Yesterday, September 9th, President Sandu addressed the European Parliament in Strasbourg. This is only the second time a Moldovan head of state has addressed the body following President Sandu’s previous speech there in March 2022. Then, she made the case that Moldova belongs in the EU. This week she made a different case, that EU countries must focus on defending their democracies - “with teeth, and together.”
The speech is historic not only because of how uncommon it is for a Moldovan politician to be invited to speak on such a stage1, but because she chose call her fellow European leaders to action with such stark terms, and built on Moldova’s growing expertise in hybrid warfare. Rather than excerpt the speech I’ve chosen to print it here in full.
President Sandu spoke in English (primarily) and the text was first published on the Moldovan presidency’s website. I’ve kept it in the original, except when I translate from Romanian to English. Note: the text is in British English.
Madam President, dear Roberta Metsola,
Honourable Members of the European Parliament,
Thank you for this invitation. It is a great honour to speak on behalf of Moldova’s people in this house of democracy. Today, I would like to focus on the growing threats to our democracies, and how we defend them together. Because no one can be defended alone. I will do so through the story of Moldova. Because our stability is your stability. And our peace is Europe’s peace.
On 28 of September 2025, Moldova will hold the most consequential election in its history. Its outcome will decide whether we consolidate as a stable democracy on the path to EU membership — a safe neighbour to Ukraine and a security provider to the Union — or whether Russia destabilises us, pulls us away from Europe, and turns us into a threat on Ukraine’s southwestern border and Europe’s eastern frontier.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Before I begin, let us recall one truth: most of your democracies were not complete when you joined this Union. You fought dictatorships. Overcame economic hardships. And not one of you did it alone. Every democracy in this chamber was built, supported, and protected — with the help of others.
Germany and France — devastated by war — chose reconciliation. With Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg, they laid Europe’s foundation: fragile at first, but together strong. When Ireland joined, solidarity transformed it. Denmark showed that even established democracies chose the Union to secure their future.
Then came Southern Europe: Greece, Spain, Portugal — less than a decade after dictatorship. Their democracies were sheltered and consolidated inside the Union. Austria, Finland, and Sweden followed. Neutral countries, they reinforced their own security — and Europe’s.
Then came the great enlargement of Central and Eastern Europe: Czechia, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, barely 15 years after communism, they grew stronger and more prosperous inside the EU.
Cyprus and Malta also entered — proof that no democracy is too small to matter. Romania and Bulgaria followed — less than two decades after shaking off their Socialist past. Still with much to build at the time, accession gave them stability and the space to grow. Croatia, scarred by war, found peace and security in this family.
And today, Moldova, Ukraine, and the Western Balkans stand at the gates — living proof that the European project is thriving. Still expanding. Still protecting.
Both Moldova and Ukraine are ready to advance to the next stage of negotiations in a merit-based process that reflects our progress. And both our democracies will be safer once we are inside the Union.
That is why I say: this Union was never about perfection. It was about protection — of fragile democracies until they grew strong. And it should remain so today. Because democracy does not come automatically. It comes after hardship. After sacrifice. And above all, with support from friends. That is Moldova’s lesson. And it is also Moldova’s warning: if our democracy cannot be protected, then no democracy in Europe is safe.
Honourable Members,
Last month, we celebrated 34 years of independence. In the past three decades, Moldova built and preserved a living democracy. Fragile, yes. But enduring.
We survived:
a Russian backed separatist conflict,
an economic collapse,
energy blackmail,
trade embargoes,
even a banking fraud that shook the very foundations of our state.
Each crisis could have broken us. But democracy resisted.
When democracy was in danger — people protested. When oligarchs tried to capture the state — we resisted. And when power changed — it changed peacefully, at the ballot box. Unlike in some other places across the former Soviet Union, Moldova did not become an autocracy. We preserved pluralism. We protected free elections. We remained faithful to who we are: Europeans.
For the past two decades, the European Union – together with the United States – has been our steadfast partner. Helping us reform, modernise and build institutions strong enough to resist pressure. Giving Moldovans hope that our place was — and is — in Europe.
Then came the 24th of February 2022. When Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, we knew we could not wait. We needed safety. And we understood that the sooner we are inside the European Union—a peace project that has never seen war between its members—the safer our democracy and our people will be.
