“Entering the EU through the Back Door”?! Debates on RomanianCitizenship for Moldovans

«“Entering the EU through the Back Door”?! Debates on Romanian Citizenship forMoldovans»

by Svetlana Suveica

Source:Eurolimes (Eurolimes), issue: Supplement / 2013, pages: 272­284, on www.ceeol.com.

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“Entering the EU through the Back Door”?! Debates onRomanian Citizenship for Moldovans

Svetlana SUVEICA1

Abstract. During the last two decades more and more Moldovans apply forRomanian citizenship, mainly to be able to work and leave, temporarily or permanently, inthe EU countries, while the Moldovan state cannot ensure good living standard for itscitizens. The Romanian legislation on citizenship is periodically amended in order tofacilitate the process of granting Romanian citizenship for the Moldovans, the argumentson the common historical, cultural and linguistic heritage being taken as a basis. On theother side, the Moldovan state doubts the loyalty of its citizens that also becameRomanian citizens. Simultaneously, the EU officials criticise the Romanian citizenshippolicy, which encourage the Moldovans to “enter the EU through the back door”. Thearticle focuses on the non-academic debate that evolved around the issue of dualcitizenship for Moldovans and makes a series of recommendations for the development ofa clearer citizenship policy of the Moldovan state, taking into consideration a range ofinternal and external factors, as well new individual and societal perspectives.

Keywords: dual citizenship, citizenship policy, Republic of Moldova, Romania, EU.

IntroductionDuring the last two decades citizenship became a subject of particular interest for

researchers from Central and Eastern Europe. Besides the discussion on citizenship as alegal instrument that provides the development of the relationship between the state andits subjects, citizenship as a “basis for a stronger sense of belonging, conveying loyalty tothe social group represented by the state and its particular boundaries, the nation”2 wasemphasised. According to Rogers Brubaker, “debates about citizenship, in the age of thenation-state, are debates about nationhood – about what it means, and what it ought tomean, to belong to a nation-state”3. The debates reflect political and social transformationsat national and supra-national level that evolve around the significance and the impact ofmultiple identities and the increasing decoupling of rights and obligations of citizens, aswell around the shifting perceptions of the role of the individual in society. These issueshighlight new forms of social expression, mobilisation of identity and citizenship inpractice.

1 Ph.D., Humboldt senior research fellow, Institute for East and Southeast European Studies (IOS)Regensburg (2012-2014); Associate professor at the Faculty of History and Philosophy, MoldovaState University, Chişinău.

2 Joel S. Migdal, “Mental Maps and Virtual Checkpoints. Struggles to Construct a Maintained Stateand Social Boundaries,” in Boundaries and Belonging: States and Societies in the Struggle toShape Identities and Local Practices, ed. Joel S. Migdal (West Nyack, NY, USA: CambridgeUniversity Press, 2004), 16.

3 Rogers Brubaker, “Immigration, Citizenship, and the Nation-State in France and Germany,” inThe Citizenship Debates: A Reader, ed. Gershon Shafir (Minneapolis: University of MinnesotaPress, 1998), 131-167.

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The discussion on citizenship are intertwined with the debates on the security ofborders and the perception and overcoming of social boundaries that acquired newdimensions after the EU enlargement. “For Europeans generally, the struggle is overwhich law will trump and, ultimately, with which boundaries, national or pan-European,people will identify. The battle is over which mental map will take precedence inEuropeans’ minds and which boundary checkpoints will prevail in determining who is aninsider and who an outsider”4. In this context, the role of dual citizenship is discussed;despite the traditional opposing position on dual citizenship as being undesirable andnecessary to be avoided5, after 1990 it was inscribed in the national legislations of manyEU and non-EU countries and became a reality that was tolerated by more and morestates. It became important not only as a tool for institutionalising mobility and cross-countries ties, but also as an issue of political representation that is focused of people,rather than on citizens. Related to mobility and loyalty, it was also seen as a challenge ofthe “incorporation of both immigrants and emigrants throughout the EU”6.

