Economy Minister Eugen Osmokescu believes the best way to improve Moldova’s economy is to make people work more and rest less.
“We are thinking about it. Yes, we have too many holidays. Some may say that other countries have even more,”
the minister said in an interview with ZdG when asked about the possibility of reducing the number of public holidays.
It is worth recalling that Moldova’s 2026 official calendar includes 13 public holidays, only 10 of which fall on weekdays. By Eastern European standards, that is not an especially large number. Russians, for example, enjoy significantly more days off and generally have a higher standard of living.
Many of Moldova’s public holidays are religious: Christmas celebrated according to both the old and new calendars, Easter, and Radonitsa (Memorial Day). Hopefully, Osmokescu is not planning to target those. New Year’s Day is also unlikely to be touched. Given local traditions, many people are hardly in a condition to work on the morning of January 1 anyway.
International Workers’ Day would be another difficult target. Left-wing parties would hardly appreciate its removal—not only local ones, but their European counterparts as well.
As for Victory Day, the current authorities might not mind eliminating it, but they have already rebranded it as Europe Day, which likely guarantees its place on the calendar.
Independence Day is another unlikely candidate. Some politicians might prefer to do away with both the holiday and the concept of independence itself, but no one is likely to attempt that at present. The Romanian Language Day holiday is equally untouchable.
That leaves Children’s Day.
Perhaps it is no coincidence that the minister floated the idea on June 1. Children’s Day became an official public holiday only recently, and Moldova’s increasingly child-free political establishment may already see it as a burden. Especially since the demographic realities associated with the date are far from festive.
There are fewer and fewer children in the country.
At the time Moldova gained independence, more than 70,000 children were born annually. In 2025, only 22,100 births were recorded.
Even during the five years of the current presidency, the number of births has reportedly declined by more than 8,000.
Against this backdrop, discussions about reducing public holidays inevitably raise broader questions—not only about economic productivity, but also about demographic decline and the country’s long-term future.
