Ex-presidential advisor dares President to tell whether he had a Russian passport

Sergiu Mocanu has Romanian citizenship. The former presidential adviser, currently member of the initiative group “People’s Action” told a news conference on October 18 that he makes such a revelation in hope that other state functionaries will flow his example, opposing thus President Vladimir Voronin’s initiative to ban the double citizenship holders from occupying state offices, which was passed by the Parliament in first reading. Members of the initiative group “People’s Action” criticized the bill, labeling it as “political diversion”, “element of election campaign” that “seriously violates the fundamental right to choose and be chosen, “a lamentable attempt of the ruling party to regain the trust of the electorate”. The group demands that the bill is withdrawn from the Parliament’s agenda and threatens with broad protests, including street ones. Sergiu Mocanu urges President Vladimir Voronin to confess whether he had or not Russian citizenship between 2001 and 2003, before the Kozak Plan was rejected. According to the cited source, the fact that Russia does not makes public the information regarding the persons that obtain Russian citizenship makes many officials believe that the adoption of the given bill will not have repercussions on them. According to Sergiu Mocanu, this is a mistaken opinion because such information can be obtained by simple journalistic investigations. The former presidential adviser said that he does not know if this initiative is intentionally oriented towards the officials that hold Romanian citizenship, but stressed that this is a clear move against the European Union citizens because the persons holding important positions in the state that have Romanian or Bulgarian nationality are also citizens of the EU. Moreover, the Moldovan authorities live with the illusion that they can get closer to the EU bypassing Romania, Mocanu said. Asked if he does not intend to join the Christian Democratic People’s Party, considered the only party that managed to organize broad street protests and whose member he was and was excluded, Sergiu Mocanu said that he will think about such a possibility until he understands how the PPCD leader, who is also the vice president of the Parliament, can be so calm when such a bill is adopted. In another connection, Sergiu Mocanu said that the “People’s Action” is for the time being an informal organization and does not yet intend to register as political party. At the same time, they do not rule out an alliance with political parties for the purpose of obtaining the juridical form that would enable it to assert itself on the active political arena. On October 11, the Parliament passed in first reading a bill that cancels the right of the persons with double citizenship to hold certain important positions in the state. The bill aroused the Opposition legislator’s dissatisfaction and had been the subject of considerable debate that lasted for over three hours.