Brussels, 05/03/2007 (Agence Europe) - Romania's government wants to simplify Romanian citizenship application procedures for people from neighbouring Moldova, thereby allowing thousands of inhabitants of the former Soviet republic of Moldova to join the EU.
Under a 1991 law, Moldovans can apply for Romanian citizenship if they can prove that either they themselves or their parents were born in areas of Moldova that once belonged to Romania. Several thousands of Moldovans opted to become Romanians, 98,000 according to 1992 figures. When Romania joined the European Union on 1 January 2007 there was a mushrooming of requests for citizenship, also fuelled by Romania's decision to introduce visas for Moldovans on the same date to stem illegal immigration. The President of Romania now says that some 800,000 Moldovans (20% of the population of that country) have applied for Romanian citizenship. The Romanian passport application process is extremely complicated and can take several years to complete. AFP reports the Romanian president, Traian Basescu, as commenting last week that there was an urgent need to streamline procedures. He said he had asked the government to facilitate matters as a political necessity. Romania's Justice Minister Monica Macovei has announced that she will be simplifying the law to speed up the process.
Questioned by this newsletter, the European Commission said it could not possibly comment on the matter because it was a prerogative of the member states. We can't say much about this because the decision to grant citizenship is a strictly national power, said Friso Roscam-Abbing, spokesperson for the EU Immigration Commissioner. While the EU seems unable to react to the probable arrival of tens of thousands of Moldavians to its territory, Russia has expressed concern. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov started by expressing surprise at the EU's failure to react. He is quoted in the Romanian media as grumbling that while the EU accuses Russia of handing out Russian citizenship in separatist regions to undermine Georgian sovereignty, Romania is generously dishing out Romanian nationality to Moldovans without Europe lifting a finger. Moldova has around 3.8 million inhabitants. It is one of the poorest parts of Europe. Some 600,000 Moldovans are currently estimated to have left the country to seek work elsewhere. (bc)