New Forms of Mobility at the Romanian-Moldovan border: European Enlargement and Changing Living Strategies

Bénédicte Michalon (1, 2)

1 CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique
2 ADES - Aménagement, Développement, Environnement, Santé et Sociétés

European enlargement process is characterised by a new way the EU external borders function. This paper presents the preliminary results of a research project about the role of international mobility under the changing forms and functions of the border between Romania and the Republic of Moldova. The analysis is focused on cross-border trade developed by Moldavian "tourists" with Romania. The fieldwork, based on qualitative methods, was done in a big Romanian city where trans-border petty trade concentrates: Iaşi. As a result, it can be said that the border between Romania and Moldova has been a space for cross-border mobility and trade only after the collapse of Communist regimes. And this makes it no different from other former Communist borders: trade is a sign of post-communist times and of European integration there. Nevertheless, the organisation of cross-border trade has changed in the last fifteen years. Suitcase trade has several faces and occurs in different kinds of places; this clearly shows that the changes at the border are part of petty traders' strategies.

Mots clés: romanian-moldavian border; cross border trade between moldavians and romanians

Domaines: Anthropologie sociale et ethnologie; Sociologie

Bénédicte Michalon. New Forms of Mobility at the Romanian-Moldovan border: European Enlargement and Changing Living Strategies. Borders of the European Union : Strategies of Crossing and Resistance, 2007. ⟨halshs-01170459⟩