romania revealed

"How not to run a country", says The Economist.

An unflattering picture of Romanian politics emerges from this article in The Economist. An excerpt:

IT LOOKED like April Fool's Day. On Tuesday lawmakers from Romania's ruling Democratic Liberal Party (PDL), including ministers, voted to slash VAT on food and eliminate income tax on pensions worth less than €500. It seemed an odd thing to do, given that the government had raised VAT to its current level only a few months earlier, as part of a deal with the IMF.

Oops. It was an "error", said the finance minister. The MPs had actually thought they were voting to scrap the two proposals. The PDL is now hoping that the president will not sign the bill into law, and is fast-tracking a new draft to "correct" the mistake. The government may also adopt an "emergency ordinance" to fix the problem.

But this latest blunder fits into a weary tradition of dysfunctional policy-making in Romania, where laws often appear to be drafted minutes before parliamentary votes with little thought to long-term strategy or financial impact.

A review of the Romanian government's structures drafted by the World Bank and seen by The Economist speaks of a "prevalence of ad-hoc decision making" and slams the "frequent use" of emergency ordinances that override approved parliamentary laws. Despite plans announced five years ago to measure results against plans, nothing of the sort has taken place, the document reads. There is also no prioritising of policies and "laws are commonly approved without adequate funding."

The review issues a series of recommendations on how to improve national decision-making. Such proposals are nothing new, says Alina Mungiu-Pippidi from the Hertie School of governance in Berlin.

"In the last decade, Romania received a lot of advice, technical assistance and funding to improve its policy formulation and implementation capacity", she says. "Romania's quality of governance might not have induced the 2009-2010 crisis, but it does seem increasingly that it contributed to its severity and duration."

Links on a theme: Industrial archaeology in Romania.

From the very beginning the term industrial archaeology was applied to the physical remains of the Industrial Revolution, although there was, and continues to be, a recognition that the industrial archaeology of the manufacturing process applies as much to neolithic stone axe quarries as to steam engine production. The early decades of the discipline were spent arguing as to which of these two intellectual strands would predominate. However, the decline of many of the classic 18th and 19th century industries in mid-20th century, and the growing recognition of the historic value of textile mills, iron works, and transport networks, led to a general acceptance that industrial archaeology meant the archaeology of the industrial revolution. (Source: Association for Industrial Archaeology)

Arheologie Industriala - Industrial Archaeology, the rusty remnants of communism.

Industrial Archaeology in Banatul Montan

The Virtual Museum of Industrial Archaeology

The International Committee for the Conservation of Industrial Heritage

European Textile Routes

"The role of industrial archaeology in conservation: The Resita area of the Romanian Carpathians", Nicolae Hillinger, Martin Olaru and David Turnock (GEO Journal Volume 55, Numbers 2-4, 607-630)

New whispers about military ties between Romania and Israel.

So maybe a helicopter crash is a little louder than a whisper. But the continuing whispers proved intriguing enough that I've taken to reading the Armenian exiles' newspaper articles to learn more about Romanian military alliances.

Romania, which after the end of the Cold War “changed sides” and joined NATO in recent years, has become one of the staunchest supporters of the United States in the alliance and enjoys very good political ties with Israel. Romania earlier this year made it clear that it actively wanted to join a U.S.-led collective missile defense system to counter potential missile threats from Iran.

The Israeli-Romanian military cooperation inadvertently became public when an Israeli heavy-lift military helicopter crashed in Romania’s Carpathian Mountains area in late July. Several Israeli soldiers were killed in the incident.

The helicopter, which probably crashed due to bad weather conditions, was a U.S.-made CH-53 Sea Stallion, called the Yasour by the Israelis. “One might wonder why an Israeli helicopter was in Romania in the first place. The answer is that every long-range Israeli Air Force operation today, wherever it may take place in the world, including in Israel, takes into consideration ‘third-sphere threats’ like Iran, which are far from Israel,” the Jerusalem Post, a top Israeli newspaper, said in an analysis published just after the July 26 accident.

