The Party of Socialists (PSRM) will not give up and will come up with a new bill on the functioning of languages spoken on the territory of the Republic of Moldova. But they should take into account the Constitutional Court’s judgment by which the law adopted on December 16, 2020 was declared unconstitutional and should review particular positions. If they do not agree, they can go to international institutions. Things in society should not be stirred up. Society in the Republic of Moldova is rather split and, if identity, linguistic problems are raised again, the situation will worsen. The linguistic problems do not bring electoral advantages, Victor Juc, director of the Institute of Legal, Political and Sociological Research, stated in IPN’s public debate “Reasons, components and consequences of restart of linguistic conflict”.
Victor Juc said the identity problem is very sensitive and the politicians usually resort to ethnic, religious and linguistic aspects when they understand that their political rating has declined, trying to upset society. “Furthermore, there is also the economic dimension. The relevant provisions of the Constitution, which say that no costs can be approved if budget funds are not identified, were violated. The adopted Law No. 234 concerning the functioning of languages in the state stipulates that a lot of financial resources are needed to implement it. They should better identify a solution to help the people, especially the elderly ones who will not study Romanian anymore, with regard to the instructions for the use of drugs, but not more,” he stated.
Victor Juc noted that a lot of people in Moldova do not know the official language even if over 30 years have passed since the adoption of the linguistic legislation as the official language is not used or required everywhere. There were sufficient state, governmental, local programs on the studying of Romanian and those who wanted learned it. “I considered this law is inopportune because a linguistic context, a non-conflict cultural, identity environment was created in the Republic of Moldova. In private, no one tells how one should speak. If only in the public sphere someone can say that they are discriminated,” stated the expert.
“An atmosphere of tolerance and social dialogue was created in the Republic of Moldova and this law is no longer necessary. An anti-discrimination law is probably needed in the Republic of Moldova, but Law No. 234 in the form in which it was presented could not be accepted as it is discriminatory in relation to other ethnic groups.”
According to Victor Juc, the linguistic conflict is artificial, being created by particular political forces whose threats that protests will be mounted in Chisinau and other localities will stimulate other political forces to stage counterdemonstrations. The situation in society will be then escalated to a particular extent.
The expert noted the CC judgment underlined that the given law violated a number of legal provisions concerning the equality of all the citizens before the law.
Victor Juc also said that particular foreign forces were always present in Moldova to a particular extent and contributed to generating conflicts with the aim of dividing society. Most of the Moldovans will probably not allow to be involved in such altercations, but the eventually of such events should not be neglected.
The public debate “Reasons, components and consequences of restart of linguistic conflict” is the 169th installment of the series “Developing political culture through public debates” that is supported by the Hanns Seidel Foundation.