The new states created after the dissolution of the Soviet Union present interestingcases for the study of citizenship: each case comprise ongoing discussions on the Sovietpolicies of identity construction and their consequences, the promotion of cultural unity,loyalty of citizens to the state and the citizenship education after the dissolution of theSoviet Union. The impact of these policies is explained with reference to the communistregime that systematically destructed civil societies and social components of thecommunities, leaving their inhabitants in isolation and with the lack of trust in the state,thus civic attitude, pluralism and tolerance being ignored. According to George Schöpflin,after the collapse of the USSR, intolerant ethno-national identities have completed thevoid created during the communist period, which made a balanced policy of civiceducation difficult to implement in the countries of transition that were vulnerable fromthe strategic, economic and cultural points of view7.

The following case study will focus on the Republic of Moldova, which does notmake exception in this sense. A former Soviet republic, it struggles for two decades tobuild a stable independent state. The impact of the Soviet policies is felt in politics andeconomy, but also in people’s mentality. The level of political culture among thepopulation is low and the citizenship education does little to strengthen the social and

4 Migdal, 14.5 “Convention on the Reduction of Cases of Multiple Nationality and Military Obligations in Cases

of Multiple Nationality” (ETS No. 43, called “the 1963 Convention”), Explanatory report,accessed May 5, 2013, http://conventions.coe.int/Treaty/EN/Reports/Html/166.htm#FN2.

6 Eva Østergaard-Nielsen, Dual citizenship: Policy Trends and Political Participation in EUMember States (Bruxelles: EU Parliament. Policy Department C. Citizens' Rights andConstitutional Affairs, April 2008), accessed May 31, 2013,http://www.europarl.europa.eu/document/activities/cont/200807/20080702ATT33270/20080702ATT33270EN.pdf.

7 Creating and maintaining a nation as an “imagined community,” as Benedict Anderson puts it,implies maintaining a sense of tradition and unity. Thus, re-writing and sometimes falsifyinghistory as to preserve a nation means to avoid questioning the myths or the inherited culturalnorms. In some countries the more the discourse on democratic civil rights is promoted, the moreaggressive becomes the patriotic education discourse. This is the case in Russia, where theemphasis is rather on patriotic education of citizens, while in Ukraine - on the principles ofdemocratic citizenship promoted by the Council of Europe. George Schöpflin, “Englishness:Citizenship, Ethnicity and Class,” in Nations, Identity, Power. The New Politics of Europe, ed.George Schöpflin (London: C. Hurst and Company, 2000), 298-323.

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civic participation. The dual citizenship is viewed as another challenge that the Moldovanstate is not ready to handle.

Dual citizenship: Romanian offer and Moldovan reactionsA recent country report emphasised that Moldova is one of those states, which

legitimacy is determined by the ability to create conditions for the welfare of its citizens8.The Moldovans are familiar with the welfare and democracy developments of other states,either because of geographical proximity or direct contact with countries with the higherstandards of living. External and internal factors, such as the Transnistrian issue9, alsodecisively influenced the search for alternatives. In this sense, Moldova can be perceivedas a contested state.

After 1991, the Moldovan citizens were not allowed to hold dual citizenship. InMarch 1991, the neighbouring Romania adopted the Law on Romanian citizenship (no. 21of March 1 1991), in force with amendments until today. Art. 37 of the law made implicitreference to the inhabitants of the former Moldavian SSR, Northern Bukovina andSouthern Dobruja (Cadrilater region) and their descendants (up to the third level ofrelationship), entitled to Romanian citizenship as a moral reparation for its loss, regardlessof their will, as a consequence of the occupation of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina bythe Soviet troops and the restitution of Southern Dobruja to Bulgaria in 1940. Thus, theterm that was adopted in relation to the procedure was reacquiring the Romaniancitizenship.

What were the categories of Moldovan citizens that immediately responded to theoffer? The first relatively small group of people comprised those that together withRomanian citizenship adopted the Romanian national identity. While some Moldovansmoved to Romania, others – especially intellectuals and students - were graduallyintegrating in Romania’s social and cultural space, but continued to fluctuate between thetwo countries. The second group was the most numerous and consisted of Moldovansseeking Romanian citizenship in order to increase job opportunities and improve livingconditions while settling outside Moldova.

8 Vitalii Catană, Cetăţenia multiplă: precedente şi soluţii pentru Republica Moldova [MultipleCitizenship: Precedents and Solutions for Republic of Moldova] (Chişinău: Institute for PublicPolicies, 2007), accessed May 02, 2013, www.ipp.md/.../Multipla_dubla_cet_Moldova3.doc.

