The MPs of the Bloc of Communist and Socialists (BCS) asked the Constitutional Court (CC) to determine the constitutionality of law by which the name of the official language is changed from Moldovan into Romanian in Article 13 of the Constitution and in other laws. According to the MPs, the Constitution cannot be amended by an organic law adopted by a simple majority of votes in Parliament, but the parliamentary majority ignored this provision, IPN reports.

Deputy Speaker of Parliament Vlad Batrîncea, executive secretary of the Party of Socialists, said that the supreme law needs to be obeyed. If the government intends to change it, it should hold a referendum to find out the people’s opinion on the issue. The BCS MPs expect the CC judges will be objective and will not arbitrarily interpret the Constitution as they can set a dangerous precedent for the independence and statehood of the Republic of Moldova.

Maxim Lebedinschi, a member of the Executive Committee of the Party of Socialists, said that there is no “technical” modification of the Constitution on which the parliamentary majority insists. Any amendment of the Constitution is clearly regulated. A constitutional law needs to be initiated by the votes of one third of the MPs and must be adopted by the votes of two thirds of the MPs. No CC decision can serve as a reason for amending the Constitution by an organic law.

Parliament recently adopted a law that replaces the phrase “Moldovan language” with “Romanian language” across the national legislation and President Maia Sandu promulgated it.