CHISINAU, December 10 /TASS/. The opposition Socialist Party of Moldova has accused the country’s Ministry of Education of poisoning the minds of students and schoolchildren with an idea of liquidation of the Moldovan state and unification with neighbouring Romania.
To prove their point, the Socialist deputies presented a map, which depicts Moldova and Romania as one unified state, to their fellow-deputies on Thursday. The map is meant for distribution at Moldovan schools and institutions of higher learning. The Socialists demonstrably tore the map in the presence of other deputies.
"The Unionists (this is how supporters of Moldova’s unification with Romania call themselves) have grown absolutely fearless. Their representative, Moldova’s Education Minister Corina Fusu, is a well-known unionist. She has issued an instruction to distribute didactic materials, including the map, and the neighbouring country’s flags in all educational establishments in Moldova," Igor Dodon, the leader of the Socialist Party of Moldova, said. He described Fusu’s actions as an open attempt to promote the idea of Moldova’s liquidation.
"We demand that Fusu be heard in parliament," Dodon stressed. The Socialist Party of Moldova has the biggest parliamentary faction, which holds one fourth of all the mandates in Moldova’s parliament.
Mihai Ghimpu, the Moldovan parliament’s former speaker, stood up for Fusu who is a member of the ruling coalition’s Liberal Party of Moldova. "Unification with Romania will take place anyway," Ghimpu who is quite open about his unionist views told the deputies. After that, a noisy exchange of views started in parliament. Speaker Andrian Candu had to try hard to calm the deputies down.
A recently held public opinion poll has revealed that only 21% of Moldova’s population support the idea of unification with Romania. Unionist calls more often come from Romanian politicians, 68% of whom want to see Moldova become part of Romania.