Banning double citizenship widens gulf between Moldova and Transnistria

Roman Konoplev, editor of Lenta PMR, sees Moldova's double citizenship prohibition for public workers as a way to exclude PMR

CHISINAU (Tiraspol Times) - In Moldova, public officials and politicians will no longer be able to have double citizenship. This effectively prevents the entry of currently active politicians in Transdniestria from any influence in Moldova. It also widens the gulf between the two sides; making any chance of eventual unification an ever-more distant possibility, in the opinion of one wellknown political analyst.

Legislators in the Republic of Moldova passed this week an unprecedented bill forbidding citizens with double citizenship to hold seats in the government, the parliament or the state apparatus, according to Nezavissimaya Gazeta. In short, anyone with double citizenship is barred from state employment in Moldova.

In a country were almost two thirds of the population hold either Russian and or Romanian citizenship beside the Moldovan citizenship, such an action can be regarded as an attempt of the ruling party to defend the nation against influences from Romania or Russia.

Moldova separates itself from Pridnestrovie

Even more significantly, according to political analyst Roman Konoplev, the move widens the gulf between the two sides in the Moldova-Transdniestria conflict; Chisinau and Tiraspol.

" - This bill eliminates whatever positive tendencies the dialogue between Moldova and Pridnestrovie could have. The idea of the authors of this new law is to make Pridnestrovie and the Pridnestrovians illegal, and to exclude them from Moldovan politics. It is not a secret that most of our citizens have either Russian or the Ukrainian citizenships," says Roman Konoplev. The editor-in-chief of online news agency Lenta PMR explains why: "After the war for independence, for obvious reasons PMR's inhabitants didn’t consider it possible to become citizens of the country whose army caused atrocities here on our territory."

" - But now, Moldova has made one more step towards its separation from Pridnestrovie. Thus, in accordance with Moldovan legislation, those who live here but don't have a Moldovan passport are, de jure from the Moldovan point of view, considered “occupants” by Moldova. It means that anyone of us Pridnestrovians who hold other passports are now, in the eyes of the Moldovan authorities and law enforcement bodies, outside the law," says Konoplev.

" - So, Chisinau sends all us of a clear signal that their war against us is not over. The Moldovan authorities are laying the ground for future deportations," Roman Konoplev declared.

Opposition parties helpless against the law

In Moldova, local opposition parties were also worried about the way that the law excludes minorities and is discriminatory against those who don't follow the party line of Moldovan strongman Vladimir Voronin. Democratic Party leader Dumitru Diacov considers that the bill triggers the influences of the neighboring countries. In his opinion, quoted by the Russian publication, the situation is absurd because there are people who hold as many as four passports. He classifies the attempt a discrimination against national minorities.

Social Democratic leader, former PM Dumitru Branghis says that the draft is meant to discredit the opposition parties for the upcoming legislative elections in 2009 as many opposition MPs hold Romanian passports.

The opposition parties are helpless and can not stop the law from being passed, due to their limited power in Moldova's legislature. Under the guise of Moldovan nationalism, discriminatory laws have previously passed over the objections of Moldova's small democratic opposition.

"Gradual Romanization being pushed by authorities"

Two American members of the U.S. Peace Corps, Alex and Bathsheba, have first hand experience of the way that the government is pushing out Russian in favor of the forced replacement of Romanian.

They are both stationed in Drochia, located in the far north of Moldova about 3 hours bus ride from Chisinau. Like in other mixed communities, the rights of the Russian minority are being suppressed in favor of enforced Romanianization by the authories.

" - Drochia is predominantly Russian despite the gradual Romanization being pushed by non-communist district authorities," says one of the U.S. Peace Corps volunteers, Alex, directly from the scene.

The same in true in Chisinau, Moldova's capital, which used to be inhabited mostly by Russian-speakers. The city's mayor, Dorin Chirtoacă, came to national prominence when he led a campaign to ban billboards and other outdoor advertising with text written in Russian. He also moved to restrict freedom of expression by banning Russian-language TV spots from the airwaves.

" - We are treated as second class citizens," says a Russian speaker in Chisinau who fears for her safety if she gives her name publicly. "The authorities here want to ban the use of Russian from public life. And if they could, they would drive it underground."

Transdniestria (officially: Pridnestrovie, but also known under names such as Transnistria and Transdniester) declared independence in 1990 after a series of laws were passed in Moldova which discriminated against ethnic minorities. Today, 17 years later, little has changed: Moldova continues to pass discriminatory laws and Transdniestria continues seeking international recognition of its independence. (With info from HotNews)

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» Less than 10% seek to be citizens of Moldova