania, Banat, Crisana and Maramures are part of Romania and we hope they will always be as long as Europe remains Europe,” said Ioan Aurel Pop.