New Citizenship Curbs Asked in Rumanian Parliament

A bill barring automatic citizenship to foreign women marrying Rumanian subjects was introduced in Parliament today by a group of anti-Semitic deputies headed by Dr. Octavius Goga.

The bill also would amend the Naturalizations Law of 1924 to grant Rumanian citizenship only to women whose husbands are “of Rumanian ethnic origin.” A clause provides that foreign wives of Jewish Rumanian citizens must reside in the country ten years before acquiring citizenship.

Before the amendments can be passed, however, they must be reviewed by the Legislative Council, comprising Rumania’s foremost legal experts. The Council has the right to veto laws it considers in violation of the constitution. Since the constitution does not discriminate between sections of the population on racial or other grounds, the council’s action on the amendments is expected with interest.

The Council meanwhile has been considering a bill, before Parliament since Dec. 17, which would order revision of citizenship lists in territories annexed after the World War.

The Council has recommended that Parliament defer voting on the bill until the Ministry of the Interior has submitted data proving it necessary. It further recommended that investigations of fraudulent naturalizations be conducted, with the ultimate decision on revocation being left to the courts.

A report published abroad that the Council had declared the bill unconstitutional were authoritatively denied.

Newspapers reported today that 3,000 persons, mostly Jews, in the city of Kishineff, Bessarabia, alone were marked for loss of citizen- ship. The reports said the city’s Jewish population was in a state of panic, since the revision commissions work secretly and none knows whether or not his citizenship is under scrutiny.