That is why we applied for accession just days after Russian tanks rolled into our neighbourhood. We have obtained candidate status and opened accession talks. We are not asking for shortcuts. We are doing our homework diligently. But for us, accession is not just a technocratic process. It is a race against time — to anchor our democracy inside the Union, where it will be protected from the greatest threat we face: Russia.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Moldova cannot escape its geography. We feel the long arm of Russian aggression. We share a 1,200 km border with Ukraine — longer than any of your countries. And the reason Moldova still enjoys peace today is because Ukraine stands. Ukrainians are fighting to defend their country and their freedom. And they also shield Moldova. We owe our peace to them.
But their sacrifice is also a reminder: peace is never guaranteed. That is why our European path is not just a matter of values — it is a matter of survival. And precisely because we have advanced greatly on this path, Russia has unleashed its full arsenal of hybrid attacks against us. The battlefield is our elections.
Last year, during the presidential poll and the referendum to anchor EU accession in our Constitution, interference was unprecedented. But democracy prevailed. Moldovans stood their ground — and through their authentic vote, they defeated Kremlin’s political fronts. Our institutions stood with them: alert, determined, resilient. Now the next battle is upon us — the parliamentary elections at the end of this month.
Ladies and gentlemen,
We have resisted many pressures from Moscow in the past. Our independence was hard-won — through economic and political hardships, and a Russia-backed conflict on our soil. And whenever we exercised our free choice for real, Moscow struck back: cutting gas, banning our wine and fruit, stirring the Transnistrian region. But today we face an unlimited hybrid war — on a scale unseen before the full invasion of Ukraine.
The Kremlin’s goal is clear: to capture Moldova through the ballot box, to use it against Ukraine, and to turn us into a launchpad for hybrid attacks on the European Union. That is why this election is very important. By defending it, we protect not only Moldova — but also regional security and stability.
Ladies and gentlemen,
interference does not begin and end on election day. It starts months before, and lingers long after. Like a virus, it finds the cracks — and attacks. We had barely recovered from Russia’s interference last year when, in January, we were plunged into a manufactured energy crisis — designed to raise prices, leave the Transnistrian region in cold and darkness, and divide citizens on both banks of the Nistru.
Then came the money. Illicit financing poured in through crypto, shell companies, prepaid cards. Last year, in a single day over one million euros in cash was intercepted at Chișinău airport. And our institutions estimate that, over the course of the year, Russia spent the equivalent of 1% of Moldova’s GDP, to influence the 2024 elections.
Today, new money bankrolls Kremlin-backed parties, buys influence, poisons democracy. Last year it went further — into something our democracy had never faced before: a vote-buying scheme. A sanctioned Russian bank opened 138,000 accounts to sway results with direct payments. It is not something we are proud of, but it shows how Russia identifies vulnerabilities — and exploits them. This is democracy itself turned into a target.
Russian proxies also fund protests — orchestrated on Telegram, with transport arranged and people lured by promises of thousands of euros.
Lies spread. Fake emails in the names of state institutions. Deepfakes of politicians. Fabricated “international” sites posing as impartial news but serving Kremlin propaganda.
And on social media, a Romanian think tank found that just one hundred coordinated accounts pushed videos with 13 million views in a single month. Their comments — thousands of copy-paste lines — reveal manipulation, not genuine debate. Cyberattacks hit government services. Last year, the postal service was struck — because it delivers pensions where banks cannot. Phishing campaigns target officials. Religion is weaponised. Criminal groups are recruited for sabotage and intimidation. A judge ruling recently on political corruption received death threats.
Our diaspora is targeted with online campaigns to divide families abroad and at home. Last year, fourteen polling stations across EU countries received false bomb threats to disrupt the vote.
In Gagauzia, false claims spread that autonomy is under threat. In the Transnistrian region, calls for more polling stations are nothing more than a tactic to fabricate turnout well beyond real voter levels. All this is happening now. It is coordinated so as to overwhelm our institutions and stretch limited resources. It is financed with hundreds of millions in dirty money. And amplified by propaganda.
It is made more dangerous by three features:
– It constantly changes: new money channels, new tricks, new narratives for disinformation.
– It is digital: payments on Telegram, lies on TikTok, deepfakes on Facebook and Instagram. More than 80% of toxic content on TikTok is AI-generated.
– And it exploits democracy itself: freedom of religion turned into propaganda, freedom of assembly into paid protests, freedom of association into instant Kremlin-backed parties, and free capital flows into illicit money in politics.
