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Twenty years since the beginning of the democratization process and four years since the accession to the European Union, the debates taking place in the Romanian public space are dominated by the rhetoric of the crisis. Based on the frame analysis, this article analyses the discourses of the main Romanian political parties, held during the 2009 European election's campaign, in order to examine the links between the images of Europe and the perceptions of the state of the Romanian democracy. The paper argues that for the Romanian political elite the European Union is a structure of economic, normative and identity opportunity. This image of Europe is shaped by their perceptions on the functioning of the Romanian democracy.

Partant d'une série d'entretiens et de focus-groupes effectués à Cahul, troisième ville de la République de Moldavie à la frontière de l'Union européenne, cet article montre que l'émigration est un filtre majeur qui forge la perception des Moldaves de leur réalité. Les auteurs font ressortir la façon dont les discours sur l'émigration s'articulent avec les représentations que les personnes interrogées se font de leur pays et, plus largement, de l'Europe. Leurs expériences d'émigration contribuent aussi à la construction, au niveau collectif, du portrait du « migrant moldave » et permettent, au niveau individuel, à ceux qui sont restés de justifier discursivement leur désir de partir ou de rester.

The article explores the discourses on national identity of the inhabitants of Cahul city, situated at the border of the Republic of Moldova with Romania (and therefore the European Union). Since borders and identities are strongly connected, this research observes Moldovans citizens discourses of identification through the lens of their perspective on the border. The interviews and focus-groups show that two different discourses can be identified. At one hand, for a minority of Moldovans that have been interviewed, the border is an artificial delimitation, as Romanians and Moldovans resemble. On the other hand, for the large majority, the border is at the right place and it separates two different states and their citizens, even if there are some common characteristics that Romanians and Moldovans share. Therefore, this article underlines that a common and differentiated "we" can be found in the everyday discourses and practices of Moldovan citizens living at the border.