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            <a href="http://www.rferl.org/archive/Moldova/latest/664/664.html" class="">Moldova:</a>
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            Chisinau Recognizes Romanian As Official Language
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                    December 05, 2013
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        <span class="">M</span>oldova has endorsed Romanian as its language. <br>
<br>
The country's Constitutional Court has ruled that the "Moldovan" 
language will be replaced by Romanian as the former Soviet republic's 
official tongue.<br>
<br>
Moldova's 1991 Declaration of Independence stated that Romanian was the 
new country's language, but the Constitution of 1994 changed that to 
"Moldovan."<br>
<br>
Constitutional Court Chairman Alexandru Tanase ruled on December 5 that 
the Declaration of Independence takes precedence over the Constitution.<br>
<br>
Moldova's communist opposition has criticized the decision.<br>
<br>
Moldova was part of Romania until 1940, when it was annexed by the Soviet Union, which renamed the region's language "Moldovan."<br>
<br>
Romanian President Traian Basescu called the Constitutional Court's ruling "an act of justice."<br>
<br>
The decision comes a day after U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry paid a short visit to Moldova.<br>
<br>
Last week Moldova's pro-European government initialed an Association Agreement with the European Union.<br>
<br>
On December 1, for the first time, Moldovan President Nicolae Timofti 
attended Romania's National Day festivities marking the country's 
unification in 1918.<br><br><a href="http://www.rferl.org/content/moldova-romanian-official-language/25191455.html?utm_medium=email">http://www.rferl.org/content/moldova-romanian-official-language/25191455.html?utm_medium=email</a><br clear="all">
<br>-- <br>=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+<br><br> Harold F. Schiffman<br><br>Professor Emeritus of <br> Dravidian Linguistics and Culture <br>Dept. of South Asia Studies                     <br>University of Pennsylvania<br>
Philadelphia, PA 19104-6305<br><br>Phone:  (215) 898-7475<br>Fax:  (215) 573-2138                                      <br><br>Email:  <a href="mailto:haroldfs@gmail.com">haroldfs@gmail.com</a><br><a href="http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/">http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/</a>    <br>
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