9 Transnistria is a strip of land situated in the Eastern part of Moldova, which declared secessionfrom Moldova and independence in 1990, being supported by Russia. It is internationallyrecognised as being part of Moldova, and within Moldova as an autonomous territorial unit. Upto today the situation between Transnistrian and Moldovan authorities are tensioned, and theconflict is far from being solved, despite the attempts to negotiate the issue in an internationalformat. The Transnistrians have the Moldovan but also Ukrainian and Russian citizenships. Seeon Transnistrian issue, among other publications: Helge Blakkisrud and Pål Kolstøb, “FromSecessionist Conflict toward a Functioning State: Processes of State- and Nation-Building inTransnistria,” Post-Soviet Affairs 27, 2 (2011): 178-210; Oleh Plotsyk, “Representation andDemocracy in post-Soviet Unrecognized States,” Post-Soviet Affairs 25, 3 (2009): 257-281; NicuPopescu, “Democracy in Secessionism: Transnistria and Abkhazia’s Domestic Policies” (OSI,CPS International Fellowship Program 2005/2006), accessed March 15, 2013,http://edoc.bibliothek.uni-halle.de:8080/servlets/MCRFileNodeServlet/HALCoRe_derivate_00002549/Democracy%20in%20Secessionism.pdf.

In the public discourse of the 1990s the priority of regaining Romanian citizenship10

for the ethnic Romanians was emphasised. Based on the above-mentioned law, any citizen ofany ethnicity, whose parents or grandparents hold Romanian citizenship in the interwar periodand between 1941 and 1944, could apply for reacquiring Romanian citizenship. Obviously, themajority of Moldovans that requested the Romanian citizenship were of Romanian ethnicorigin, although there were also persons of other ethnicities11. In the meantime, the Bucharestgovernment modified the procedure, due to the growing number of applications, but alsobecause falsified identity documents were depicted.

The right to reacquire the Romanian citizenship for citizens from the neighbouringstate was commented in different ways by journalists, as well as by some scholars. In anearlier study, Constantin Iordachi argues that while in Western Europe the proliferation ofdual citizenship aimed at integrating permanent residents, in Eastern Europe changes incitizenship policy “have been related to the revival of national and ethnic policies of post-communist states, and addressed the needs for more effective minority protection”12. IrinaCulic considers the Romanian citizenship strategy represents a “gradual step in a possibleprocess of a more substantial political reunification” of Moldova and Romania13. Theauthors of the recent book, Redobândirea cetăţeniei române (2012) 14 , analyse thecondition, legislation and the procedure of granting Romanian citizenship as well as makecomparisons of the situation in Romania with that in other former communist countries.Romania, as well Hungary, Bulgaria and Spain, were named as countries that havechanged their legislation of granting citizenship based on ethnic and linguistic criteria.While the Romanian Law on citizenship does not directly target ethnic co-nationals fromthe neighbouring countries, it nationalist goals are hidden and it aims at restoring thetraditional sense of belonging to a Romanian national community. The migration affinitiesthat were triggered as a result of the growing number of citizens outside Romania that useRomanian passport as a pass for the entrance to the EU were also emphasised.

Several statistical data show that the Moldovans reacquired Romanian citizenship“in waves”. The process was in direct relationship with the development of Romaniancitizenship policy, but also with the changes applied to Moldovan law on citizenship.Between 1991 and 2001, about 95 000 Moldovans have obtained Romanian citizenship,and the number grew rapidly after 2001, when Romania was removed from the list ofcountries whose citizens required visa to enter the Schengen area. However, from July 12001 Moldovan citizens could travel to Romania only with passports and not ID cards.

10 Redobândirea cetăţeniei române: Perspective istorice, comparative şi aplicate [ReacquiringRomanian citizenship: historical, comparative and applied perspectives], bilingual edition, ed.Constantin Iordachi, (Bucureşti: Curtea Veche, 2012).

11 From a private discussion held in 1994 with the manager of a Moldovan travel agency the authorof this paper learned that the agency used to provide from time to time transportation for Russian-speaking Moldovans that were travelling to Bucharest to apply for Romanian citizenship. To beable to interact with Romanian public servants, these used to hire a Romanian-Russianinterpreter.

12 Constantin Iordachi, “Dual Citizenship in Post-Communist Central and Eastern Europe: RegionalIntegration and Inter-ethnic Tensions,” in Reconstruction and Interaction of Slavic Eurasia andIts Neighbouring World, ed. Osamu Ieda and Uyama Tomohiko (Sapporo: Slavic ResearchCenter, 2004), 106-107.

