The tenth volume in the Documentary Notebooks series, entitled 'Romania and the Republic of Moldova: The Partnership for the EU', coordinated by Andrei Stoian and Victor Vevera, was launched on Thursday by Club Romania Publishing at the 'Carol I' Central University Library, in the presence of several of the contributors.

The book brings together contributions from 90 experts, political decision-makers, negotiators, regulators, heads of major energy and infrastructure companies, representatives of academia, the cultural and business sectors, civil society and European institutions. It offers a wide-ranging analysis of the Republic of Moldova's European path and Romania's role in this process.

Among those who contributed articles to the volume are Anca Dragu, Governor of the National Bank of Moldova; Catalin Predoiu, former Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior of Romania; Victor Negrescu, Romanian MEP, Vice-President of the European Parliament; Sebastian Burduja, former Minister of Energy of Romania; Clara Volintiru, Secretary of State at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Romania; Mihai Mitu, Ambassador of the Republic of Moldova to Romania; Dumitru Alaiba, former Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Moldova; Vasile Puscas, Romania's former chief negotiator with the European Union; academics Ioan-Aurel Pop and Ion Tighineanu, President of the Academy of Sciences of Moldova; Claudia Nicolae, Director General of the AGERPRES National News Agency; Ion Sterian, Rasvan Popescu, Bogdan Badea, Corina Popescu and Dan Barna, alongside analysts, diplomats, entrepreneurs and journalists from both sides of the Prut River.

The volume also includes a message from His Royal Highness Prince Radu of Romania.

The book is structured around six chapters. The first provides readers with the primary documentation underpinning the accession process: the negotiating framework, the economic growth plan worth almost 1.9 billion euros for the 2025-2027 period, the country report and the European Commission's assessment included in the 2025 enlargement package.

The second maps the Bucharest-Chisinau-Brussels triangle, including the perspectives of Berlin, Paris and Washington. The third, the most extensive chapter, traces the journey from the interconnection of systems to strategic interdependence across three areas: administrative and institutional convergence; physical and digital interconnection; and the convergence of markets, investment and capital.

The fourth examines the information space, culture and democratic resilience, including the test posed by the parliamentary elections of September 28 2025. The fifth addresses the geopolitics of reintegration and the Transnistrian issue, while the sixth analyses public opinion in the Republic of Moldova, drawing on the Annual Survey 2026 - Republic of Moldova.

Andrei Stoian, one of the volume's coordinators, thanked the 90 contributors 'for embracing the idea' and accepting the invitation to share their views.

'If I were to sum up the volume's central argument briefly, it would be this: the European integration of the Republic of Moldova is the most effective security architecture available in this part of Europe, and interconnection is its practical mechanism. You know very well that the eastern flank of NATO and the eastern border of the European Union converge along the Prut. But if you look more closely, this security architecture takes the form of a gas pipeline, a high-voltage power line and electronic signatures that are valid on both sides of the Prut,' Andrei Stoian said at the book launch.

Victor Vevera, also a coordinator of the volume, who was in Japan, said in an audio address that 'the time had come for us to have a documentary volume addressing the issues facing Romania and the Republic of Moldova, because the Republic of Moldova is on its way towards the European Union, which will bring it closer to us'.

'From the ‘Bridges of Flowers', which symbolised the emotion of reuniting with our brothers across the Prut, we have moved on to strategic interconnections and, more recently, to these digital bridges. Ultimately, digital connectivity and the exchange of information bring us closer to those who studied here, to those who are citizens of both Romania and the Republic of Moldova, and ultimately unite us as one nation. After all, our shared language and traditions are undeniable and can never be overcome, regardless of the geostrategic or geopolitical interests that may prevail at any given time,' Victor Vevera said.

Tudor-Dan Ancuta, a legal expert, public policy analyst and parliamentary adviser in the German Bundestag, said that his contribution to the volume focused on Germany's perspective on enlargement and German-Moldovan relations.

'One of Germany's main considerations regarding Moldova, and a key aspect of how Germany perceives the country, is that, particularly since Russia's invasion of Ukraine began in 2022, people have come to understand just how important Moldova is for European stability. They witnessed the wave of people and refugees arriving in Germany from Ukraine and realised that, if the same thing were to happen in Moldova - if Russia were to defeat Ukraine and attack Moldova - a similar wave would head towards Romania and then onwards to the West. This prompted them to rethink their approach to Moldova to some extent,' Tudor-Dan Ancuta said.

Claudia Nicolae, Director General of the AGERPRES National News Agency, recalled requests from media outlets in the Republic of Moldova for Romanian-language news 'to fill the gap in Romanian-language news and, in some way, counterbalance news in Russian'.

'What was created was a news service dedicated to the Republic of Moldova, something that had existed before but on a much smaller scale. It was not enough, because that was not the real objective. The aim was for AGERPRES to have a presence in the Republic of Moldova and produce news from there that could be picked up by Moldovan media outlets. Why? Because this brings us to the essential point. Of all the bridges - technical, physical or tangible - the bridge of information is perhaps the most abstract. And while institutions may reach their destinations by plane, train or car, information travels in a fraction of a second. That was the first example we witnessed at the news agency, a few months after the war began. My colleague, the Botosani correspondent, travelled to the Republic of Moldova and interviewed the deputy prime minister at the time, who also held the Energy portfolio. The result was that now-famous news report stating that ‘some villages in the Republic of Moldova could be left without electricity'. It was living proof of what information means and of the importance of a shared information space, which is absolutely essential. I came across the same story on a Swiss website, which cited the Spanish news agency EFE, which in turn cited MoldPress, which had cited an AGERPRES interview. That is what a shared information space looks like. The foundation of such a space is trust. In the Republic of Moldova, this pillar is still rather fragile, although it may grow stronger. A news story published by a trusted outlet is taken up as it stands, without being endlessly circulated, commented on or, ultimately, fragmented,' Claudia Nicolae said.

The AGERPRES Director General also stressed that 'Romanian media need to be present on the other side of the Prut in order to work together as a team throughout this journey towards integration and beyond'.

The launch in Bucharest will be followed by similar events scheduled to take place in Chisinau and Brussels. AGERPRES (RO - writing by: Petronius Craiu; EN - writing by: Cristina Zaharia)