“The Yasour helicopters in Romania this week, for example, flew nonstop from Israel and received midair refueling over Greece, something they do not get to do every day. That is why these training exercises are so important,” the Jerusalem Post said. “Israeli airspace is limited and flying in places like Romania, with lots of open spaces, also gives Israeli pilots the ability to train in new and unfamiliar terrain, especially mountainous areas similar to those in Lebanon.”

The Jerusalem Post also offered the explanations provided by Israeli officials at a memorial event:

Nehushtan said that Israeli airspace was relatively narrow, and expressed gratitude to those countries that opened their skies to Israeli planes. He was particularly appreciative of Romania, which had not only opened its skies, but also enabled Israeli air crews to undergo training exercises in Romanian airspace for several years. These exercises contributed to an ever-developing friendship between the two countries, added the IAF chief, and he noted the grief expressed by the Romanians following the crash.

A "friendship with benefits", as one might say here in the States. 

From the mouth of Isarescu.

Mugur Isarescu, the governor of the National Bank of Romania, has been quite vocal in his views lately. His vociferousness, on several occasions, is worthy of quotation:

"The Central Bank has to control market liquidity depending on the instruments at its disposal, playing a vital role in this sense. Technically speaking all those that keep commenting BNR actions based on exchange rate evolution alone are making a mistake. The National Bank is doing a good job; it manages to maintain the macro-level balance through liquidity control. The exchange rate is almost an obsession for Romanians and the mass-media is more or less doing its job but the public debate remains superficial." [Source]

Victor Lupu warned us earlier this year about the possibility of Isarescu's warnings being more than just political small-talk. If Isarescu's warnings turn out to be on target, then Lupu's warnings follow suit. I enjoy Victor Lupu's column- he is a sharp thinker at a time when sharpness has been reserved for fashion. 

"I do not believe that after the ongoing agreement is over Romania will still need another financial agreement with the IMF, because the IMF funding is for consolidating international reserves and boosting credibility abroad." {Source]

“Currently we are still in recession. But mixing up the recession with the crisis causes much trouble. Many of the above-mentioned solutions for getting out of the crisis make us go deeper into the crisis. We want to impart the public opinion this major idea: if we want to get out of the crisis by doing everything that was made in previous years and what made us encounter this difficulty means that we have learnt nothing. The solutions that have been suggested seem good in the short run. The trap of populism is threatening us, it is almost prevalent in the present-day public discourse and is exactly the road to hell equipped with good intentions.”  [Source]

He's right about the road to hell.

Variations on a theme which predicts resurgent populism.

Norman Manea is big in Spain.

Valentin Mandache on adobe townhouses in southeastern Romania.

The Fiterman family takes a corner in the healthcare market.

H & M comes to Romania. I predict droves.

Ozzy in Bucharest.

A flooded street in Braila and a conspicuous lack of press for Danube floods this year. Pars de cours?

Miss World Romania 2010 can't muster up a flattering dress?

The Interior Minister is getting antsy about "unauthorized protests".

Romanian folk art and folk treasures travel to San Diego.

“Romania is safer than the majority of European countries. A foreigner can easily live in Bucharest or any other city, without problems. Many criminals “work” abroad, because they find it easier to do their activities there and more profitable too. Plus, with all the good and bad things that it might have, Romanian police maintains a feeling of safety for people. I feel very comfortable living in Bucharest”. Sounding a tad defensive there, Ilia?

What happened to Romania's oil?

The latest Romania Oil & Gas Report from BMI forecasts that the country will account for 3.79% of Central and Eastern European (CEE) regional oil demand by 2014, while providing just 0.53% of supply. What a pity. You'd think Romania had enough oil to be self-sufficient. I wonder what regulatory or political stumbling blocks are preventing this oil from being drilled.