13 Irina Culic, “Dual Citizenship Policies in Central and Eastern Europe,” Working Paper 15 (Cluj-Napoca: Romanian Institute for Research on National Minorities, 2009), 17, accessed May 15,2013, http://www.ispmn.gov.ro/uploads/culic31.pdf.

14 Redobândirea cetăţeniei (Rom).

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Due to the exceeding number of applications for Romanian citizenship (300 per day –according to the Romanian statistical data), in 2002 the process of regaining Romaniancitizenship was suspended; subsequently, in May 2003 the terms of regaining Romaniancitizenship were tightened 15 . In Romanian media these legislative changes wereinterpreted as an attempt to stop the process of re-acquiring Romanian citizenship for theMoldovans16.

Between 2004 and 2007 Romania focused on the EU policies, so that theprocedure of granting Romanian citizenship was almost suspended; the total number ofgranted applications was 1.248 17 . According to Eurostat data on the acquisition ofcitizenship by group of previous citizenship, 5.585 persons acquired Romanian citizenshipin 2008, out of which 5,489 (98,3 %) were coming from a non-EU state, includingMoldova with 88,9 %.18 The percentage was insignificantly higher than that for France orUK, the countries which granted a much higher number of citizens in the same year19. Inthe Eurostat evaluation of the ratio between the total number of acquisitions from aparticular group and the size of the foreign population of that group in the EU-27, the ratiofor Moldova is above 60 %, Moldova being surpassed only by Iraq, Afghanistan, Somaliaand Cape Verde20.

Jet, the data do not reflect the number of applications on behalf of the Moldovanswhich increased after 2007 due to the ascendance of Romania in the EU, but also becauseof the revision of the national legislation on citizenship. In 1999, the Moldovan Parliamentratified the European Convention on nationality 21 , in 2000 and 2003 the Law oncitizenship was amended22. According to the Art. 24 of the law, the Moldovan citizenswere entitled to multiple citizenships. Multiple nationality citizens were granted the samerights as those who have only the Moldovan citizenship, with no exceptions to the rule.Thus, the dual citizenship was obtained by legal means. Nevertheless, those who appliedfor Romanian citizenship were very discreet about their decision23.

15 According to the amended Art. 10 of the Law on citizenship, the knowledge of Romanianlanguage, culture and civilisation in order to integrate in the society, was a condition necessary tobe fulfiled. Art. 12 stated that the application had to be made in person, not throughintermediaries. The requirement on the Romanian language was removed in 2009.

16 Constantin Iordachi, Country Report: Romania, EUDO Citizenship Observatory (BadiaFiesolana: Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies, European University Institute, 2010),15-16, accessed April 25, 2013, http://eudo-citizenship.eu/docs/CountryReports/Romania.pdf.

17 Based on Eurostat data, accessed May 5, 2013, http://appsso.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/nui/show.do?dataset=migr_acq&lang=en.

18 Fabio Sartori, Population and Social Conditions 36 (2010): 3, accessed June 15, 2013,http://cetatenie.just.ro/wp-content/uploads/statistici_EUROSTAT.pdf.

19 Valentina Dimulescu and Andrei Avram, Politica românească de redobândire a cetăţeniei încomparaţie cu alte state din UE [The Romanian policy of reacquiring citizenship compared toother EU states], Policy memo 22, 3 (Bucureşti: Centrul Român de Politici Europene - FundaţiaSoros România, iulie 2011), accessed May 15, 2013, http://www.crpe.ro/v2/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/policy_memo_22_Banali-in-UE-politica...cetatenie.pdf.

20 Eurostat data interpreted by Sartori, 5, accessed May 15, 2013, http://cetatenie.just.ro/wp-content/uploads/statistici_EUROSTAT.pdf.

21 The Parliament Decision no. 621-XIV of 14.10.1999.22 1024-XIV of 02.06.2000; 5 June 2003.23 In 2004-2006 I served in the cabinet of the Moldovan Minister of Justice in 2005-2006 and

remember well the couloirs discussions on the risks to lose the job for those that hold Romaniancitizenship.

