The Ministry of National Defense of Romania at the beginning of July published a bill to amend the law on the training of the population for defense. An amendment provides that the Romanians who are abroad will have 15 days to return to the country in case of war. In a response for RFE/RL’s Moldovan Service, the Ministry said that in accordance with the current legislation, the fulfillment of the military service is mandatory only for those who have the domicile in Romania. The bill is now under public consultations, IPN reports.
After the bill was published, a number of Russian language portals and forums in Moldova published news items and comments saying that the Moldovans with Romanian passports will be obliged to defend the interests of Romania and NATO with arms in their hand and will be jailed if they refuse. “The information and opinions made public in the Republic of Moldova, about so-called military obligations that will be introduced for the citizens of the Republic of Moldova who have the nationality of Romania, are based on speculations and interpretations of a bill that is at its initial phase with evident intentions to cause alarm,” the Ministry of National Defense of Romania told RFE/RL’s Moldovan Service.
The Ministry noted that in accordance with the current legislation, the military service should be mandatory done only by those who registered or restored their domicile in Romania. An article of the initial variant of the law adopted in 2006 provides that the Romanians who have dual or multiple citizenship do the military service when a state of siege, mobilization or war is declared, in accordance with the agreements signed by Romania and the given country. “The cooperation relations in the defense sector between Romania and the Republic of Moldova take into account the neutrality status of the neighboring country. (...) The two ministries of defense, of Romania and the Republic of Moldova, do not negotiate and do not intent to sign an agreement by which to regulate the given issue,” explained the Romanian institution.
A large part of the Moldovans who regained Romanian nationality do not have the domicile in Romania and hold only Romanian passports that enable them to travel freely and to work in the European Union. There are yet Moldovans who registered the domicile in Romania for obtaining Romanian identity cards for different reasons, such as the obtaining of the child benefit paid by the Romanian state, but they do not live at the address indicated in the identity card. It is known that hundreds or even thousands of Moldovans were illegally registered at one and the same domicile address in Romania.
It is not yet clear if the men from this category will be obliged to show up at the Romanian military centers in the region where they have the domicile. The final variant of the bill is expected to bring clarity in this regard. The final bill will be submitted to Parliament for consideration and adoption after it is approved by the Government. This will happen in autumn most probably as the Romanian MPs are on vacation.
According to data of 2021, the number of Moldovans with Romanian nationally has increased considerably the past 20 years to over 640,000 of Moldova’s population of 2.6 million.
