The current status of the North-Western Romanian border 100 years after the Treaty of Versailles. Research report – Radu Baltasiu

Following the First World War, Transylvania, Bukovina, and Bessarabia, territories with a predominantly Romanian population, were united with the “Mother Country”. The union, sealed by the Treaties of Versailles, made it possible to advance the Romanian frontier in the west of “Greater Romania”, a frontier very different from the old ethnocratic one under Austro-Hungarian dualism. Professor R. Baltasiu, director of the European Centre for Ethnic Studies (Romanian Academy), coordinated research that examined the current status of Romania’s western border, which underwent transformations a century ago. The results of this study have been published in the book “The current status of the north-western Romanian border 100 years after the Treaty of Versailles”. The author demonstrates how Romania’s western neighbor’s border is advancing while Romania’s border is retreating, even if the administrative border remains unchanged. The consequences of this geopolitical movement are felt by both the dominated minority (Romanian) and the dominant minority (Hungarian). The Carei-Satu Mare area, where the study was conducted, is becoming pauperized, and the Romanian identity is suffering. The Romanian community is discriminated both objectively (the emergence of a new infrastatality) and subjectively (“being Romanian” has become discreditable).