Communist MPs oppose to compulsoriness of speaking Romanian by civil servants

The communist deputies from the Parliament of the Republic of Moldova rejected on Thursday, June 15, a legislative initiative of a group of MPs that stipulated the obligatory character of speaking Romanian by civil servants, inclusively members of the Government. The draft Law was introduced by three MPs and stipulated amendments to the Law on Government and Law on Public Service. The MP, Oleg Serebrian, one of the authors of the draft law, declared in the Parliament that any citizen who holds the office of a civil servant must speak the language of the state he lives in at a level that would allow performing efficiently their work duties. According to the MP, it does not impede in any way the civil servants to learn and to speak other languages, inclusively the languages of the ethnical minorities of Moldova, but speaking Romanian is obligatory for each person employed in a public field. He said the legislation amendment proposals are adjusted to the existent practices of the EU member countries, where this condition is obligatory for the persons who want to hold a public office. “It is a national shame that the members of the Government and MPs do not speak the language of the nation” Serbrian concluded. On the other hand, the Comunist MP, Galina Balmos declared that this initiative is useless, because the present legislation already stipulates the necessity of speaking the official language. The problem is about legislation’s functioning, Balmos said. Another communist MP, Victor Stepaniuc, supported this position, mentioning that the “the willing to learn and speak the official language is increasing”. According to him, this project has a political tint and is not worth to be supported. Though, the project was supported by several opposition MPs. Stefan Secareanu and Vlad Cubreacov, Christian-Democrat MPs, declared in favor of approving the initiative, mentioning the necessity of a good functioning of the official language, as an attribute of the Republic of Moldova. This issue also concerns the international organizations, but the state did not prove that it wants to improve the situation in this area, they said. The draft Law was rejected due to the votes of communist MPs and of an independent MP.