We are Romanians on both banks of the Prut River and we will be together in the European Union, PAS MP Vasile Șoimaru, a signatory of the Declaration of Independence, stated in a public debate hosted by IPN News Agency. According to him, the PAS government managed to put an end to the disputes about the name of the language by introducing the designation “Romanian” into the Constitution.
On March 11, the Constitutional Court confirmed the change of the name of the language from “Moldovan” to “Romanian” all over the Moldovan legislation. The Court’s decision came after the phrases “Moldovan language”, “state language”, “official language”, “mother tongue” and “our language” were replaced with “Romanian language” in all the normative documents of the Republic of Moldova, including the Constitution, by a Parliament decision. Vasile Șoimaru said that this ended the dissensions on the name of the language, which lasted for over 30 years.
“I entered Parliament three years ago and my interest was to vote on the Constitution of July 1994. The debates on Article 13 were the most serious ones. The Agro-Communists of that time insisted that it was the Moldovan language. Luchinski came with an opinion. I never praised him, but now I want to praise him. He proposed a compromise - to write the Moldovan language and to indicate, in parentheses, the Romanian language. What if those poor parentheses remained? But then some of the MPs didn’t want to vote for the Constitution because of those parentheses. If they had voted, wouldn’t it have been better now? We wouldn’t have talked about it for 30 years. It was the right moment then. Maia Sandu, who then only graduated from the faculty, in 1994, had to come now and initiate the scientific truth,” said the MP.
He noted that the pro-Russian parties try in vain to speculate on the name of the language in order to obtain political advantages. The name of the language is “Romanian” and this topic can no longer divide society.
“There is Vlad Pohila’s book printed 16 years ago, which is called “And yet the Romanian language”. The late journalist, linguist Vlad Pohilă, fought until the last moment of his life for the Romanian language. The title of the book is a modification of Adrian Paunescu’s formula “And yet love”. The book tells the whole history of the Romanian language, how we got here and why we don’t yet move on to other topics. There are other topics in the Republic of Moldova which deserve to be debated, but since 1989, it has been 35 years, we have talked only about the Romanian language and the Moldovan language. The pro-Russians no longer stand a chance. They still dream of using the argument of the two languages to win votes in the next elections. But now more Russians support the term “Romanian language” than Moldovans. It seems to the pro-Russians that the name of the language is a political, electoral factor, but with such a stance they will not win. Those who want to take the Republic of Moldova to the civilized world, not to the area from where wars have come for so many years will win,” said the PAS MP.
He also said that the idea of Union with Romania can be attained only through the Republic of Moldova’s integration into the European Union.
“We are Romanians on both banks of the Prut and we will be together in the European Union. I don’t praise even those who are calling for the Union right now. Since 1989, they have been talking, but have not built an inch of European, standard-gauge railway while they have been in power, and they are still inflating this false problem. That’s enough. The Constitution was amended and we should move on to other issues. This is what I think and this is what our group of 63 MPs thinks,” pointed out Vasile Șoimaru.
The public debate entitled “The long path home of the Romanian language” was the 32nd installment of IPN’s project “Impact of the Past on Confidence and Peace Building Processes”, which is implemented with support from the Hanns Seidel Foundation.
