On Thursday, 27 August 2026, Moldova celebrated 35 years of independence.
For me, it was a particularly interesting Independence Day because this was no longer simply the national celebration of a country I happened to be visiting.
I live here now.
My Moldovan residency has been approved. We are renovating our property in Chișinău. We are gradually establishing our life here and I am beginning to explore the possibility of building my first start-up in Moldova.
So this time, standing in the centre of Chișinău and watching Moldova celebrate itself felt rather different.
And I enjoyed it enormously.
Thirty-five years
The date has a very precise significance.
On 27 August 1991, the Parliament of what was then the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic adopted the Declaration of Independence and proclaimed the Republic of Moldova a sovereign, independent and democratic state.
Exactly thirty-five years later, we were standing in the centre of Chișinău watching that decision being commemorated.
The official celebrations extended throughout the day. There were commemorative ceremonies in the morning, followed later by the large military parade and an evening concert in the Great National Assembly Square.
The theme chosen for the anniversary was appropriately simple:
“Independența ne unește” — Independence unites us.
A beautiful day in the centre of Chișinău
We were lucky with the weather.
It was a beautiful sunny day, exactly the sort of weather one hopes for when an important national celebration is being held outdoors.
What also surprised me was the atmosphere.
There were plenty of people, but it did not feel oppressively crowded where we were. The organisation was good, movement remained reasonably comfortable, and the whole thing felt much more relaxed than I had expected from a national event involving senior political leaders, thousands of military personnel and significant security arrangements.
Large screens had been installed so that people who could not see the main area directly could still follow what was happening.
That sounds like a small detail, but it matters enormously at public events. There is a considerable difference between being part of a crowd that happens to be standing near an event and actually being able to follow it.
Here, we could.
Moldova and Europe in the same picture
One visual detail was impossible for me to miss.
Looking towards the government and presidential buildings in the centre, the symbolism of Moldova's current political direction was everywhere. Most striking to me was seeing an enormous European Union flag displayed on one of the principal state buildings.
Whatever one's political opinions, it was difficult to misunderstand the message.
Moldova was celebrating the creation of its independent state while simultaneously making a very visible statement about where it hopes that state will go next.
For Moldova, independence and European integration are increasingly presented not as contradictory ideas but as parts of the same project: establishing a sovereign country capable of choosing its own political, economic and institutional future.
The European Council's own Independence Day message reflected precisely that connection, congratulating Moldova on its freedom, sovereignty and democracy while explicitly referring to its path towards the European Union.
Remembering what independence meant
The historical part of the celebration was particularly interesting to me.
The events did not treat 1991 simply as a date to memorise.
The Declaration of Independence and the people involved in creating the independent Moldovan state were repeatedly brought back into the story.
In the commemorations surrounding the anniversary, members of the generation responsible for the original declaration were brought together again, and the historic parliamentary chamber in which independence was voted was used for a solemn anniversary session.
There was a deliberate effort to connect the Moldova standing there in 2026 with the Moldova that declared itself independent in 1991.
The historical narrative was also quite direct about what independence was from.
The Soviet period, Moscow's control and the experience of Russian and Soviet domination were recurring elements in the broader discussion surrounding the anniversary. Some speakers and commentators used particularly strong language about occupation and external control.
That is obviously not a politically neutral subject in Moldova. The country's history, languages, identities and relationship with Russia remain complex, and different Moldovans interpret parts of that history differently.
But Independence Day itself necessarily begins from one historical fact: in August 1991, Moldova decided that its future would no longer be determined as a constituent republic of the Soviet Union.
Thirty-five years later, that decision remains fundamental to the country's political identity.
Then came the military parade
The most visually impressive part of the afternoon was the military parade.
And this was not a small ceremonial procession.
More than 2,000 military personnel and representatives of Moldova's national security and defence institutions participated. Around 150 veterans were also involved, together with military representatives from partner countries.
More than 100 pieces of military and special equipment belonging to the National Army and Ministry of Internal Affairs were presented.
According to the Moldovan Government, more than 7,000 people attended the parade.
Watching it in person was considerably more interesting than seeing the same thing later in photographs or on television.
There is the sound, obviously. Military vehicles passing through a city centre are not subtle objects.
But there is also the precision of the formations, the uniforms, the veterans, the flags and the ceremonial aspect of the whole thing.
Military contingents and colour guards from partner countries reinforced another message of the day: Moldova is independent, but it does not see independence as isolation.
Among the countries represented were European partners and the United States.
Even Germany was represented in the parade.
