Constitutional Court rules laws banning persons with multiple citizenship from holding public posts are constitutional

The Constitutional Court Tuesday rejected the application filed by the Liberal Democratic Party (PLDM), saying that the laws that ban the persons with multiple citizenship from holding public positions are constitutional, Info-Prim Neo reports. In the application filed on December 8, 2008, the PLDM leader Vlad Filat asked that the Constitutional Court verify the constitutionality of the legislation banning persons that have multiple citizenship from holding such public posts as MPs, ministers, judges, customs officers, police officers and others posts. Filat said that these laws have a discriminatory character and run counter to the international treaties that Moldova joined, especially the European Convention on Nationality and the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. The PLDM also invoked a decision by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), which says that these norms are not proportional and justified. The six judges of the Constitutional Court unanimously decided that the stipulations from 18 laws that ban the persons with multiple citizenship from holding public posts do not run counter to the Constitution of the Republic of Moldova. The Court’s decision is definitive and comes into force when made. It will be published in the Official Gazette. “We made out decision basing on the Constitution,” president of the Constitutional Court Dumitru Pulbere has told the reporters. “Within 10 days, we will publish the entire decision. In the text of the decision, we tried to show the ECHR and other European institutions that Moldova observes the international treaties. Any state has the right to impose conditions on its citizens. Otherwise, we question the sovereignty and independence of the state,” Pulbere said. The PLDM leader Vlad Filat said that the decision will be changed after the Grand Chamber of the ECHR reconfirms its decision. “This decision confirms that the Constitutional Court is not impartial and serves the interests of the ruling party to a certain extent. This thing will be proved by the European Court’s decision,” Filat said. Dumitru Pulbere rejected the accusation, saying that it is aberrant, and stressed that the Constitutional Court is independent and is not politically biased. The Parliament’s permanent representative to the Constitutional Court Ion Matu said that he was satisfied with the Court’s decision. “I did not understand why this aspect was challenged. It is the right of every state to place restrictions concerning public positions,” Matu said. “If the Grand Chamber reconfirms its decision, the Constitutional Court will review its ruling.” The law that allows only the persons with exclusively Moldovan nationality to hold public positions was challenged by Mayor of Chisinau Dorin Chirtoaca and jurist and PLDM member Alexandru Tanase, who was then municipal councilor. They both hold Romanian nationality. The ECHR ruled that the Law No. 273 is no justified and proportional and runs counter to Article 3, Protocol 1 to the European Convention on Human Rights and Article 17 of the European Convention on Nationality. The Court found that Moldova is the only country in the Council of Europe, which, although allowing the multiple citizenship, bans the holders to be eligible for public positions, including for the position of a parliamentarian. The Government appealed the decision to the Grand Chamber of the ECHR, which is to pass its judgment on September 16, 2009.