Vlad Bilețchi (born 7 September 1994 in

Chișinău Chișinău ( , , ), also known as Kishinev (russian: Кишинёв, r=Kishinjóv ), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the Republic of Moldova. The city is Moldova's main industrial and commercial center, and is located in the ...

) is a

Moldova Moldova ( , ; ), officially the Republic of Moldova ( ro, Republica Moldova), is a Landlocked country, landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east, and south. The List of states ...

lawyer A lawyer is a person who practices law. The role of a lawyer varies greatly across different legal jurisdictions. A lawyer can be classified as an advocate, attorney, barrister, canon lawyer, civil law notary, counsel, counselor, solic ...

and politician. He is an activist for the

unification of Romania and Moldova The unification of Moldova and Romania is a popular concept in the two countries that began in the late 1980s, during the Revolutions of 1989. The Romanian Revolution in 1989 and the independence of Moldova in 1991 further contributed to the ...

and president of the Moldovan branch of the

Alliance for the Union of Romanians The Alliance for the Union of Romanians ( ro, Alianța pentru Unirea Românilor, AUR) is a right-wing populist and nationalist political party currently active in Romania and Moldova. It was founded on 19 September 2019. This was done with the ...

(AUR) political party.

Personal life

Bilețchi was born on 7 September 1994 in

. He was born into a family of intellectuals, with his grandfather being the Moldovan historian and literary critic , from whom he claims to have inherited his "love" for "the tricolor" (the

Romanian flag The national flag of Romania ( ro, drapelul României) is a tricolour. The Constitution of Romania states that "The flag of Romania is tricolour; the colours are arranged vertically in the following order from the flagpole: blue, yellow, red". T ...

) and the Romanian nation. After finishing his

Baccalaureate Baccalaureate may refer to: * ''Baccalauréat'', a French national academic qualification * Bachelor's degree, or baccalaureate, an undergraduate academic degree * English Baccalaureate, a performance measure to assess secondary schools in England ...

, Vlad Bilețchi studied at the Economics Faculty of the

Moldova State University The Moldova State University (Romanian: ''Universitatea de Stat din Moldova'') is a university located in Chișinău, Moldova. History The university was founded on 1 October 1946. Initially, it had 320 students enrolled in 5 faculties, Physi ...

and specialized in business and administration, getting his degree in 2016 and later obtaining a

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

public law Public law is the part of law that governs relations between legal persons and a government, between different institutions within a state, between different branches of governments, as well as relationships between persons that are of direct ...

while studying at the Law Faculty of the same university. He therefore is a

and also eventually became professor at the .

Activism

Bilețchi is president of the unionist (with

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

) organization Public Association Union – ODIP, which he founded in 2014. This organization started in 2017 an information campaign about a possible union between Moldova and Romania to spread awareness in the country, starting in Chișinău in June and later spreading to localities of 13 different

districts of Moldova Countries' first-level (top-level) administrative division Administrative division, administrative unit,Article 3(1). country subdivision, administrative region, subnational entity, constituent state, as well as many similar terms, are gene ...

from July to August through the so-called "Union Caravans". This campaign was successful, with about 100 people going to around 300 Moldovan localities. Bilețchi determined that there were people supporting the union in all these localities and that his goal in the future was to increase their number. Bilețchi was one of the main organizers of a pro-union march with Romania in Chișinău on 25 March 2018 and of the 2018

Centenary March The Centenary March ( ro, Marșul Centenarului) or Centenary March of the Great Union ( ro, Marșul Centenarului Marii Uniri) was a civic demonstration organized by George Simion and various non-governmental organizations from Romania and Moldova ...

. Bilețchi and Union – ODIP were also involved in a restoration project started in 2018 for the . In 2019, Bilețchi and Union – ODIP participated in a campaign to rebuild the Kindergarten-Gymnasium Dimitrie Cantemir in the village of

Aluatu Aluatu is a village in Taraclia District, Moldova Moldova ( , ; ), officially the Republic of Moldova ( ro, Republica Moldova), is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, eas ...

and provide it with teaching material. The school was then the only school teaching in

Romanian Romanian may refer to: *anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania **Romanians, an ethnic group **Romanian language, a Romance language ***Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language **Romanian cuisine, traditional ...

in the

Taraclia District Taraclia (, ) is a district () in the south of Moldova, with the administrative center at Taraclia. As of 1 January 2012, its population was 44,100, 65.6% of whom were ethnic Bulgarians. The district covers an area of and has the lowest popula ...

. Union – ODIP donated clothes, toys and books for the pupils, while an

economic agent In economics, an agent is an actor (more specifically, a decision maker) in a model of some aspect of the economy. Typically, every agent makes decisions by solving a well- or ill-defined optimization or choice problem. For example, ''buyers'' (c ...

from Romania donated and installed the necessary equipment for the presence of

WiFi Wi-Fi () is a family of wireless network protocols, based on the IEEE 802.11 family of standards, which are commonly used for local area networking of devices and Internet access, allowing nearby digital devices to exchange data by radio waves ...

in the school. Other rebuilding works were financially backed by the Governments of Moldova and

Political career

In the

2019 Moldovan parliamentary election Parliamentary elections were held in Moldova on 24 February 2019 in order to elect the 101 members of the Parliament of Moldova. The Constitution holds that elections are to be held no later than four years and three months from the date of inaug ...

, Bilețchi postulated as a candidate for the

Liberal Party of Moldova Liberal Party ( ro, Partidul Liberal, PL) is a conservative-liberal political party in Moldova. The president of the party is the former Mayor of Chișinău, Dorin Chirtoacă. History The party was established under the name Party of Reform ( r ...

although he was not part of the party. In March 2020, he joined the

(AUR), a political party from Romania. He will run as a candidate for the Moldovan branch of the party during the

2021 Moldovan parliamentary election Snap parliamentary elections were held in Moldova on 11 July 2021. Following the resignation of Ion Chicu, the position of Prime Minister became vacant, with the Parliament being obligated to form a new government within three months. After the ...

. Bilețchi has criticized

Igor Dodon Igor Dodon (; born 18 February 1975) is a Moldovan politician who previously served as the president of Moldova from 23 December 2016 to 24 December 2020. He currently serves as the leader of the Party of Socialists of the Republic of Moldova. H ...

and his 2021 statements in which he threatened to expel the ambassadors of western countries (including Romania) and the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

(EU) in Moldova. On the 29th anniversary of the Transnistria War, Bilețchi and Union – ODIP protested in front of the Russian embassy in Chișinău about the presence of Russian troops in

Transnistria Transnistria, officially the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic (PMR), is an unrecognised breakaway state that is internationally recognised as a part of Moldova. Transnistria controls most of the narrow strip of land between the Dniester riv ...

and demanded their withdrawal.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Biletchi, Vlad 1994 births Living people Moldovan politicians Moldovan lawyers Politicians from Chișinău Alliance for the Union of Romanians politicians