---
title: "Romania to review draft restricting citizenship restoration "
url: https://moldova1.md/p/88762/romania-to-review-draft-restricting-citizenship-restoration
published: 2026-10-27T18:35:25Z
language: en
author: "Dumitru Petruleac"
section: "Social"
source: moldova1.md
---

# Romania to review draft restricting citizenship restoration 

> Romanian Prime Minister Luca-Alexandru Niculescu announced on Tuesday he will examine a draft bill to bar descendants of former citizens from fast-track citizenship, promising consultations with Chisinau before taking any official action.

![](https://storage.moldova1.md/images/4fabd563-df97-4500-92cb-9d37ff43b778.jpg)

Romanian Prime Minister Luca-Alexandru Niculescu announced on Tuesday he will examine a draft bill to bar descendants of former citizens from fast-track citizenship, promising consultations with Chisinau before taking any official action.

The legislative initiative, registered in the Romanian Senate by 13 Social Democratic lawmakers, proposes amending articles 10 and 11 of the citizenship law to restrict repatriation rights exclusively to former passport holders. If passed, the measure would directly affect Moldovan nationals who claim Romanian nationality through parental or grandparental lineage.

**Consultations with Chisinau**

*“Parliament holds the right to legislative initiative, and we continue to support closer ties between Bucharest and Chisinau,”* Niculescu said in an interview with TVR Moldova during his official visit to the Moldovan capital. He emphasized that the current restoration mechanism has functioned for over 15 years and stated that the executive would address the matter upon returning to Bucharest.

Addressing questions regarding a potential union between Romania and Moldova, Niculescu noted that such a step depends entirely on the democratic will of the citizens in both states. He reaffirmed Bucharest's ongoing commitment to building infrastructure bridges and accelerating Moldova's path toward European integration.

**Backlog and anti-fraud investigations**

The authors of the bill argued that expanding citizenship rights to second- and third-generation descendants has overwhelmed administrative bodies. According to the document, roughly 85,000 foreign nationals regained Romanian citizenship between 1991 and 2002, while another 770,000 were approved from 2002 to 2024.

Lawmakers added that more than 150,000 applications remained pending at the National Authority for Citizenship in 2025. They also cited a December 2025 criminal probe by the Prosecutor General's Office into more than 900 fraudulent applications that allegedly utilized forged civil records under article 11 procedures.

**Support for European integration**

During his talks in Chisinau, Niculescu expressed hope that the final clusters in Moldova's European Union accession negotiations would open before the end of the year. He praised officials and technical teams for carrying the burden of accession reforms and urged perseverance on the domestic agenda.

The Romanian prime minister also reiterated Bucharest's readiness to assist Moldovan authorities in countering disinformation and developing joint cross-border infrastructure projects. The citizenship bill remains a legislative proposal and must undergo parliamentary committee debates and plenary votes before taking effect.

Translation by **Iurie Tataru**

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