The first Estate was the lay and ecclesiastic aristocracy, ethnically heterogeneous, but undergoing a process of homogenization around its Hungarian nucleus.
[3] The other Estates were Saxons, Székelys, and Romanians (or Vlachs – Universitas Valachorum), all with an ethnic and ethno-linguistic basis (Universis nobilibus, Saxonibus, Syculis et Olachis).
The general assembly (congregatio generalis) of the four Estates had mainly supra-legislative powers in Transylvania, but it sometimes took measures regarding order in the country, relationships between the privileged, military issues, etc.
[6] During the Habsburg rule of Transylvania, in order to escape their inferior status, and in correlation with the Austrian interest to strengthen Catholicism, the Romanian Orthodox accepted a proposal for a "church union" (accepting Catholic dogma and retaining Orthodox ritual and calendar), but the other privileged nations objected and the status of the Romanians remained eventually unchanged.
These revolts – even if the initial causes did not have ethnic grounds or shared the fate of the whole peasantry – were firmly suppressed such as the 1784 Romanian peasant uprising, in which Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor, after learning of the escalated situation, ordered the army to intervene.
A period of autonomy followed, but in 1828 all Romanian government institutions, schools and presses were closed and replaced by a Russian-style provincial administration.
The process of Russification and colonization of this territory started to be carried out by representatives of other ethnic groups of the Russian Empire, including Jews, Germans, Bulgarians, Gagauz, and Ukrainians.
Given that Soviet raids already menaced the newly formed authority, the local body ("Sfatul Țării") called in support troops from the Kingdom of Romania.
The convention of October 28, 1920, whereby the United Kingdom, France, Italy, and Japan recognized Romanian sovereignty in Bessarabia, was rejected as invalid by the USSR.
True as this may be, there has been no evidence presented in support of any fundamental change in Moscow's positions with respect to Bessarabia in 1938 and subsequent years.
[citation needed] In Bessarabia, the Soviet government pursued a policy of assimilation of the native Romanian population.
In addition, the population of the former MASSR, as a part of the Ukrainian SSR, also suffered from the artificial famine in the 1930s when several million people died in Ukraine (see also Holodomor).
Although in the Republic of Moldova the level of population density was the highest one in the USSR, Moscow continued to stimulate the arrival of labour force from outside, including that with a poor qualification.
Although a majority of the Transnistrian population never read these laws which served as a reason for the conflict's outburst, they feared that by the application of the new linguistic legislation, Russian language speakers would become second-class citizens.
The 2001 parliamentary elections, won by the Party of Communists of the Republic of Moldova, initially brought a series of attempts to raise Russian to the status of a state language.
[citation needed] Relations between the Moldovan and Romanian governments have initially included some tension as the Moldovan government led by President Vladimir Voronin accused Romania of committing imperialism, specifically declaring that "Romania has remained the only empire in Europe, consisting of Moldavia, Dobruja and Transylvania".
After spending a night outdoors, they forced their way into the building and had to stay there without water and electricity for a few months, until pressure from the Moldovan and Romanian governments and from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) made the conflict get resolved.
[17] Numerous Romanian parents were arrested or fired from their jobs for their political views and their determination to keep their children in Romanian-language schools.
[citation needed] Northern Bukovina, as well as the Tiachiv and Rakhiv raions (districts) of Zakarpattia Oblast (Transcarpathia), are the regions in Ukraine with considerable Romanian minorities, according to the 2001 Ukrainian Census.
[citation needed] The number of Romanian students at Chernivtsi University declined sharply in Soviet times.
[20] However, the Serbian authorities have pursued a policy of de-nationalization as they have slowly changed the term Romanian into "Vlach" through the years.
[23][24] In the town of Negotin, the Romanian Cultural Association was vandalized in 2004 when Serbian pro-fascist ultra-nationalists wrote "Out of Serbia" on the windows of the main doors.
[27][28][29] In 2009, the right-wing Swiss People's Party (SVP) ran an anti-immigration campaign against Romanians and Bulgarian emigrants, distributing and displaying banners depicting citizens of these countries as "crows".
[citation needed] In June 2009, having had their windows broken and death threats made against them, twenty Romanian-Roma families were forced from their homes in Lisburn Road, Belfast, in Northern Ireland.
Up to[vague] 115 people, including women and children, were forced to seek refuge in a local church hall after being attacked.
[citation needed] Following the arrest of three local youths in relation to the attacks, the church where the Romanians had been given shelter was badly vandalised.
He claimed that these articles portrayed Romanian immigrants as being "invaders", criminals who abused social benefits and being involved in the 2013 horse meat scandal.
Furthermore, the Romanian flag alludes to the ideals of the French Revolution and has been interpreted as Liberty (blue), Justice (yellow), Fraternity (red).
We would love to hear from you,"; thus inciting social tension between citizens of other European countries exercising their treaty right of freedom of movement, and the local population.