Romania seen from the eastern side of the Prut river. Perspectives on the Moldovian immigration

Abstract

This paper describes the main results of a large scale survey on the potential migrants from the Republic of Moldova. Being a topic of major interest, both for the political decision and the economical context of this former soviet republic, the migration affects the demographic structure, the capital accumulation and the geographical and spatial perception. Romania has a specific position in the pattern of the Moldovian migration flows for several reasons – linguistic proximity, member of the EU, political context etc. This combination of factors transformed Romania in a recent destination for the migration flows, a destination where the Moldovian migrants represent the most important group. This study shows that the privileged position of the Moldovian immigration is strongly correlated with the image that Romania presents in the collective perception on the Eastern side of Prut.