The Republic of Moldova should become an example of interethnic tolerance. Such an opinion was stated in the program “Fabrika” on Publika TV channel, IPN reports.
Victor Grebenshchikov, expert in interethnic issues, considers that the Moldovan legislation concerning the ethnic minorities is good, but it is not implemented and all the problems derive from here. He gave as example Romania, which allocates financial resources for supporting different programs and for integrating the minorities into the Romanian community.
According to Victor Grebenshchikov, the vote of the ethnic minorities in the November legislative elections will be dispersed because a part of the voters will be attracted by pro-Russian slogans, while another part of electors who work in the EU will vote for the pro-European parties.
The head of the Community of Ukrainians in Moldova Nicolae Oleinik said that most of the representatives of ethnic minorities coexisting on Moldova’s territory support the country’s European course. He expressed his regret at the fact that the ethnic minorities are represented to a low extent in the central administrative bodies. “In the northern settlements, we have 45 mayors of Ukrainian nationality, but there are practically no representatives of Ukrainian nationality in the central public administration,” he stated.
Olga Goncearova, head of the People’s Assembly of Moldova, considers that more tolerance is needed towards the ethnic minorities as regards knowledge of the official language. “First of all, the teaching of the official language to representatives of ethnic minorities is at the lowest level. Secondly, I don’t like that the subject of language is politicized. Let’s take the Gagauz settlements where they speak the Russian and Gagauz languages. I see no need to force them to learn the official language if they do not hold public posts,” she stated.
For her part, vice director of the Interethnic Relations Bureau Vera Petuhov said that Moldova can serve already as an example of interethnic tolerance as there were no interethnic conflicts here, except for several cases apart.
