Public functionaries will not have the right to hold another citizenship than the Moldovan one

The public functionaries will not have the right to hold another citizenship than the Moldovan one. This restriction is provided by a bill on amending and supplementing certain legislative acts, recently approved by the Government. The draft law is submitted to Parliament for consideration. According to deputy-minister of Justice Nicolae Esanu, the bill is a response to the worrying situation regarding citizenship. In his words, Moldova’s citizens seek to gain the citizenship of other states chiefly for obtaining certain facilitations related to free travelling across the European space, for enjoying social insurance, for reunifying families, for getting hired, and for studying abroad. Recently, the Government approved a draft law by which only Moldovan citizens that are living abroad will be able to give up the Moldovan citizenship. According to Minister of Information Development Vladimir Molojen, over the last few years it has been registered a significant increase in the number of persons who renounce the Moldovan nationality, compared to the number of those who apply for it. Experts have warned about the risk of Moldova’s depopulation, as Romanian authorities announced a figure of nearly 800,000 applications from Moldovan citizens seeking the Romanian citizenship. Taking into account that a lot of applications come from families, the number of applicants for Romanian citizenship could reach one million.