Without the historical achievement from January 24th 1859 – the Unification Day when Moldavia and Wallachia became the United Principalities – present Romania would have not been possible, considers Romanian MEP, Ramona Mănescu, in a tribute message to hallmark the 158th anniversary of this milestone for the foundation of the Romanian state.
”We owe to the Unification Day much more thank we think. Likewise, present Romania owes a lot to those that have made possible the Principalities Unification – to our small elite from our Diaspora in France and to the verticality of this country that has supported our Romanian interests. Without January 24th, Romania would have never existed. Most likely, our country would have end up splitted between the Russian Empire, the Austro-Hungarian Empire and even the history of the whole Europe would have been different”, stated Mănescu, in a post on her website.
”In the mid of the nineteenth century, the provinces that represent Romania today were a subject of dispute between the interests of great powers of that moment: Russia, the Ottoman Empire, the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the British Empire. None of these powers wanted to see a stable Moldavia and Wallachia or these principalities united under the same leadership”, the EPP MEP added.
In her message, where she presented a lesson of national history, Ramona Mănescu emphasized the great role played by the small Romanian elite established in Paris in convincing the French Emperor, Napoleon III in supporting this desideratum.
”Further, the influence of France and its direct involvement stopped the Russian expansion and generated its retreat from the Romanian Principalities. Also, France’s action convinced Russia to accept the unification option and counter-balanced Austria’s and Turkey’s opposition. Through the effort of France, the British Empire expressed its support for a fair build-up of the Principalities ad hoc assemblies”, she argued.
“The Unification Day of January 24th 1859, the moments that preceded and followed it represent one of the most beautiful chapters in the Romanian history, a moment of great success of the elites diplomacy and vision. Present Romania must not forget this past and must not ignore that the same interests against the founding of a Romanian state in the 19th Century have not disappeared from the agenda of some regional forces”, Mănescu concluded.
.
