Moldova.ORG -- “I am afraid that we excel the Romanian ethnicity level of the Republic of Moldova with the citizenships applications,” the President of Romania, Traian Basescu, declared in the “Pro Vest” TV show broadcasted on PRO TV.

Basescu considers the whole situation a paradox as the entire population of Romanian ethnicity from Moldova could request Romanian citizenship until the end of this year. According to the Romanian president, there are 500.000 Moldovan applications for Romanian citizenship until present time. As most of the Romanian citizenships are requested on behalf of some families, the Bucharest authorities have to deal with 800.000 individual cases.

“Probably this number will rise to 1.500.000 in 2007 from a total Moldovan population of 3.800.000,” the Romanian president said.
According to the statistics launched by the Government of Chisinau, the population of Moldova estimates 3.600.000 citizens. Actually, there are 3.800.000 citizens if the territory of Transnistria is being considered. Approximately two thirds of all the Moldovans are of Romanian ethnicity.

Basescu also declared that he explained the situation to the European commissioners. And, he told them that the Republic of Moldova needs a European perspective to enjoy the freedom to live and work in Romania without having the Romanian citizenship.

Romania now faces a labor force deficiency of 200.000 people, which could be easily filled by the Moldovans if Moldova becomes a European Union member, the president said.


Publication date: 06 February 2007   

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