In 2007, the Romanian government simplified the procedure of reacquiringRomanian citizenship24, which sparked contra-reactions from the Moldovan authorities: alaw, according to which persons with dual citizenship were not allowed to hold publicoffice, was promulgated25. The reactions to such legal restriction met harsh critique onbehalf of some Moldovan politicians who considered that the law was especially „hunting“those that wanted to acquire Romanian citizenship. In fact, the law did not affect publicservants, diplomats, police officers who acquired Russian citizenship, and the principle ofsuspect disloyalty was used as a pretext to exclude those people that were also Romaniancitizens from public life and that can be qualified as a violation of human rights.

On May 26 2009, the Moldovan Constitutional Court issued a decision, accordingto which the prohibition to hold dual citizenship for public servants was in accordancewith the country’s Constitution. In the meantime, a dismissed custom officer sent his caseto the ECHR, which recommended that Moldova should review the law that restricts therights of civil servants who hold dual citizenship. The Government appealed the ECHRdecision.

On December 22 2009, after the Communists were sent in opposition, theParliament cancelled the 2007 law and allowed people with dual citizenship to hold publicoffice. A high resonance had the ECHR case Tănase and others vs. Moldova, in whichMoldova was condemned for the violation of the right of its citizens26. The RomanianMinistry of Foreign Affairs had a positive reaction to the decision, emphasising thatRomania has its own merits in this regard27.

In 2011, the Moldovan Parliament passed the law, according to which theMoldovan citizens were able to choose the ethnicity of their child to be indicated in thebirth certificate. The paragraph on nationality was excluded from the all civil acts.

In order to cope with the increasing numbers of applications, the Romanianauthorities continued to simplify the procedure for granting the Romanian citizenship. Theopening in the summer of 2010 of two consulates in Bălți and Cahul cities also facilitatedthe access of the public to the Romanian consular services, including the application forthe Romanian citizenship. As for the statistical data, different sources continue to disputedifferent figures, depending on the interest to diminish or raise the number of citizens with

24 The procedure of the publication in “Monitorul Oficial” of the names of those granted Romaniancitizenship was cancelled.

25 Law No. 273-XVI of December 7 2007, which entered into force on May 13 2008. Art. 30stipulated that a person that has only Moldovan citizenship [...] and possesses Moldovan languagecan apply for public office. Republica Moldova. Parlamentul [Repubic of Moldova. TheParliament], Lege nr. 173 din 07.12.2007 pentru modificarea și completarea unor acte legislative[Law no. 173 of 07.12.2007 on amending and supplementing certain acts], accessed June 03,2013, http://lex.justice.md/md/327797/.

26 The Court underlined that in Moldova were about 45.000 Moldovans who hold Russiancitizenship, but Moscow is discrete and does not make the names of its citizens public, asBucharest does. The ECHR decision on Tănase case recently impacted the decision taken inRussia: a Russian citizen who has also a British citizenship was registered as a candidate for theregional election in Jaroslavl Duma. Vladimir Kara-Murza, “Politika s dvojnym graždanstvomdopustili do vyborov v Jaroslavle” [A political with dual citizenship was allowed to candidate inJaroslavl], accessed August 25, 2013, http://lenta.ru/news/2013/08/07/citizen/.

27 The Cotidianul newspaper of April 30 2010 published an interview with the Romanian Sub-secretary of State, Horaţiu Răzvan Radu, who led the team that represented Romaniangovernment before the ECHR. Radu said that ECHR assumed the observations of the Romaniangovernment in this case and developed them further for the final argumentation. The interviewwas republished by Moldovan newspaper Ziarul de Gardă on May 1, 2010.

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dual citizenship. According to a study published by Soros Foundation Romania in April2012, between 1991-2011a number of 226.507 Moldovan citizens were granted Romaniancitizenship28. The study with a suggestive title – “Redobândirea cetăţeniei române: opolitică fără viziune?” - emphasise that the interest of Moldovans to acquire Romaniancitizenship grew starting from 2007, when Romania became the EU member-state. On theother side, it shows that the growing number of applications generated critical reactions ofsome EU officials, but those reactions were sporadic and not systematic. The studyevaluates the 1991 Romanian Law on citizenship as having” the most unstable content ofthe whole post-communist legislation”, because of continuous amendments andcompletions. This indicates upon the fact that Romania does not have a strategy for aconsequent citizenship policy.

