The procedure of regaining Romanian citizenship was simplified

The procedure of regaining Romanian citizenship has been simplified, by excluding a certificate which would prove that the place of birth of the solicitor was situated on the Romanian territory. According to a press-release of the Embassy of Romania in the R. of Moldova, cited by Info-Prim Neo, “in order to simplify and accelerate the process of regaining Romanian citizenship by former Romanian citizens who, before December 22, 1989 lost Romanian citizenship, as effect of facts they cannot be blamed of, or it has been annulled against their will, as well as their descendants till the second degree, the solicitation concerning the proof that the place of birth of the solicitor was situated on the territory of Romania has been eliminated” The solicitor’s actions for regaining Romanian citizenship should include now identity papers of the solicitor and those of his parent (grandparent) who was born on the territory of Romania, and Romanian and Moldovan criminal records etc. Over the past months, the Romanian Consulate in Chisinau deals with an avalanche of requests for regaining Romanian citizenship. During august alone, 100,000 requests were submitted. Recently, the Romanian Foreign Minister, Mihai Razvan Ungureanu declared that the number of Moldovans who received till present Romanian citizenship is low, because of the imperfections of the Law no. 21 of 1991. According to the same source, the Ministry of Justice from Bucharest will elaborate a new normative act which would regulate citizenship issues, which doesn’t mean though, that hundreds of thousands Moldovans will become Romanians. “Romanian citizenship is a privilege, not a right, and Romanian citizens should present concrete proofs of their attachment to Romania", also mentioned Mihai Razvan Ungureanu. Since 1991 till 2002 about 100,000 Romanian citizenships have been regained by persons from the R. of Moldova, and after 2002 - only 3200, as a consequence of introducing a stipulation providing for residence on the territory of Romania.