Thanks to Moustafa Daly, IMI Cairo and Le Monde for the Headline
Fortunately Romania does not have a channel for people to cross in boats and look to gain Citizen rights in their Country. No newspaper headlines or promises of one to one exchanges.
They do however have a different problem caused by their descent laws.
As a remnant of border changes going back to 1918 ; territories which use to be part of the Kingdom of Romania that either due to conflict or as the result of the aftermath of World War Two; changed hands ; and are now either Russian satellites or indeed occupied by Russia.
The Kingdom of Romania’s territory between 1918 and 1940 included land that has now( under a Law passed in Romania in 1991), given the residents of those territories during that period the right to apply for Romanian Citizenship and subsequently entitlement to a Romanian Passport. Romania being part of the EU, this is a valuable asset to have. Giving freedom of travel and the ability to do business within Europe to the passport holder.
Hence , sometimes with the aid of crooked Romanian Officialdom, the addresses have been used of locations within “descent countries” and passports applied and given to Russian Nationals. The Romanian Authorities now estimate that over 18,700 citizens from the former Soviet republics have now registered under the “descent” criteria, with fake genealogy and using genuine addresses where they have never lived in order to obtain a Romanian passport.
I can’t help but wonder what was behind the “descent law ” that has been in operation since 1991, did Romania genuinely want some of the people they had lost back. Is there just simply not enough people in Romania and they thought that with a Romanian passport these people would choose to move back?
Sad to say , this admirable gesture has been abused by a criminal fraternity , advertising Romanian Citizenship for sale on the internet for thousands of euros, and in these instances the likelihood is that there is no benefit to Romania, indeed there may be harm.
Thankfully , the Romanian authorities have ascertained what has been happening and are now taking steps to prevent it , the” active citizens” did not appear in towns where they were registered and thus they are back to square one with their plan to embrace their population from the “Old Romanian Kingdom”
Namaste and Thank You for Reading. 🙏
thenotsomightyom 