Sunday, January 13, 2008

Jews in Romania still citizens?

The new government, barely a fortnight old, has stripped the Romanian Jews of citizenship. The government is now run by poet Octavian Goga and A.C. Cuza, a theorist from the University of Iaşi. Both have strong far right politics and racial theories.

The Goga-Cuza government has passed a law aimed at reviewing criteria for citizenship (after it cast allegations that previous cabinets had allowed Ukrainian Jews to obtain it illegally). All Jews who had received citizenship in 1918-1919 to reapply for it (while providing a very short term in which this could be achieved - 20 days).

In the recent election, 25% of the vote went to Anti-Semitic political parties: the Totul pentru Ţară, the Iron Guard, and the National Christian Party. Both are considered extreme right-wing and very nationalist.