Opinion: “Bucharest Fuels Unionist Mood in Moldova”

Romania is picking up the unionist trend in Moldova. The attack on the Moldovan language is just the beginning, the RTA expert says Semyon ALBU, RTA: A rather noteworthy statement was released on the Romanian Academy’s website last week. It expressed deep concern of the mentioned higher institution about some “new attempts to introduce the nonexistent “Moldovan language” concept into official use in the Republic of Moldova, once supported by Soviet propaganda and brought back today by certain political stakeholders.” It’s easy to understand why Bucharest men of science took alarm. In fact, their statement refers to a crisis-ridden, but still a sovereign state, which should first of all protect its own interests. And in this context, one can only praise those Moldovan politicians who finally drew attention to the total Romanization of everything and everyone, and remembered that they are actually governing not Romania but a slightly different country. The Romanian Academy further argues that “promoting the idea of ​​a “Moldovan” language, different from the Romanian one, is not only a distortion of cultural reality and identity ... but also an ideological manipulation that will never be accepted by the international community.” According to the academicians, “the nation’s language is a defining part of its identity, and therefore, its ideological instrumentalization through a biased language policy cannot change reality based on a centuries-old tradition, and, above all, it cannot annul identity that Romanians in the Republic of Moldova consider fundamental.” The core of this lofty rhetoric suggests that, according to Bucharest, the Moldovan language is nothing more than “ideological manipulation” and “the product of Soviet propaganda”. However, the facts are just the opposite. The Moldovan language is not younger than the Romanian one, it has the same ancient literary traditions, and the monuments in the Moldovan Cyrillic language date back to the early Middle Ages. Since that period, the language continued to develop both within the Moldavian Principality and the Bessarabian province of the Russian Empire, notably, in accordance with original traditions. Meantime, Romania finally switched to Latin script, introducing French, Latin and Italian elements into the language as part of the language correction. It is not surprising that the Moldovan intelligentsia rightfully believed that the Moldovan language had an absolute advantage over the Romanian one. It is clear that Moldovan statesmen of the late 1980s, excited by the Unirea ideas, promptly abolished the Cyrillic alphabet on their territory and introduced Latin-script Romanian spelling for the Moldovan language, thereby actually marking the beginning of its extinction. This decision, together with the Romanian language prescribed in the Declaration of Independence, provided grounds for the Romanian language and history of Romanians to replace their Moldovan analogs in educational programs. They also stipulated the decision of the Constitutional Court of 2013 which proclaimed Romanian the official language of Moldova, referring to the fact that the language of the Declaration of Independence prevails over the language of the Constitution, where Moldovan is mentioned as the state language. The current president, Igor Dodon, is known to be an active opponent of the country’s Romanization. He even symbolically changed the “Romanian” language to “Moldovan” on the presidency’s website immediately after the inauguration. Dodon repeatedly promised to cancel the teaching of Romanian history and return the subject “The History of Moldova”, and sent letters to governments with relevant requirements. However, in December 2019, the head of state noted that the time for reintroducing the subjects “Moldovan Language” and “The History of Moldova” into school curriculum has not come yet. According to him, such an initiative today may lead to a “new political crisis”. At the same time, Dodon noted that such things require actions, not talks and when he is sure enough, he will “strike” at the right time. Well, this stance is understandable, but now Bucharest is striking preemptively against Dodon. After all, it is clear to everyone which of the Moldovan politicians is meant in the statement made by the members of the Romanian Academy. No secret that Bucharest has not been talking about the Unirea at the official level for a long time, but in the meantime it is implementing a scenario of soft absorption: through various regional projects and strong cultural and educational influence. Today, the neighboring country is enjoying the fruits of such a longstanding work, and is also sensitive to the changes in public mood. The disappointment with the authorities and Moldova’s perspectives is so strong that it automatically leads to an increased popularity of unionist ideas among the population. Many Moldovans see hope for a better life only in union with the neighboring country. In this sense, Bucharest, without intervening directly in the course of events, is gently fueling the unionist mood in Moldova. Attempts to spread a language issue among the already split Moldovan society can be perceived from this viewpoint. This forms the ground for dragging this issue again into the country’s agenda and allowing proper people to advocate for the “oppressed” Romanian language. A newly formed unionist bloc can also be involved, which will pick up this topic, actively exaggerating it in future. All Moldovan politicians, if they really care about such issues, should understand one thing: the battle for the Moldovan language is almost lost. To turn the tide of this battle, actions should be taken now, while it is still possible to secure the support of the majority of the population. Otherwise, in a year or two, the Moldovan language will turn out to be useless not only in Bucharest, but also in Chisinau.