Financial Times: Romania in citizenship offer to 1m Moldovans

[1curious]

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/82244ff0-2a1e-11de-9d01-00144feabdc0.html?nclick_check=1

Romania in citizenship offer to 1m Moldovans


By Thomas Escritt in Chisinau



Published: April 16 2009 03:00 | Last updated: April 16 2009 03:00



The president of Romania has offered fast-track citizenship to up to 1m Moldovans, saying Bucharest could not stand idly by as an "iron curtain" descended on its eastern border.
The move, which would effectively give EU citizenship to almost a quarter of the population of Europe's poorest state, comes amid rising tension over contested elections in Moldova on April 5.
The result of a recount that could hand outright victory to the ruling Communist party of Vladimir Voronin, a former Soviet general, was due last night.
Natalia Morari, the Russian journalist who used social networking sites and text messages to organise protests against the poll result, was yesterday sentenced to 10 days' house arrest.
"I have asked the government as a matter of urgency to change the citizenship law so we can facilitate and speed up the process of regaining citizenship for those Romanians and their families who lost it abusively," Traian Basescu, Romania's president, told parliament.
Romania's move would give citizenship to anyone who has at least one grandparent who was once a Romanian national.
Moldova is divided between speakers of Slavic languages, many of them marooned after the fall of the Soviet Union, and speakers of Moldovan, a variant of Romanian, who tend to support the opposition. "We cannot accept that the Romanians across the Prut river are isolated from the rest of Europe," Mr Basescu said.
Tensions have been mounting in the nation of 4.4m since elections handed victory to the Communists, leaving them one seat short of the 61 needed to appoint a new president.
Three opposition parties say the election was rigged by padding out the electoral roll with the names of the dead and long-term émigrés.
The opposition fears the recount may favour the Communists, who are just 200 votes short of an outright victory. They are demanding to continue the electoral roll vetting process, which was suspended by a court decision last night.
One western diplomat said there was evidence of multiple and fraudulent voting in two counties.
Vlad Filat, leader of the opposition Liberal Democrat party, criticised what Moldovans see as EU passivity in the face of human rights violations on its border. "We understand . . . they have to engage with Voronin, but the serious human rights abuses . . . are more urgent," he told the Financial Times.
Hundreds of protesters have been arrested since peaceful protests spiralled into violence last week.
EU officials are understood to worry that a harder line might drive Moldova, which is heading towards bankruptcy and may need foreign aid this year, into the arms of Russia.
Mr Voronin, who is standing down after his second four-year presidential term, had close relations with Moscow until a split over the future of the breakaway province of Transdnistria. Opposition parties say his subsequent enthusiasm for European integration has been a rhetorical ploy.

[zad]

I wonder how the European Union will react to mr Basescu issuing EU passports as candies. Specially when Romania is going to recive 20.000 millions euros of the FMI, the UE and the world bank as emergency lifeline. Not the right time to act so cocky IMHO.

Romania secures financial lifeline from IMF, EU, World Bank

26 March 2009, 00:05 CET


(BUCHAREST) - Romania was thrown a 20-billion-euro lifeline by four international lending bodies Wednesday, becoming the fifth country in central and eastern Europe to seek such a bailout in the current economic crisis.
Bucharest signed an agreement on a two-year standby arrangement, worth 27 billion dollars, with the International Monetary Fund, the European Union, the World Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), said the head of the IMF's mission to Romania, Jeffrey Franks.
"We have successfully concluded negotiations on a multilateral support package including the IMF, the EU, the World Bank and other international organisations," Franks said.
The IMF is putting up 12.9 billion euros of the loan, the EU 5.0 billion euros, the World Bank 1.0-1.5 billion euros and the EBRD and other organisations the rest, Franks said.
Figures released earlier this month showed that despite a major slowdown, Romania's economy still grew 7.1 percent over the whole of 2008 and by 2.9 percent in the fourth quarter.
But growth is set to fall to 1.0 percent in the first quarter of this year despite a 13-billion-euro government stimulus package.
Ratings agency Fitch last November downgraded its Romania debt rating to below investment grade, voicing concern that the country might not avoid "a severe economic and financial crisis."
Romania's last agreement with the IMF, dating back to 2004, was suspended in 2005 after a dispute over the size of the public deficit, which the IMF wanted to be close to zero but which had ballooned to 5.28 percent of gross domestic product by 2008.
The shortfall was seen as endangering Romania's bid to meet European Union criteria that require eurozone members to hold public deficits to less than three percent of output. Romania wants to adopt the euro by 2014.
One of the conditions for the latest credit stipulates that Bucharest bring down the public deficit.
"The Romanian government can no longer allow itself the luxury of a sizeable deficit," Franks said.
In the medium term, the IMF hoped Romania would undertake "reform of the public sector wage system," the bill for which has doubled in the past four years, and the pension system, which is putting "enormous pressure" on the budget, the official said.
Conditions for the loan to Romania were "ambitious, but realistic" and "tailored" to the country, he said.
The head of the EBRD, Thomas Mirow, meanwhile told the Financial Times Deutschland newspaper Wednesday that troubled eastern European economies should seek help now rather than feed speculation about their problems.
"Countries that think they need International Monetary Fund help should turn quickly to the IMF," he said.
"It would be terrible for market sentiment if throughout 2009, like in a serial novel, we have to constantly ask ourselves which is the next country on the list" of those needing bailouts, he added.
In the current crisis, Romania is the fifth central and eastern European country after Hungary, Latvia, Serbia and Ukraine to turn to the IMF for help.
Franks said the IMF mission to Romania would now to go to Vienna to meet the main foreign banks active in the region "to negotiate their support."
In a statement, IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn said the deal was subject to approval by the fund's executive board, which would meet "in the coming weeks" to discuss the stand-by arrangement.
"Romania would be able to draw 5.0 billion euros upon board approval," the statement said.
"The objective of the policy package is to cushion the effects of the sharp drop in private capital inflows while implementing policy measures to address the external and fiscal imbalances and to strengthen the financial sector."

