Moscow concerned by upcoming discussion on language issue in Moldova
MOSCOW. April 6 (Interfax) - Moscow is concerned by the fact that a bill on language policy that has been submitted to the Moldovan parliament for consideration envisions the replacement of the Moldovan language by the Romanian language as the country's official language.
"Moscow is worried to follow new tensions in the socio-political discussion on the linguistic issue in the Republic of Moldova, after deputies from the Liberal Party submitted a bill aimed at replacing the Moldovan language by the Romanian one as the official language, so infringing upon the language rights of ethnic minorities living in the country, including the Russian-speaking one, which have taken shape over the years of independence," the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a commentary available on its website on Saturday.
"It is worrying that, in their obsessive desire to adapt to directives dictated from the outside, the authors of the said bill and those standing behind them are willing to renounce the principles stipulated by the constitution of the sovereign Moldovan state and ignore the interethnic structure of Moldovan society that has been forming for centuries," it said.
"Judging by the first responses to the bill in Moldova itself, it is unlikely to help harmonize social relations in the difficult moment when it is necessary to look for accord in order to overcome the political crisis. A legitimate question arises as to how much the champions of language unification in Moldova coordinate their plans with the European democratic norms and standards in this area, considering that Chisinau has repeatedly declared its desire to comply with them," it said.
"It would be wrong to disregard a destructive effect that such ideas could have on the difficult process of building confidence between Chisinau and Tiraspol and bringing the Dniester banks closer together as a precondition for achieving progress in the Transdniestria settlement process," it said.
The Russian Foreign Ministry expressed the hope that "common sense and political wisdom will triumph so as to preserve harmony and mutual understanding traditionally inherent in the multi-ethnic Moldovan society."
