The name and the real status of Moldova’s official language are not settled even after 20 years of being proclaimed as the official language of the state. Settling things in this respect, as in all the other respects, depends on two factors: the People and the personalities of the time, including the politicians. The survey carried out by the Info-Prim Neo News Agency among personalities has the goal to shed as much light as possible on how and when these things may be settled. It might be a first sign about Moldova having found its place in history. The test that we asked to be taken by a series of personalities sounded as follows: - What would be your own ending to the quote by Alexei Mateevici “Our language is... Nicolae Tau, ex-Foreign Minister: “…A treasure. We should deserve this treasure”. Valeriu Muravschi, ex-premier: “Our language is Romanian...” Ion Hadarca, writer: “The language is a destiny and we don’t have the right to doubt that it is not ours. It’s a truth as the parents, the sun, the faith which make up part of our being. He who assumes these things fully experiences them.” Anatol Salaru, Liberal Party vice president: “Who can equal Mateevici? He showed us the beauty of the language writing a hymn to it sung today by all the Basarabian Romanians. My belief is that we should show more love, more respect for the Romanian language, but also national dignity when it comes to defending the interests of our language against the aggression of a party as Communist one is, which tries to restrict its use in government affairs and not only. Generally, I think that if the big change occurs, the status of our language is also going to change. And then we won’t hear ministers speak Russian (because they do not know Romanian) and the president of the republic speak other state’s language at international forums…” Mircea Snegur, the first president of Moldova: “I am proud I contributed to returning Romanian to its due place. I am glad that the fruit of this work is beautiful, coherent speech of the young generation. I regret that the language now has a wrong name because of the existing political conjuncture. Anyway – “Our language is a TREASURE”. Nicolae Dabija, writer: “The rulers sing it as a mill (world play in Romanian: comoara – treasure and CA O MOARa – as a mill. There can be no independence without the language; it’s an aberration when we’re asked to speak any language but the mother’s tongue.” Mircea Druc, ex-prime-minister: “Poet Alexei Mateevici was a big patriot. The language problem is a big folly. Some 80 percent of the Jews around the globe do not speak Hebrew, but they have never given up their national identity. They’ve never said bad things about the German language, as the Russian language is now being blamed. It’s not Russian that must be blamed, let’s not bark up the wrong tree; one must have the Romanian identity, to be a Romanian. People as Vasile Stati do not speak Russian, they are not Russians, but just listen to what they say!” Teodor Magder, advisor for the Association of the Jewish Organizations and Communities and for the Jewish Congress in Moldova: - Our language is a treasure, buried deeply, A rosary of precious stones scattered on the native land. Our language is, in my opinion, the hugest richness a people has. I speak about our language... Why? Think of it... You see, they build nice houses, but how long are they going to last? 50 years, a hundred maybe. I assure you the sight will change in 100 years. But the language, the language is meant to live for centuries, for millenniums. To be left as the highest spiritual value to the ones coming after us. That is why it needs to be cultivated and studied the whole life, because the language is a living being. The archaic and the new words need to be studied because they are chapters in the language's history. Because, any phenomenon has a history, all the more our language, and its history is not simple. Vasile Tarlev, ex-prime-minister: Our language is a treasure, Buried deeply, A necklace of precious stones Scattered on the native land. Serghei Nazaria, political analyst: - Our language is an arrow, Piercing through millennia But it’s spoilt and marred, By all asses and shepherds. Let’s not politicize things; leave each speaker of our language (which is a treasure – clear thing) call it whatever he likes – Moldovan or Romanian. Victor Stepaniuc, vice premier: “Moldovan.” Dumitru Braghis, ex-premier: - Our language is the richness uniting a people and, at the same time, making each of us different, special. - Our language is the chest keeping the people’s values and everyone’s contribution to adding to this treasure. - Our language cannot be a speculation element in no way, or a political subject, or a topic for electoral debates. Viorel Ciubotaru, businessman: “It’s an anthem fully adequate for us. As long as we don’t sing this anthem in grief or joy, we’re not a people, but a mob of wrecks on this piece of heaven that we mar with our senseless presence. The language problem has not been solved. And if we have not managed this, then we should not start doing the other things in order not lose what we have remained with.” Grigori Volovoi, the president of the “Center for Defending Human Rights in Transnistria” Foundation: “It’s funny to compare oneself with big personalities in continuing their words, especially when it comes to poetry. But every man is obliged to be proud of his mother tongue, all the more a Moldovan with rich cultural values.” Oazu Nantoi, Democratic Party vice president: “I’m ashamed that our society stopped at the level of the name of the language and there is no symptom that people will start solving this issue. It’s a genetic deficiency. It’s a physiological fear inoculated in people who cannot figure it out that it’s Romanian. Apocalyptic conclusions are being drawn. Nobody looks at the example of Austria and Germany. Austria’s Constitution states it frankly: the official language of the Austrian state is German.” Zinaida Greceanai, prime-minister: “I don’t know if someone else can sing the language better than the poet.” Andrei Sangheli, ex-prime-minister: “- I would not say it better than Mateevici. I think it’s something very tender, which should be kept, promoted, that everyone should consider as a treasure. I am sure the problems around the language will disappear. There are problems of identity and language everywhere, but they are gradually solved, and, necessarily, in a peaceful way.”