Name and Surname:  Elena Talpa

Age: 24

Country: Moldova (living in Italy since 2003)

Nationality: Moldavian

City: Chisinau

CURRENT EVENTS:

1. Which is the form of government ruling in your country?

Parliamentary Republic.

2. Do you believe corruption exists in your country? How much do you think it influences political life and your private life?

Yes, corruption is still pretty widespread. Almost everything is based on favoritism and bribe. It is changing but too slowly.

It pervades all the working environments, having a negative influence even on one’s personal and social life. If you distrust institutions (economic, political, academic…) you keep building your life through “relationships” and money  and not through real studying and working hard, lowering overall society’s well being .

3. Do you consider yourself European? [For non-European people: could you explain why you chose Europe?]

Yes, I do. Moldova is not part of European Union (yet ;)) but it is still part of Europe as a continent.

 CULTURE:

1. Which is your national language? Do dialects exist in your country? If they do, are they used/known by young people?

Romanian. Moldavian can be considered as a dialect, as it is a mix of Romanian and Russian. Someone considers it as an independent language but fortunately the official language is still considered Romanian, at least in the Declaration of Independence. Young people tend to speak “Moldavian” or Russian.

2. Who do you consider to be the cultural icon of your country? (io la metterei un po’ così: Who do you considered to be the cultural icon of your country)

Mihai  Eminescu, writer and poet, that lived in the XIX century. He is considered to be the “father of the Romanian literature”.

3. Are you able to name a person that you consider symbolic for European culture? [For non-European people: do you perceive the existence of a “European culture”?]

 I would say Jean Monnet, even if he was a politician and not a cultural  personality. I see him as one of the main protagonists that has had a big impact on the European belonging development and the consequent cultural development. I’m not sure whether we’ve already had real European cultural icons; national icons still have a strong presence, but I think that it is also too soon to say that. EU still needs time and only history will tell us.