Romanian Social Democrats Call For Fast Parliament Debates On Citizenship Decree

He said that is necessary to find the quickest and most acceptable solution to the issue of citizenship from a Romanian and European point of view. Geoana said the draft law granting Romanian citizenship to Moldovans is signed by 42 lawmakers of all political parties and social democrats consider the government’s emergency decree on the matter should be debated together with this draft law.

The Romanian government decided recently to ease procedures for the granting of citizenship to former Romanian citizens and their relatives of up to the third degree, at the request of Romanian president Traian Basescu.

Under the decree, former Romanians who gained citizenship by birth and then lost it or it was lifted for reasons independent of their will, as well as their descendants up to the third degree can reacquire or can obtain Romanian citizenship upon request, provided they meet the legal requirements – excepting the requirement to take an interview in Romanian.

“Obviously, they knew and know Romanian and the interview is no longer required,” Prime Minister Emil Boc said last week.

President Basescu told the Parliament last Tuesday that he asked the government to amend the Law on citizenship immediately, so that people of Romanian origin who live in neighboring Moldova can obtain Romanian citizenship at a swifter pace, upon request.

Basescu said the Romanian embassy in Moldovan capital Chisinau received 650,000 envelopes with application forms for Romanian citizenship and estimations show the number of actual applications is of at least 800,000 or one million.