Europe Day 2013 Chisinau

Since 2011 they celebrate ‘European Day’ in Moldova. In contrast to other countries they celebrate it not on the 9^th of May. This is because the 9^th of May is Victory Day. On this day people celebrate the capitulation of Nazi Germany to the Soviet Union. However, next year the mayor of Chisinau said he will organize Europe Day on the 9^th of May.

Moldova versus Europe

The relation between Moldova and Europe is quite complicated. The current government wants to be part of the European Union. However, Moldova has also strong ties with Russia. Moreover people in Moldova also often speak about 'Europe' as if Moldova is not part of Europe. To understand the political situation better read this article of the Guardian.

For Europe Day there were organized a wide range of activities:

traditional food from various European countries
possibility to learn words from different European languages
concert in the evening with local and European artists
information point about exchange possibilities for students and professors.
European Film festival in Chisinau (19-22 May) and in Tiraspol (23-25 May)

Last but not least there was a European village in which Vent d’Est participated as well. Vent d’Est was part of the French stand and we served French crepes with home-made jam and bottles with home-made syrop.

It was an opportunity to let people taste syrop, to earn some money for the project of constructing an eco-pension. Even the president of Moldova tasted the products,

See here the report on Moldovan Television (in Romanian):
http://www.protv.md//stiri/social/ziua-europei-sarbatorita-cu-intarziere-la-chisinau-moldovenii.html