Blog

Romanians in the UK – lobby for “amnesty for citizenship”

It’s been a while since we, at DOR – Romanian Diaspora,  we’ve been working with several organizations from Central and Eastern Europe. When the opportunity arose to participate in an online Q&A session with a member of parliament for one of Birmingham’s constituencies, we had a chat at DOR, and agreed who would take part and how, based on our availability. For me, it is the first session of this kind, from a longer series of events organized by the Central and Eastern European Citizens’ Forum, managed by the Polish Expat Association (PEA).

The meeting started on time and we found ourselves in a somewhat cosy setting. Or, as far as one can think a Zoom session broadcast live on Facebook could be deemed as “cosy”. We had prepared our questions, submitted by the few who found the courage to ask them, and posted them a few minutes before the meeting started. The discussion flowed naturally, in a chilled atmosphere. We raised our questions, summarising what we thought was relevant to the context and received open, interesting answers.

As a little recap, we are going to contact Jess Phillips and other people in similar positions in the UK, and discuss with them the possibility of “shadowing them” to  understand what their work is and how they do it, what challenges they are facing and how they solve them. This should help us understand what it means to be a Member of Parliament in the UK and how one can become an MP when coming from a Central and Eastern European community in the current context, with Brexit looming around the corner.

Another issue that we have addressed and that we want to understand is that of petitions. If in Romania, we have the opportunity to write a petition through organisations similar to 38 degrees or Avaaz, in the UK, anyone can create a petition on the government website allocated for this purpose. The site is a direct conduit between the citizen and the parliament. Depending on the number of signatures (the criteria are pre-established and apply to everyone, regardless of subject), the petition may end up being debated in the British Parliament. A fairly simple mechanism, transparent and available to anyone to put pressure on legislators in a direct way. Jess Phillips suggests an introduction to one of the people who run this site and who could explain the process and what legislative changes were needed for this site to be implemented in the UK.

The last issue we discussed was the representation of Romanians in Great Britain and the fact that, like the other Central and Eastern Europeans, the Romanian diaspora in the UK could be categorised as an “elite” (as the people from the Department of Romanians Everywhere, part of the Romanian government stated*). Considering that in Great Britain there are nearly 5000 medical staff of Romanian origin and, as a clear recognition of their merits and the contribution they have made to the UK, especially in the context of the pandemic, but not only, I submitted the proposal for free naturalization or “citizenship amnesty”. Similar initiatives, perhaps not on the same level, were successfully carried out in France, Italy and Spain in the 1990s and 2000s. The United Kingdom is proud of being at the forefront of innovations in many areas, so why not here? We have proposed that those who meet the criteria for British citizenship be able to receive it without tests and without costs of any kind (we think Michael Gove would agree). This step would be a solid insurance policy for the British government in terms of the NHS, among other things. And it would be a huge step that could contribute to the prestige and, perhaps, partial recovery of the damage caused by Brexit internationally.

We were also glad to hear that the question raised by Andra, from our DOR organisation: “how can my citizens support you so you can get things done,” is a novelty for Jess Phillips. The MP briefly explained to us how her office is organized and how important the contribution of the citizens is when a project is launched in the community. And, an important thing for us, she told us that she is pleasantly surprised that the question comes from the Romanian community and that it is the first time in her career when someone asked how they can help her.

Setting aside the way things went in the meeting (you can still watch it online on Facebook– in English), what struck me was the relaxed and simple way to approach the questions from the citizens which, it was very clear to all, haven’t necessarily got political experience and do not particularly understand where the role and responsibilities of a member of the British Parliament begin and end. We also enjoyed the openness Jess Phillips showed for each of us, representatives of migrant communities in the UK. 

As for us, we will continue our discussions with people involved in politics and social, for a better integration, the good of the community and, hopefully, by extension, the good of those in the established communities we live among in the UK. As we discover how things work, we’ll tell you.

What will you do?