The issue of dual citizenship in the mediaThe debate about dual citizenship in Moldova evolved in close relation to the

political developments in Romania and echoed the discussions within the political circlesin Romania and the EU countries. In May 2005, when the discussions about theperspective of Romania to join EU became more intense, the Timpul newspaper publishedan article with the suggestive title: "Every second Moldovan wants Romaniancitizenship". It reported a survey in which 48 % of respondents said they would like tobecome Romanian citizens; 85 % of them admitted that their motivation was pragmatic –it was seen as an opportunity to get a job in one of the EU states29. Although the results ofthe survey did not sound optimistic for the nationalist circles who claimed that manyMoldovans acquire Romanian citizenship based on their feelings of ethnic, historical andcultural affiliation, it revealed that the Moldovans prioritised their options, based on thesearch for better living conditions outside their country. The occasional discussions withthe Moldovans who work abroad, but also other broadcasted interviews, show that theRomanian passport is seen as a legal mean to stay and work in an EU country, in order tosustain the family in Moldova.

On March 21 2007, the Romanian newspaper Ziua qualified the process ofacquiring Romanian citizenship as a “calvary”30. The article was immediately re-publishedby different Romanian as well as Moldovan news agencies and portals. It appeared at thesame time with the discourse of the Romanian president, Traian Băsescu, who spokeabout some 800.000 applications on behalf of the Moldovans who wanted to reacquire theRomanian citizenship. Băsescu emphasised the “moral obligation to Moldovan citizens,”but also the fact that Moldovans, once being hired in EU countries, would “help to reducethe deficit on the European labour market.” The declaration of the Romanian presidentbrought less-friendly reactions from the European officials and, according to the mediasources, worsened the image of Romania in Europe. On the other side, the MoldovanCommunist government qualified the Romanian citizenship policy as “inadmissible” andrefused to start discussions on the border traffic agreement, the basic treaty between the

28 Sergiu Panaite, Victoria Nedelciuc, Redobândirea cetăţeniei române: o politică fără viziune?[Reacquiring Romanian citizenship: a policy without vision?] (Bucureşti: Fundaţia SorosRomânia, 2012), 4, accessed May 11, 2013, www.soros.ro/ro/documente.php?document=1498.

29 “Fiecare al doilea moldovean îşi doreşte cetăţenia română” [Every second Moldovan wantsRomanian citizenship], Timpul, 16 May 2005.

30 “Calvarul cetăţeniei române pentru moldoveni” [Calvary of Romanian citizenship forMoldovans], Ziua, 21 March 2007.

two countries also not being signed. The above-mentioned declaration that had a populistcharacter worsened the Romanian-Moldovan diplomatic relations as well.

In April 2009, the EU Observer wrote that the EU institutions were “terrified” ofRomania’s proposal of granting Romanian citizenship to one million of Moldovans, asituation that could affect Romania’s position within the EU. Other EU officials, as wellthe spokesperson of Havier Solana, the EU High Representative for theCommon Foreign and Security Policy, sounded more pragmatic in their evaluation of theRomanian statements, by saying that the Romania’s plan was a political statement thatwas issued before the presidential election and will never be implemented. The samepublication emphasised, in November 2010, that Romania became an active regionalplayer, while supporting Turkey’s aspirations to join the EU, but also alimenting the “ thehope of a reunification of the two sister countries” which, apparently, was boosted byTraian Băsescu’s announcement of Romania’s “readiness to offer Romanian citizenship toany Moldovan who would ask for it. He said that up to 1 million Moldovans – 25 percentof the population – had already applied for citizenship and tens of thousands had receivedit”31. Thus, the European media linked the citizenship issue with the future major roleRomania planned to play in the European politics.

On July 13 2010, Der Spiegel published an article, entitled “Romanian Passportsfor Moldovans. Entering the EU through the Back Door”, with high resonance in Romaniaas well as in Moldova, and which also inspired the title of this study. The authoremphasised that “Romania's president wants to increase his country's population and isusing an odd means to do so. The country is generously bestowing hundreds of thousandsof Romanian passports on impoverished Moldovans. They are gratefully accepting theoffer from the EU member state and are streaming into Western Europe to work as cheaplaborers” 32 . The author expressed the view that EU was already suffering fromenlargement fatigue, but continued to be “extended by stealth to the East without anyreferendum or any other agreements from Brussels, Berlin and Paris”. The Romanianofficials appeared surprised that a connection between the issue of Romanian citizenshipfor Moldovans and illegal migration into the EU was made. The Romanian Minister offoreign affairs, Teodor Baconschi, said in this regard: “I believe that the simultaneousoccurrence of several articles on this topic in foreign media does not mean the existence ofa media campaign on this issue. We have not violated any rule in any form of theEuropean acquis, and we acted in this regard as a sovereign state”33.

