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Moldova has backed a ban on the use of Russian in parliament. The outraged opposition walked out of the chamber

Moldova has backed a ban on the use of Russian in parliament. The outraged opposition walked out of the chamber

08 May 2026, 17:46

Moldova has backed a ban on the use of Russian in parliament. The outraged opposition walked out of the chamber — Moldova

The Moldovan Parliament has passed a bill at its first reading which, among other things, requires MPs to speak Romanian during plenary sessions and prohibits so-called ‘political tourism’.

This has been reported by NewsMaker, Digi24 and Radio Liberty.

Among the supported amendments:

draft laws and other parliamentary documents must be in Romanian only;
MPs who leave their political groups may no longer join others;
speeches at plenary sessions are limited to three minutes for MPs and five minutes for factions.

The draft Code on the Organisation and Activities of the Institution was presented by the ruling Action and Solidarity (PAS) party, founded by Moldova’s current president, Maia Sandu.

PAS MP Igor Talmazan stated that work on the code had been ongoing since 2016, and that its aim was to improve the efficiency of parliamentary activity and bring it into line with European standards.

However, opposition representatives claimed that such changes would introduce censorship and restrict freedom of speech in parliament.

The opposition’s outrage was sparked, in particular, by a clause in the code stipulating that Romanian would be the official language of communication in parliament.

Alexander Vershinin, an MP from the ‘Democracy at Home’ party, accused PAS of attempting to impose ‘disciplined voting’ and turn MPs into ‘voting machines’. At that moment, Parliamentary Speaker Igor Grosu cut off his microphone. The exchange sparked a reaction in the chamber, after which opposition MPs left the plenary session.

PAS MPs insist that designating Romanian as the working language does not mean penalising those who speak another language, as translations will be provided for documents.

According to media reports, the bill, among other things, regulates the parliament’s relations with the government, the presidency and the Constitutional Court. The bill introduces a ‘government hour’ for political debates with ministers or the prime minister and an ‘Opposition Day’, when the agenda will include issues proposed by opposition or independent MPs.

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