*”The Romanian community in Great Britain has high professional qualifications, the vast majority of Romanian citizens occupying jobs in deficient sectors of the labor market (doctors, nurses, social workers) but also in areas that are not of interest to the local workforce (agriculture, construction, care homes). There is an important segment of elites: according to the estimates of a professional organization, over 2,000 Romanian doctors work in Great Britain. They are joined by a significant number of financial-banking specialists, artists, architects, professors, IT specialists and researchers.” – Department of Romanians Everywhere

Article by: Sorina Stallard, https://thefabulousworldoftrilulilu.com/

For Romanian, head to: https://ziare.com/stiri/eveniment/diaspora-din-marea-britanie-lobby-pentru-amnistie-pentru-cetatenie-1623701

Vot străinătate

Daca vrei să votezi, trebuie să te înregistrezi pe https:votstrainatate.ro

Simplu. Vocea ta, contează! În contextul #covid19, recomandăm înregistrarea pentru votul prin corespondență.

“Începând cu data de 1 aprilie 2020 și până la data expirării a cel mult 15 zile de la data începerii perioadei electorale.” – conform Autorităţii Electorale Permanente

#10august

ce semnificatie are data de 10 august pentru voi? sunteti la curent cu decizia DIICOT in legatura cu evenimentele din 10 august 2018? ce parere aveti despre aceasta decizie? unii dintre voi ne-ati scris intrebandu-ne daca se organizeaza un protest pe aceasta tema: este protestul in diaspora cea mai buna metoda pentru a adresa aceasta problema? lasati-ne comentariile voastre mai jos. multumim.

Comunicatul de pe pagina DIICOT:

Comunicat de presa 3 15.07.2020

“Prin ordonanța din data de 26.06.2020, procurorii Direcției de Investigare a Infracțiunilor de Criminalitate Organizată și Terorism au dispus următoarele:
1.    Clasarea cauzei sub aspectul săvârșirii, în forma tentativei, a infracțiunii de acțiuni împotriva ordinii constituționale;

2.    Declinarea competenței de efectuare a urmăririi penale sub aspectul săvârșirii infracțiunilor de purtare abuzivă, abuz în serviciu şi neglijenţă în serviciu constând în aceea că ”în data de 10.08.2018, începând cu ora 1800, cu ocazia mitingului organizat în zona Piaţa Victoriei din mun. Bucureşti, au avut loc incidente violente în care au fost implicate forţele de ordine din cadrul Jandarmeriei Române, în urma cărora a rezultat rănirea mai multor persoane”, în favoarea Parchetului de pe lângă Înalta Curte de Casaţie şi Justiţie – Secţia Parchetelor Militare.
3.    Clasarea cauzei sub aspectul săvârșirii de către suspecții maior CAZAN LAURENŢIU VALENTIN, comisar şef de poliţie CHIRICĂ MIHAI DAN, colonel CUCOŞ GHEORGHE SEBASTIAN și colonel SINDILE IONUŢ-CĂTĂLIN a infracțiunilor de abuz în serviciu, participaţie improprie la purtare abuzivă, participaţie improprie la fals intelectual participaţie improprie la uz de fals, complicitate la abuz în serviciu și complicitate la participaţie improprie la purtare abuzivă;
4.    În vederea aprecierii incidenței în cauza ce a format obiectul dosarului nr. 7475/P/2018 al Parchetului de pe lângă Judecătoria Sectorului 1 București a dispozițiilor art.335 Cod procedură penală, respectiv cu privire la extinderea urmăririi penale sub aspectul săvârșirii infracțiunii de participație improprie la lovire sau alte violențe prev. de art.52 alin.3 Cod penal cu referire la art.193 Cod penal, un exemplar al ordonanței a fost comunicat prim-procurorului acestei unități de parchet.

Comunicatul de presă integral se regăsește în fișierul atașat

Caught between #covid19 & #brexit

Thoughts on practical life issues for #Romanians in the UK (some may apply to #Europeans living in the UK or in Europe too)

New points-based immigration system is now coming into place with the government publishing a paper here. How will that impact Romanians living, working, studying in the UK? Stay tuned to find out…

With the current Covid-19 restrictions and previous lock-down conditions, the embassy and consulate as well as other public British or Romanian institutions have accumulated a significant backlog of cases they will have to go through before they can take up new cases. How will this impact Romanians requiring travel or who need to renew their ID documentation in view of the up and coming local and parliamentary elections in Romania? Stay tuned to find out…