The amendment of the Constitution for the purpose of enshrining the European integration objective is a top priority on the Parliament’s agenda this week, Deputy Speaker Valeriu Giletski was quoted by IPN as saying in a news conference.

Valeriu Giletski, who is a member of the Parliamentary European People’s Group, said he pleads for enshrining the European integration objective in the Constitution and also for amending the Constitution’s Article 13 concerning the name of the official language.

“I know that the parliamentary groups of the Liberal Democratic Party and the Liberal Party intend to vote on the European integration issue only if Article 13 is amended. I’m not sure that the Democratic Party will accept such a condition. For us, it will be ok if both of the bills are included in the agenda so that we vote on both of them,” stated the MP.

“It is a historical occasion for the current Parliament to make these changes. At the same time, even if a consensus as to Article 13 is not reached, it would be regrettable not to vote to amend the Constitution and add the European integration phrase to it. All the arguments we heard from other colleagues do not justify the non-voting of these amendments to the Constitution. We will yet see what decision the two groups take.”

The legislative initiative to enshrine the European integration objective in the Constitution of the Republic of Moldova was debated in the October 12 sitting of Parliament. After the Socialist, Liberal-Democratic and Liberal MPs announced they would not support this bill and some of them left the assembly hall, the vote was postponed until this week.