This is not only Moldova’s story. Crypto schemes tested in Chișinău now help evade EU sanctions and fund Russia’s war machine. Vote-buying schemes tried in Moldova have surfaced elsewhere. False bomb threats, first seen in our elections, have already disrupted elections in other countries.
Moldova may be the testing ground. But Europe is the target.
Honourable Members,
This brings me to the heart of today’s challenge: defending our democracies — with teeth, and together.
The threats we face are faster, sharper, less visible. If the threats are new, our responses must be new. Too often, we face 21st-century dangers with tools designed for peacetime. Yet war has returned to Europe. And we — Europe — must rethink how we defend our democracies.
The Cold War offers lessons. Fragile democracies were shielded by economic resilience — the Marshall Plan rebuilt shattered economies. They were defended in an ideological fight — Radio Free Europe exposed dictatorship’s poverty and repression. And they survived because citizens knew: freedom was not given, it was safeguarded.
That is the spirit we need today. And Moldova knows this not from theory but from experience. On the frontlines of democracy, we have learned what works — and what fails.
These are our lessons.
First: cut off illicit financing and protect elections.
Dirty money is the lifeblood of foreign malign influence. Unless we cut it, every other defence is undermined. Especially elections must be shielded from it. Election observation must go beyond polling stations: follow the money, track information manipulation across platforms, expose covert influence.
Second: build resilience.
Resilience means energy security, interconnected infrastructure, and market integration so that no democracy can be blackmailed. But resilience also means democracy that delivers: jobs, justice, opportunities.
Third: engage citizens and win the ideological fight.
Even when democracy delivers, we must involve people directly — with clear information, free media, open debate, while exposing autocracies for what they are: war, corruption, and destruction.
Fourth: strengthen deterrence and coordination.
Aggression must be made too costly — with stronger defences, intelligence, and cyber capabilities. But also with stronger coordination. Hybrid threats exploit weak links; Europe must join forces and act faster.
Fifth: integrate and innovate.
Candidate countries must be part of the defence of democracy. No one is safe until everyone is safe. And just as the Marshall Plan and Radio Free Europe were created then, today we need new tools — rapid digital forensics, AI-labelling, joint cyber defence, new ways to engage citizens.
That is how Europe has endured — by adapting, rebuilding, turning fragility into strength. By protecting fragile democracies until they grow strong. The only way forward is to defend our democracies with teeth — and to defend them together.
Honourable Members,
Moldova is not alone in protecting its democracy. The European Union has stood with us — financially, technically, and politically. And we are deeply grateful. This solidarity strengthens our ability to protect democracy at home, while also allowing us to contribute to Europe’s common security. At the same time, Moldova has gained hard experience in countering hybrid threats. And we are ready to share it. Because Moldova already thinks like a member, acts like a member — and that, too, is part of Europe’s security.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Allow me now, from this house of European democracy, to turn to my own people —
on the eve of a decisive choice.
(President Sandu then switched to Romanian, the following is a translation of those words to English)
Dear citizens,
Let us be proud that we have built a living democracy and have preserved it for three decades — even when some tried to destroy it. We have gone through many trials and we have endured. And every time, we came out stronger.
Today, however, our independence and peace are once again being put to the test. Interference in our elections, illegal foreign financing, campaigns of lies, cyberattacks, paid protests, tactics meant to sow hatred among people. These are the methods being used to try to stop Moldova on its European path.
It is up to us whether these pressures will succeed in stopping us, or on the contrary, will make us more united and determined. Last year, we showed the whole world that we can stand tall, through our vote, in the face of much greater forces.
Now we must take the decisive step: to choose a Parliament that will lead Moldova into the European Union. This is our responsibility. The future of Moldova depends on the courage and unity with which we will go to the polls.
Honourable Members,
I thank you for giving me the chance to speak to you today — and for standing with Moldova on our European path.
Other than Maia Sandu’s 2 addresses to the European Parliament, Igor Dodon became the first (and only) Moldovan President to address the Russian Duma in 2018. He was accused at the time of using the speech to promote his party in the parliamentary elections that year, something that President Sandu will no doubt also be accused of. Moldova Matters only started in February 2021, but if we had been publishing then I am sure that we’d also print his speech in full (though possibly with more commentary).
Wow
Wow, great read. Thank you for sharing.