Naturalisation plans make EU and Russia anxious

Romanian President Traian Băsescu has announced on an official visit to the neighbouring Republic of Moldova plans for Moldovan applications for Romanian citizenship to be processed more speedily in future. The daily România Liberă comments: "In the coming years Traian Băsescu will continue to avail himself of the services of Moldovans who emigrate to the West for work, education and for setting up companies and make them a gift of Romanian passports. The president praises the fact that even the [so far anti-Western] ethnic Russians on the other side of the Pruth River make an effort to track down a grandmother who lived in [what used to be Romanian] Bessarabia in order to acquire a passport for the free, prosperous world of the West. Romania's veer towards its eastern neighbours is audacious, but tricky. This is why Traian Băsescu speaks only of the European colour which he wants to put Romania on track for, but even this elaborately-phrased message [of territorial expansion] has Moscow up in arms and raises questions in Brussels too."

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