The Romanian Legislative Framework on Immigration

Abstract

This paper critically discusses the legal framework pertaining to the status of foreigners and migration and highlights several of the challenges related to adapting the existing legislation to the requirements imposed by the adhesion to the European Union and the need to incorporate the acquis into the national legislation. Statistics seem to demonstrate that emigration rather then immigration is (still) characteristic for nowadays Romania. This situation is likely to change in the near future. However, one cannot put too much emphasis on the importance of the accession of Romania to EU with regard to the external border of the Community. The defence of borders and the predominance of “security” over the protection of human rights, particularly those affecting nationals of third countries2, were inspiring not only the policies of the European Commission3 or regulations of the European Council4, but also the Romanian legislation. The following presentation attempts to demonstrate the high degree of harmonisation of the Romanian legislative framework with EU relevant acquis.