In Moldova, but also outside the country, the issue of re-acquiring Romaniancitizenship by the Moldovans was overlapping with the Western discourse on the risks ofpotential waves of immigrants. In the last two years, the EU officials and the mediafocused on criticising, among the stagnation of judicial reforms, corruption and organisedcrime, the citizenship issue in Romania. These were related to Romania’s perspectives toenter the Schengen zone.

The Adevărul newspaper published an article with the provocative title, “Franţa:România nu poate adera la Schengen din cauza moldovenilor,” in which the opinion of the

31 “Romania Makes Its Mark as a Regional Player,” EU Observer, 08.10.2010, accessed May 23,2013, http://euobserver.com/news/31218.

32 “Romanian Passports for Moldovans. Entering the EU through the Back Door,” Der Spiegel, July13, 2010, accessed May 14, 2013, http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/romanian-passports-for-moldovans-entering-the-eu-through-the-back-door-a-706338.html.

33 “Baconschi nu vede legătura dintre acordarea cetățeniei pentru moldoveni și migrație”, accessedJune 4, 2013, http://www.ziare.com/teodor-baconschi/ministru-de-externe/baconschi-nu-vede-legatura-dintre-acordarea-cetateniei-pentru-moldoveni-si-migratie-1031024.

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French State secretary for European affairs, Pierre Lellouche, was quoted. He stated thatEU needed secure borders, while Moldovan-Romanian border “remains poorly controlledbecause of the distribution across the border of thousands of Romanian passports, the blackhole that is the separatist Transnistrian territory and the level of corruption in Ukraine”34.There is obviously no legal connection between the Schengen issue and the legislation ofgranting citizenship, as citizenship policy remains the attribute of national governments. Theright of EU member-states to give certain people special treatment based on historicalconnections is accepted at the European level, since the rules on granting citizenship withinthe EU are not uniform and are not subject to a supranational law.

In 2012 another article with the intriguing title, ”How to buy EU citizenship”, waspublished in the EU Observer. Supported by the European Fund for InvestigativeJournalism, a Moldovan and a Romanian journalist investigated a case about a Moldovanwho invented a fake ancestry in order to apply for Romanian citizenship. The case wasobviously not single: “The path to this moment requires patience, cash, and the rightconnections among the citizenship brokers and corrupt bureaucrats of Bucharest andChisinau”, claimed the investigators.35 These suggested that despite a series of raids thatled to the arrests of Romanian officials who participated in the issuing of false papers orthe facilitation of the citizenship procedure, the “grey market” continues to develop.Indeed, one can easily observe the touts hanging around the Romanian Embassy inChisinau or the Consulates in Bălți and Cahul, ready to “help” any person.

Despite that the Moldovan legislation allows the persons with dual citizenship tohold office and be elected in public duty, the discussion about dual citizenship are raisedfrom time to time even in the Moldovan Parliament. It animated the spirits in April whenthe deputies had to vote a candidate for the membership of the Constitutional Court whoalso holds the Romanian citizenship. The news about the scandal was broadcasted on theRomanian television36.

Conclusions and RecommendationsSeveral conclusions can be formulated in relation to the dual citizenship issue for

Moldovans. During the last two decades the issue of Romanian citizenship was onlypartially a subject of public debate. The tone for the debate, both in Romania and inMoldova, was given by the representatives of the political elite: what was expressed in themedia was rather a reiteration of what was said by the EU, Romanian or Moldovanofficials. The trajectory of the discussion was influenced by the course of the Romanian-EU relations and Moldovan-Romanian diplomatic relations as well. Within thesediscussions, several affinities related to the issue were intentionally avoided in publicdebate on Romanian citizenship: one is that the Moldovans reacquire and not acquire theRomanian citizenship, based on the prove that they have lost it regardless of their will. InMoldova, any international practice on dual or multiple citizenship is little mediated, sothat the citizens are little aware on the impact of the taken decision on their daily life, aswell on the interconnectedness of their private decision with the state or states’ policies.

