The holding of a referendum on the name of the official language in Moldova can endanger the political stability in the country. This will lead to a new crisis and the fall of the Government. Such opinions were stated in the program “Fabrica” on Publika TV channel.
The suggestion to hold a referendum on the issue was made by a number of politicians after the Constitutional Court passed a decision concluding that Romanian is the official language in Moldova, IPN reports.
Ecaterina Mardarovici, executive director of the Women’s Political Club “50/50”, said it’s not the moment and the case for a referendum. “For example, the people may have different opinions about what salary they should have, but the pays are set by specialists, not by referendum. The answer in the language issue must be given by people of science. The politicians didn’t have the courage to solve this problem. Those who propose a referendum weren’t among those who founded this state. We should ask the lawmakers how many of them had stayed under tanks and how many of them voted the Declaration of Independence. These documents must be respected, as the Constitutional Court asked,” said Ecaterina Mardarovici.
Political analyst Roman Mihaies proposed that the problems concerning the identity should be conserved until after the parliamentary elections of 2014. “If we raise the identity problems now, the coalition will be destroyed. There will appear dissension within it and in society. We need political stability, but a large-scale crisis may follow, which will lead to the fall of government,” he stated. He also said that he does not agree with the Democratic Party, which was the first to propose holding a referendum. “I’m against such a referendum. I do not rule out a Moldovan maidan (the protests in Ukraine called euromaidan – e.n.). The Communists look for political dividends in the Court’s decision. The identity problem will exist as long as Moldova exists.”
Constitutional law expert Teodor Carnat said that by its decision, the Constitutional Court did historical and scientific justice. “The Constitution does not ban holding a referendum on the language problem. A mistake was made in 1994, when the given issue was put to the vote in Parliament. In history, you will find no referendum on the official language of the state,” he said, adding that Moldova enters an electoral year and is close to signing the Association Agreement with the EU and should focus on these issues.
On December 5, the Constitutional Court ruled that in case of divergences between the texts of the Declaration of Independence and of the Constitution, the primary text of the Declaration will prevail. This refers also to the official language. The Declaration of Independence says it is Romanian, while the Constitution provides that the official language is Moldovan, based on the Latin script. On December 6, the leader of the Democratic Party Marian Lupu said the best solution is to hold a referendum where the people would decide the name of the official language. The Liberal-Democrats share this opinion. The Communists condemn the Constitutional Court’s decision, while the Liberals demand immediately modifying the Constitution in Parliament.