The first Speaker of Parliament of the Republic of Moldova Alexandru Mosanu passed away on December 7 at the age of 85. The information was confirmed for the paper “Ziarul National” by Alexandru Mosanu’s relatives, IPN reports.

Historian and politician Alexandru Mosanu suffered from an incurable disease and died in his apartment in Telecentru quarter of Chisinau. Last year he underwent difficult surgery that weakened his health.

Alexandru Mosanu was born in Braniste commune of Balti County, which then formed part of the Kingdom of Romania, on July 19, 1932. He studied at the Faculty of History.

He served as an MP between 1990 and 1998 and held the post of Speaker of Parliament from September 1990 until February 993, being the first to occupy this position.

Alexandru Mosanu is the one who read in Parliament the draft Declaration of Independence on August 27, 1991. This was adopted the same day unanimously, by the 278 attending MPs.

In an interview for IPN in 2011, Alexandru Mosanu said Moldova’s pro-European orientation should be enshrined in the Constitution so as to guarantee the continuation of the process of modernizing the country, while the Transnistrian conflict is the most serious problem we face.