Constitutional commission seeks to dump Moldovan language

Constitutional experts are proposing two variants of how to institutionalize the official language in the Constitution of Moldova. The first prescribes the Romanian language as the official language, and the second stipulates that the official language shall be determined through organic law. Either way, the Commission for the amendment of the Constitution wants to eliminate the Moldovan language from Moldova's fundamental law, Info-Prim Neo reports. “We propose the elimination of the name of the language as currently stated by Article 13, because, after all, we are men of letters and cannot accept such a thing”, said Victor Popa, the chairman of the Commission, adding that a final version is still to be decided by the Commission. The proposed constitutional amendments were presented by the Commission on Tuesday, at a meeting attended by Moldova's caretaker president Mihai Ghimpu. Another proposed amendment concerns the country's administrative organization, suggesting a shift from villages and rayons to a system of communes, towns and regions. “Moldova's territorial and administrative organization must abandon the soviet model”, Victor Popa argued. Also, the Commission suggests that a person can be detained for up to 24 hours, as opposed to 72 hours at present. The proposed amendments concern Title 1 and Title 2 of Moldova's Constitution.