A complicated neighbourhood
There is also a seriousness behind a military parade in Moldova that would be difficult to ignore.
This is not a country celebrating independence from a position of geographical isolation.
Ukraine is next door and remains at war with Russia. Moldova itself fought a war in Transnistria shortly after independence, and Russian forces remain stationed there without the consent of the Moldovan Government.
President Maia Sandu explicitly referred during the anniversary to contemporary threats to Moldovan sovereignty, including propaganda, illicit political financing and the continued presence of Russian forces.
So although the parade was celebratory, the underlying subject—whether a relatively small state can preserve its sovereignty and decide its own future—is not merely historical.
For Moldova, it remains current.
Something else struck me: people were proud
But there was another aspect of the afternoon that affected me much more personally.
People seemed comfortable showing that they loved their country.
Flags were visible. National colours were visible. Families were there. People photographed themselves around the celebrations. The military parade was applauded. Independence itself was presented unapologetically as something worth celebrating.
There was nothing particularly aggressive about it.
That distinction matters.
Patriotism does not have to mean hostility towards somebody else. Being proud of your country does not require believing that it is superior to every other country.
Sometimes it simply means being pleased that the country exists, respecting the people who built it and wanting it to succeed.
I found that atmosphere refreshing.
I could not help comparing it with Germany
Perhaps inevitably, I compared the experience with Germany.
I spent years living there, and Germany has a particularly complicated relationship with visible patriotism because of its twentieth-century history.
I want to be precise about one thing here. There is no German law prohibiting somebody from simply displaying the German flag in public. Indeed, German law protects the national flag against denigration and destruction.
But legality and social culture are different questions.
My personal experience of Germany was that expressions of national pride often came with qualifications that I simply did not encounter in Moldova that afternoon. Outside events such as international football tournaments, displaying the national flag can feel politically loaded in a way that it did not feel here.
Germany has understandable historical reasons for being extremely cautious about nationalism. Nobody should pretend that those reasons do not exist.
But I also think there is a difference between nationalism and affection for one's country.
They should not automatically be treated as the same thing.
That was what I felt around me in Chișinău.
People were celebrating Moldova.
Not because Moldova is perfect.
Clearly it isn't.
There are economic problems, infrastructure problems, demographic problems, political divisions and an enormous amount of work still required if the country is to achieve the future it wants.
But none of that prevents people from saying: this is our country, and today we celebrate it.
I liked that very much.
Independence, Romania, Ukraine and Europe
The international guests made the symbolism of the day even stronger.
Romanian President Nicușor Dan joined President Maia Sandu for the military parade.
Later, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrived in Chișinău. The three presidents held a trilateral meeting and subsequently addressed people gathered in the Great National Assembly Square.
The geography was almost visible in human form.
1991
Moldova leaves the Soviet Union
↓
Independent Republic of Moldova
↓
35 years of building the state
↓
2026
Moldova + Romania + Ukraine
↓
European integration
and a self-determined future
Of course, history is vastly more complicated than a little diagram.
But as a visual summary of what I saw around me that day, it captures something important.
Moldova was not only looking backwards at the moment when it became independent.
It was also very clearly looking forwards.
My first Independence Day as somebody who lives here
Perhaps that is why the afternoon meant more to me than I originally expected.
A year ago, Moldova was still somewhere we visited and somewhere connected to our family.
Now it is where we live.
I have residency here. We have a home here that we are rebuilding. I am beginning to understand the institutions, the culture and the frustrations. I am discovering restaurants, concerts, parks and events. I am thinking about creating a business here.
And on 27 August I stood among thousands of people celebrating the moment, thirty-five years earlier, when Moldova formally decided to become responsible for its own future.
It was sunny.
It was well organised.
The military display was impressive.
The enormous European symbolism around the centre was impossible to miss.
But what stayed with me most was something much simpler.
People seemed genuinely happy to celebrate their country.
After living in several countries during my life, I increasingly appreciate how valuable that can be when it remains positive rather than hostile: pride without needing an enemy, affection without pretending there are no problems, and national identity without requiring everyone to think exactly the same way.
Thirty-five years is not very long in the life of a country.
Moldova is still deciding what kind of country it wants to become.
On its Independence Day, though, there seemed to be very little doubt that its independence itself was worth celebrating.
I was very pleased to be there to see it.
Where relevant, factual and regulatory references were checked against the sources listed with this article. AI assistance does not replace professional legal, regulatory, financial or technical advice, and the final selection, interpretation, opinions and conclusions presented here remain my own.
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