http://www.eubusiness.com/news-eu/1237970821.97

[muck]

That's great. I'm looking forward to have a bunch of real communists from Moldavia living next to me.

[1curious]

I wonder how the European Union will react to mr Basescu issuing EU passports as candies. Specially when Romania is going to recive 20.000 millions euros of the FMI, the UE and the world bank as emergency lifeline. Not the right time to act so cocky IMHO.

http://www.eubusiness.com/news-eu/1237970821.97
That's a fair concern.

I also wonder how will EU's governments and businesses (in the middle of economic crisis!) react to being flooded by extra 1 million of new emigrants (who barely have the legal right to be there in the first place) and compete for the scarce jobs?

I also wonder about the criteria Romania proposed - any one related to a Romanian grandfather would become EU passport holder.

One million of Moldovans (new Romanians?) would represent 25% of Moldova's population...it's like Germany granting citizenship to 75 million of Americans who could show they are related to German-born grandfathers...
Something does not make sense :roll:

[Herman the II]

I also wonder how will EU's governments and businesses (in the middle of economic crisis!) react to being flooded by extra 1 million of new emigrants (who barely have the legal right to be there in the first place) and compete for the scarce jobs?


Romanian citizens currently don't enjoy the complete "free movement of persons", so don't worry too much. (At least that's the case in Germany, quite sure other members handle it the same way.)



Neue EU-Mitglieder seit 01.01.2007:
Bulgarien und Rumänien
Nach dem EU-Beitritt besitzen Staatsangehörige von Bulgarien und Rumänien nicht die volle Freizügigkeit, sie dürfen in Deutschland nur dann eine Arbeit aufnehmen, wenn sie bei der Agentur für Arbeit eine sogenannte Arbeitsgenehmigung-EU erhalten haben.

[muttbutt]

I have the strong feeling, the Romanian Government will quietly be told "thats not a good idea" and it will end there.

[Derbedeu]

1. Just because Basescu states that Romania will offer 1m Moldovans citizenship does not mean he has the power to do so. In fact no where in the constitution is it explicitly stated that he has that power: http://www.servat.unibe.ch/icl/ro00000_.html

Consequently, Basescu, who is a known proponent of a Romanian-Moldovan unification, is merely posturing for internal consumption and as a means to show solidarity for Moldovans (many, though certainly not all, who do in fact see themselves as Romanian). This is no different than what many other leaders often do, especially since it boosts their popularity and helps when elections roll around.

2. The following are the laws with which one would go about acquiring Romanian citizenship:

http://www.romanianpassport.co.il/english/romanian-citizenship-law/

To summerize, it is no different than most countries, with slight variations. While Romania does grant citizenship to one second or third generation Romanians, those applying must have proof (i.e. passport or citizenship) of their parents' or grandparents' Romanian citizenship. I honestly don't think there are too many Moldovans with their passports from pre-1945 lying around. :roll: Additionally, the whole process is bureaucratically complex and sometimes even requires judicial procedings:

http://www.romanianpassport.co.il/english/romanian-citizenship-summary/

Not surprisingly, from 1991 to 2006, only around ~95000 Moldovans have managed to obtain Romanian citizenship.

3. As Herman mentioned, several EU nations have strict immigration laws regarding the newest members such as Romania and Bulgaria, and as such, wont be affected if hypothetically 1m Moldovans did become Romanian citizens.

