Both the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the enlargement
of the European Union have essentially rearranged the
political map of Eastern Europe. As a result of this process, Moldova
has become an independent state and, with Romania’s EU membership,
one of the countries neighboring the European Union. Prior to
conducting my research, I would have described the country as one of
the poorest European states, but my personal experience has led me to
believe that the state is more controversial than it is poor. Here is a state
in which a confi guration that is not acknowledged by anyone operates
(Transnistria). The river Dniester is controlled by Moldovan and Russian
peacekeeping forces; transit traffi c is checked by customs and police.
Moldovan citizens drive western cars with Transnistrian number plates
because of high registration fees, yet the 100–200 Euro per month is
the lowest average European income compared with those in Europe.
(Moldovan statistical data is usually far from reliable. More than one
million citizens live and work abroad.) Unlike in the Soviet era, motor
vehicles are mainly of western make and most of them are expensive
Jeeps. This contradicts the country’s great poverty – one cannot fail to
notice the marked difference. (During my 150-kilometer-long journey
from the border to the capital, there was public lighting only every once
in a while.) The same discrepancy is underscored again when the traditional
modest country houses with their nice fl owery gates, the blue
walls and the ornamental wells are juxtaposed with the houses, cottages
that are being built around Kishinev. Another thing also leads one 60 JÁNOS SALLAI
to stop and refl ect: the shops in the big cities and those in the capital.
There are a wide selection of goods and a large number of costumers;
The Metro department store is highly popular, and it seems that every
other building on the main road exchanges currency. It is easy to assume
that the money sent home by the numerous Moldovan citizens living in
foreign countries must eminently account for these scenes