34 “Franţa: România nu poate adera la Schengen din cauza moldovenilor” [France: Romania cannotjoin the Schengen because of the Moldovans], Adevărul, 10 December 2010.

35 Adrian Mogoş and Vitalie Călugăreanu, “How to buy EU citizenship,” EU Observer, September14, 2012, accessed March 03, 2013, http://euobserver.com/justice/117551.

36 „Scandal în Parlamentul de la Chişinău: Judecătorii Curţii Constituţionale deţin şi cetăţeniaromână” [Scandal in Chisinau Parliament: Constitutional Court Judges also have Romaniancitizenship], accessed April 10, 2013, http://www.rtv.net/scandal-in-parlamentul-de-la-chisinau-judecatorii-curtii-constitutionale-detin-si-cetatenia-romana_74155.html#ixzz2duktGvDQ.

The state policy on citizenship and citizenship education was influenced during the lasttwo decades by the internal political and social context, as well by global trends thatrevolved around the Council of Europe, but was fluctuating in part because till today thecivil society representatives were little involved in developing solutions for the statecitizenship policy. Last, but not least, similar to other countries with the Soviet past, thedebates on citizenship in Moldova have a sporadic character and tend to evolve especiallyin public space and less in academia.

While following these debates, one can see that the Moldovan state is not ready toaccept the compromise between the modern and postmodern approaches towardcitizenship. Accepting it means accepting multiple identities, pluralist debates overcitizenship, but also critical debates on the state, the nation and its heritage. Theacceptance of putting into practice the relatively recent legislation on dual citizenship,while allowing citizens to choose their identity/identities and possibly opt for a welfarethat cannot be assured by the state which citizenship is obtained at birth, represents achallenge for Moldova. Based on the above conclusions, the following policyrecommendations can be formulated:

Given that Moldova cannot ensure comparable standards to its citizens, themultiple or dual citizenship should not be treated as damage to Moldovan statehood. Onthe other side, the Moldovan state should ensure trustworthy executive institutions andmake public services accessible and qualitative.

While recognising multiple or dual citizenship, the Moldovan state should notregard automatically the citizens with multiple or dual citizenship as being disloyal to thestate. On the contrary, it has to focus on creating conditions of compatibility ofdual/multiple loyalty, and do more to cultivate patriotism and developed ways and meansof supporting devoted citizens.

From the perspective of a simple Moldovan citizen, the concepts of State andNation, Citizenship and Identity are in competition. This creates problems inunderstanding what being loyal to the state means, how two or more citizenships correlate.Whether Moldovan citizenship is based on a political identity or an ethnic identity is aquestion many Moldovans cannot clarify for themselves. The state should emphasize forits citizens which identity – political or ethnic – is taken as a basis in the development ofMoldovan citizenship.

During the last decade the mobility opportunities for Moldovans have grownand diversified, in part because of the mechanism of dual/multiple citizenship. Themobility caused changes in the perception about multiple citizenship as an inherentphenomenon in a globalisation era. This “abroad compound” is missing from the debate.Thus, the state should inform its citizens on the successful practices of other states, as wellon the way Moldovan citizens that live abroad perceive their country/countries, what kindof challenges they encounter as “dual” citizens in daily practices.

Citizenship can be used as a mechanism for social reconciliation rather thansocial division. The citizenship frame, proposed by Will Kymlika, according to whichbeing a citizen means to be involved in public life, be able to assess the performance ofpublic officials, have sense of justice and the ability to discern and respect the rights ofothers, show politeness and tolerance, and have a shared sense of solidarity and loyalty,37

can be taken as a basis for emphasising the priority of human rights over the rights of thestate. These reflections should be used for the state involvement in citizenship policy of

37 Will Kymlika, “Education for Citizenship,” Reihe Politikwissenschaft / Political Science Series40 (February 1997): 3-4.

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education in order to promote civic virtues that serve for the unification not the division ofthe society.

Following the recommendations of the Soros Foundation Romania (2012), weconsider that a public debate on the citizenship policy is absolutely necessary for theMoldovan as well as the Romanian society. In Moldova, the academic circles once beinginvolved in the public debate, can contribute to informing the population on the practicesof the other countries on overcoming the citizenship “dilemma”, as well to widening anddeepening of the topic of citizenship which is closely related with the issue of migration,legal status, citizenship duties.

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