Language Research

The Constitution of Moldova, adopted on July 29, 1994

Two laws were passed in August of 1989: "The Law on the status of the State Language in the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic" and "The Law on the function of language on the territory of the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic".

These laws had two tasks; to correct the language policy "made in Moscow", and also to stress the independence of the Moldavian from the Russian culture.

The Moldavian language was declared the State Language and should be applied in the political, economic, social and cultural sectors.

The Gagauzian language became the second State Language in the areas with a high proportion of Gagauz people in the local population. In the Gagauzian area every official must be able to speak three languages Moldovan, Gagauzian, and Russian.

The Russian language was recognized as the official lingua franca. Previously, the downgrading of Russian had been one of the reasons for the conflict in the Trans-Dniestr region, which is mainly inhabited by Russians. The identity of the Romanian and Moldavian languages was officially recognized. Cyrillic script was replaced with Latin script.

The law concerning the special legal Status of Gaugazia stipulates that throughout Gaugazia the official languages are Moldovan, Russian and Gaugazian. At the same time, there is the "Law on spoken languages on the territory of the Republic of Moldova", which stipulates that, the State guarantees the use of the Ukrainian, Russian, Bulgarian, Iwrit, Yiddish and other languages used by ethnic minorities living on the territory of Moldova.

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Updated (January 2001)

In July 2001, The Moldovan Parliament passed a Law on the Rights of National minorities.

A communist proposed advertisement law amendment to authorize commercials in the Russian language alongside the official Moldovan language was also passed in the summer of 2001. Max van der Stoel, OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities in the letter to the Moldovan Foreign Minister wrote: "The amendment in question provides in Article 8, paragraph 3, that advertisement must be in the State language, with the possibility also to include a translation into another language. Such a mandatory use of the State language in the private sphere of commercial advertising would be in contradiction of the freedom of expression as guaranteed by Article 32, paragraph 1, of the Constitution of the Republic of Moldova and by the Moldova's international commitments and obligations. Equally, the proposed amendment would interfere with the freedom of enterprise as guaranteed by Article 1126, paragraph 2, of the Constitution. Unless the subject of an advertisement would concern a matter of legitimate public interest such as public health or national security, the requirement to use State language could not be justified under international standards. Accordingly, the proposed amendment should be withdrawn. Of course, this does not mean that the Government may not take steps to encourage the use of the Sate language through its effective promotion."

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Updated (February 2002)

One of the main goals of the Moldovan communist parliamentary group is to make the Russian language the second official language of the ex-soviet Republic of Moldova. The leader of this group stated that the Republic needs Russian as the state's second language in order to have a common language that can be understood by all ethnic groups.

On the other side, the committee for "de-russification" was set up in the Moldovan educational system. According to this committee, the educational system is suffering "the abusive and totalitarian measures of the communist government."

On February 11, 2002 the ruling Moldovan Communist Party lifted a ban on the opposition Christian Democratic Party (PPCD). PPCD was leading the peaceful but not officially registered demonstrations daily since January 9 on the central square in Chisinau. PPCD leaders said that the demonstrations showed public opposition to the Communists' decision to institute Russian-language classes in Moldovan schools.

Ion Morei, the Minister of Justice, said that the PPCD was organizing the demonstrations, which have numbered up to 5,000 participants, to undermine what he called "national unity."

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Updated (April 2002)

As written in the previous news, a group of communist deputies presented in the Parliament a draft law to give the Russian language the official status in the country. On March 4, 2002; however, the Moldovan Constitutional Court considered such a proposal not to be in line with either the Constitution or any of the international agreements signed by Moldova.

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Updated (October 2002)

The existing legislative framework comprises the essential problems of national minorities:

• The use and the preservation of the mother tongue
• The right to mother tongue education
• The right to organize ethno-cultural associations
• The gratification of religious needs and etc.

The 1994 Constitution of the Republic of Moldova was built on the concept that "the Republic of Moldova is a single indivisible motherland for all its citizens" (Article 10/1) and "the state acknowledges and guarantees the right of all citizens to keep, develop and express their ethnic, cultural, linguistic and religious identity" (Article 10/2).

According to the 1991 Law on Citizenship, the zero" variant was adopted, granting citizenship to everyone, who at the moment of adoption of the law lived on the territory of the republic on the permanent bases.

The Law on Identification Documents does not contain regulations about the ethnic origin of a person.

The Law on Education and the Law on Functioning of Languages Spoken in Moldova stipulates the essential principle according to which the state guarantees the right to choose the language of instruction at all levels of education process.

Article 8 of the Law on Education stipulates that:

1) The state ensures, according to the Constitution and Articles 18, 19 and 20 of the Law on the Functioning of Languages the right to choose the language of education and upbringing at all levels of the educational process.

2) The right of citizens to be brought up and educated in their mother tongue is ensured by founding a sufficient number of educational institutions, classes, groups, and conditions for their functioning.

3) Studying of the state language in the Republic of Moldova is obligatory in all educational institutions. The requirements for studying and teaching the state language are established by the state educational standard...

Source: World Congress on Language Policies, Barcelona, April 16-20, 2002, "National Minorities Education in Moldova: The Legal Framework and Practice," by A. Stoianova, http://www.linguapax.org/congres/taller /taller3/article23_ang.html

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Updated (October 2003)

Moldova, where ethnic Moldovans make up 65 percent of the total population, has imposed excessive restrictions on the establishment and operation of private radio and television broadcasting in minority languages.

In the 1995 Law on Audiovisual Broadcasting the State obliged public and private broadcasters to broadcast at least 65 percent of their programs in the state language.

In 2000, after active involvement of the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities, the implementation of this provision was partially liberalized. It was amended that the limit of 65 percent is not applicable in the areas compactly populated by ethnic minorities.

Source: Media Legislation, Minority Issues and Implications for Latvia by Leonid Raihman, January 20, 2003, http://www.policy.hu/raihman/PolicyPaper.htm

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Updated (January 2004)

MOLDOVAN PARLIAMENT APPROVED IN THE FIRST READING CONTROVERSIAL NATIONALITIES POLICY

On December 12, 2003 the communist majority in the Moldovan Parliament approved in the first reading the draft concept of the State's Nationalities Policy that President Vladimir Voronin submitted to the legislature.

The document designates as a national priority the promotion of Russian as a language of inter-ethnic communication in Moldova, alongside Moldovan, which continues to be the state's official language.

The draft also states that Moldovan is a state-forming nationality in the country, but adds that the crystallization of statehood was also made possible by a contribution of the other nationalities living in Moldova- the Ukrainians, Russians, Gagauz, Bulgarians, Jews, Romanians, Belarusians, Romas and Poles.

The deputy Chairman of the Popular Christian Democratic Party (PPCD), Stefan Secareanu, called on Moldovan citizens to protest against the draft, describing it as a new attempt to de-nationalize the Romanians. He said that although Romanians make up two-thirds of the country's population, the presidential concept puts them on the same footing with Jews or Belarusians.

Source: Minelres, RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol. 7, No. 234, Part II, 15 December 2003, http://lists.delfi.lv/pipermail/minelres/2003-December/003111.html

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