On Thursday, President Klaus Iohannis informed the Constitutional Court about amendments to the citizenship law. More precisely, the president is challenging the amendments introduced by the parliamentarians, which allow foreign citizens who are married to a Romanian citizen to obtain Romanian citizenship if they have lived abroad for at least 10 years since their marriage.

“We believe that according to its normative content, the Law on Amendments to Article 8, Paragraph (1), Letter a) of the Law on Romanian Citizenship No. 21/1991 violates a number of constitutional principles and provisions,” the head of state said in a statement. .

The President notes that some articles lack “clarity and clarity, which contradicts the requirements of the Constitution.”

• “According to Art. 1 paragraph (1) of Law No. 21/1991, in its current form, “Romanian citizenship is the connection and affiliation of a natural person to the Romanian state.”
• In the case of the criticized law, referring to the requirements established by Art. 1 paragraph (5) of the Constitution, from the point of view of the quality of the law, we appreciate it The phrase “married and lived abroad with a Romanian citizen for at least 10 years since the marriage” lacks clarity and precision, which is contrary to constitutional requirements..
• From the content of the criticized norm, it is unclear whether this 10-year period should be continuous or not, especially with reference to the provisions of Art. 8 para. (3) from Law No. 21/1991.
• Legislative intervention on Art. 8 para. (1) lit. a) from Law No. 21/1991 does not correlate with the provisions of Art. 8 para. (3) from the same regulatory act (…) Thus, since Art. 8 para. (3) refer to the entire content of Art. 8 para. (1) lit. a), it becomes unclear to what extent the normative hypothesis – according to which a foreign citizen or a stateless person stays outside the territory of the Romanian state for a period of more than 6 months during a year, with the consequence of not accepting the corresponding year – will be compatible with the new legislative decision which provides for the placement of the applicant abroad for only 10 years from the moment of marriage.
• Taking into account the importance of the regulated area, the area reserved for the organic law according to Art. 5 para. (1) of the Constitution, the more it was necessary to clearly define all normative hypotheses and conditions under which Romanian citizenship can be obtained upon request, a laconic or vague norm contradicts Art. 1 paragraph (5) in terms of the quality of the law, referring to Art. 1 paragraph (3) and Art. 4 of the Constitution”, – it is also stated in the message of the KKR”, – the message of the president states.

A month ago, the Chamber of Deputies passed a bill initiated by the PSD that allows foreigners who do not live in Romania, but who have been married to Romanian citizens for at least 10 years, to obtain Romanian citizenship.

• Foreigners who have been married for 10 years to Romanian citizens will be able to obtain Romanian citizenship, even if they live outside the country