Having Romanian citizenship means having European citizenship, PNL nominees

“Today having Romanian citizenship means having European citizenship!” This slogan is used by Nicolae Dabija and Petre Roman who run for seats in the Romanian Parliament in the elections of November 30. Re-gaining the Romanian citizenship by all the Moldovan citizens on the basis of the international law is the first goal the two ones are willing to achieve, if elected by the Romanians from abroad in the Deputies Chamber and, respectively, in the Senate, Info-Prim Neo reports. Nominated by the National-Liberal Party (PNL) from Romania, Nicolae Dabija and Petre Roman made public their bid at a news conference in Chisinau on Thursday, Nov. 13. Easing the re-acquirement of Romanian citizenship by Moldovans is the key-item in the offers of other nominees, still Petre Roman says he was the forerunner of the process of granting citizenship. Petre Roman adds he wants to ease the usage of huge funds granted by the European Union for the benefit of the Romanians outside Romania, too. Nicolae Dabija introduces himself in an electoral leaflet as the president of the Romanians Democratic Forum from Moldova, “a non-governmental organization with over 250,000 members” and with offices in a number of countries. He wants Chisinau – “the second largest Romanian city in the world ” – to become “the capital of the Romanians from everywhere.” He explains this means a number of events held by Romanians from abroad should take place namely in the Moldovan capital. The two nominees say they have got the local support of the National-Liberal Party, of the European Action Movement, of Moldova Noastra Alliance and of the Ecologist Party. According to the new elections law of Romania, representatives of Romanians from abroad can also be elected in the Parliament on November 30. For this purpose, four uninominal colleges for the Deputies Chamber and two colleges for the Senate have been instituted, depending on geographic area. The votes of some 10 ,000 Romanian citizens from Basarabia – the estimate of Petre Roman, who is responsible for relations with the Romanians outside the country in the Romanian government – are desired by nominees of the most important three parties from Bucharest. PD-L nominated Eugen Tomac and Viorel Badea, the Social-Democratic Party -- Tudor Pantaru, and the National-Liberal Party -- Nicolae Dabija and Petre Roman.