MIGRATION EFFECTS OF ROMANIA’S ACCESSION TO THE EU: THE CASE OF MOLDOVA

The paper aims to assess the main migration effects upon Romania following its accession to the EU, with a special focus on Moldova as Romania’s immediate neighbour and ENP partner state at the EU Eastern border. It relies on key findings drawn from current literature in the field, statistics provided by the Ministry of Interior and Administrative Reform of Romania, and personal interviews of the author with relevant authorities and experts both in Romania and Moldova. The paper surveys the major source areas and countries for irregular migration affecting Romania, the methods and routes used in irregular migration, various aspects of Romania’s visa policy towards Moldova, the main features of the process of regaining Romanian citizenship by Moldovan nationals and the most important characteristics of migration from Moldova to Romania. The paper also introduces a number of recommendations on regulating labour migration, combating irregular migration and organized crime, control procedures at border checkpoints, visa policy, and dissemination of information, whose aim is to help improve the migration policies of Romania, Moldova, and Ukraine as well as their cooperation from a cross-border perspective