4. Its one thing to express ones intentions. Its another to follow through on them. As has been mentioned already, due to the recession Romania's economical outlook doesn't look to good for 2009. Therefoe I highly doubt they would be willing to open their doors to 1m Moldovans. Romania's GDP per capita is almost 13000. Moldova's is not even 3000. That's a huge disparity, that would be a severe strain on Romania's economy as well as her social system.

5. As a Romanian myself, while i would personally like to see a union between Romania and Moldova, it would only be if the following three conditions were met:

a) both nations and people agreed to it via referendum

b) The Transniestra situation is resolved to the satisfaction of the parties involved and according to international law

c) when the economic disparity between Moldova and Romania is ameliorated

I can't speak for all Romanians, but most who i know agree with me. Suffice to say the timeframe for all three conditions to be met (if they ever are) is a long one.

6. 1curious, just out of curiosity (p-)) what is your opinion on the following?

http://topics.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/09/23/russian-citizenship-for-8-million-ukrainians/

7. In conclusion, I don't think this article is that big of a deal. Hopefully, Moldova's crises of the moment will be peacefully resolved and whichever government comes to power, i just hope they improve the economic lives of their citizens.

[cmc]

Oh boy... I see some here are really interested (and curious) in counting the number of passports Romania issues... did you reach 700.000 yet? p-) (you know what i'm talking about)...

[1curious]

I could care less what YOU are talking about... I want others to know what the Romania's President is talking about and WHY 2 eastern European countries - with drastically different polices towards Russia - (in the space of just few months) kicked out Romanian diplomats. Allegedly for Romania's interference in their internal affairs and for stirring pto-Romanian separatism.

MR. President of Romania is not helping the pro-Romania members of this forum. Does he?

[cmc]

MR. President of Romania is not helping the pro-Romania members of this forum. Does he?

No man, but the fact that romanian diplomats were "kicked out" from:

1) Ukraine as a response of Romania "kicking out" two ukrainian military attachés in a proven espionage case (which you forgot to say)

2) Moldova in which the only way to solve an internal problem was to blame a foreign country or at least that was what president Voronin considered. The same president who is responsable for the "multiple and fraudulent voting in two counties" (BTW that is from the article presented by YOU)

does help.

And... about your (noble, ofcourse) desire to inform the others... let's just hope you don't inform them with figures like 700.000... again...

[BogdanM]

1curious,
I'm glad you have so much interest in the current events and the relations between the two countries and you want to keep other members informed about how this delicate situation evolves. But if you want to present a clear image you should remain impartial and provide news from both sides.

I'll give you and example, in the past few days there have been numerous moldavian citizen who reported that they have been arrested by police, beaten or tortured and than release because of lack of evidence to keep them under arrest. There's also the case of a young man who it's believed to have died from the injuries sustained in arrest.

These are important news which you should post if you want to remain objective.

[Flamming_Python]

No man, but the fact that romanian diplomats were "kicked out" from:

1) Ukraine as a response of Romania "kicking out" two ukrainian military attachés in a proven espionage case (which you forgot to say)

2) Moldova in which the only way to solve an internal problem was to blame a foreign country or at least that was what president Voronin considered. The same president who is responsable for the "multiple and fraudulent voting in two counties" (BTW that is from the article presented by YOU)

does help.

And... about your (noble, ofcourse) desire to inform the others... let's just hope you don't inform them with figures like 700.000... again...

The trouble is, that the official reason that Ukraine gave for kicking out the Romanians a full 2 weeks before the first troubles in Moldova, is the same reason Voronin later gave for kicking them out; that of stirring nationalist sentiment among Ukrainian and Moldovan citizens respectively. Now military attaches or not; this whole thing sounds too suspicious to be a mere co-incidence.

[cmc]

The trouble is, that the official reason that Ukraine gave for kicking out the Romanians a full 2 weeks before the first troubles in Moldova, is the same reason Voronin later gave for kicking them out; that of stirring nationalist sentiment among Ukrainian and Moldovan citizens respectively. Now military attaches or not; this whole thing sounds too suspicious to be a mere co-incidence.

Yes, I understand your point... but look at the date when the ukrainian diplomats were "kicked out" and at the date the romanian ones were... I think you will see that those two incidents are related.

As for the reasons the romanian diplomats were "kicked out"... the ukrainian foreign ministry refused to comment. Those reasons mensioned come from "Ukrainskaia Pravda"... So...

BTW... can anybody guide me to the source of that "1 mil"? I've been looking over Basescu's speech in the parliament... and I failed in finding that statement...

EDIT: The closest thing I found was a statement about the number of requests for romanian citisenships: in a TV interview Basescu states that are 800.000 to 1.000.000 requests. He says he does not know the exact number as some of the requests are "family requests" (meaning for more than 1 citisenship).