Moldovan president sees no cause for national mourning over Romanian king's death
MOSCOW. Dec 14 (Interfax) - Moldovan President Igor Dodon has refused to declare a national day of mourning over the death of King Michael I of Romania.
Parliament speaker Andrian Candu told reporters on Thursday that he would ask President Dodon to declare December 16 a day of national mourning over the king's death, an Interfax correspondent reported.
Dodon promptly replied that, "the president of Moldova does not think that the death of a foreign leader or monarch provides grounds for declaring a day of mourning in Moldova."
"With all our respect to the neighboring country and the Romanian people, we express once again our condolences over the death of King Michael I," President Dodon's administration said in a statement.
The Moldovan president is also opposed to renaming the official language from Moldovan to Romanian and teaching "A History of the Romanians" at schools.