Alliance parties squabbling about reintroduction of History of Romanians in school

Education Minister Leonid Bujor and Prime Minister Vlad Filat said recently that they would try to reintroduce The History of Romanians as a discipline in school. This discipline was removed by the Communists three years ago and replaced with an "integrated history."

Scholars and teachers have accused the Communists of trying to brainwash schoolchildren with this new discipline by denying the Romanian identity of the majority population in Moldova and by praising the Soviet Union. Please see a detailed Imedia report on the background to this conflict here.

Democratic Party head Marian Lupu recently commented on Mr. Filat's and Mr. Bujor's intention, saying that he is against the reintroduction of the history of Romanians.

Mr. Lupu told Omega that "the absolute majority of the population identifies itself as Moldovan [instead of Romanian]. In our opinion, the best option for Moldova would be the history of our state - the history of Moldova. We would abstain from talking about sensitive moments in history which could lead to social divisions. We have always pleaded against and will continue to plead against such approaches."