romania revealed

Jeffrey Miron's connection to Romania.

Albeit, a circumnavigating one but filled with promise nonetheless.

A human trafficking halfway house in Timisoara.

Photographer David Ellicson spent time in Timisoara for a few days documenting the critical work of Generatie Tanara for their American partner Not For Sale. Both nonprofits help Romanian victims of human trafficking. Generate Tanara runs a home in Timisoara where women can stay as long as they need to in a loving and supportive environment.

A multiethnic democracy?

Around 100 Csango people, members of a Hungarian ethnographic group living mostly in Moldavia, Romania, swore their oaths of allegiance to become Hungarian citizens in the Buda castle on Tuesday, as part of the celebrations commemorating the 163rd anniversary of the 1848-49 revolution and war of independence from Habsburg rule.

First district Mayor Tamas Gabor Nagy, of the ruling Fidesz-Christian Democratic alliance, said this was a historic moment for the Csango Hungarians. By taking up Hungarian citizenship, their century-long exclusion comes to an end, he added.

After the nearly 100 Csango people took their oaths, a Csango cultural festival started in the castle quarter.

[Source.]

Small renderings old and new about the latest Romanianisms.

An old Cyrillic inscription displays reverence for Basarb dynasty ruling in Wallachia.

A little essay on the Cioran Centennial (I'll reserve a post for this next week).

In 2008, the first foreign language edition of the New York Times Book Review was launched in Romania. Of course, Americans who did not know about Romania's vibrant literary scene were surprised. In a condescending way. I wonder how effectively the Review is competing with the amazing Cultural Observer, which I would like to see on the newsstands in the USA. 

The decline in Romanian billionaires.

Why didn't we hear more about Romania winning the 2010 World Cup in handball? Is ping pong next on the table?

Questions over property rights in the Danube Delta.

[Photo credit goes to abejorro's flickerstream for depicting the Czech village of Svata Helena in Romania.]

"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."

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.

Ghita Ionescu's legacy to Romanian history.

One of Ghita Ionescu's most critical contributions to Romanian and post-communist studies  was his emphasis on the academic study of "opposition" to political regimes. He founded a journal at LSE, Government and Opposition, which explored this topic in many countries which were communist-led at the time. He also wrote a book, Opposition: Past and Present of a Political Institution, with Isabel de Madariaga, emphasizing his view of opposition as a civil institution. 

At the time, the field of "Soviet Studies" still focused on analysis of formal government institutions under communist regimes, including the COMECON. Content analysis of party documents was all the rage. Professor Ghita ameliorated the study of communist regimes by introducing the test posed by opposition and its role in the evaluation and popular legitimacy of a political regime.

Certainly his association with Radio Free Europe played a role in his interest in the social phenomenon of political dissidence. In fact, Radio Free Europe would have been a pointless endeavor without the assumption that popular legitimacy remained critical to a communist regime's long-term hold on political power.

In fact, Ionescu believed that popular movements, as opposed to internal government reform, would eventually bring an end to the communist regimes in Eastern Europe. 

More links, information, and works influenced by Professor Ghita Ionescu:

• His obituary by John C. Campbell in The Independent
• Ionescu's books are available in Romanian from Humanitas
• Hlavacek, Petr and Holzer, Jan (2009) "Opposition in Non-Democratic Regimes: Notes on Possibilities and Limits of Current Theory," World Political Science Review: Vol. 5 : Iss. 1, Article 5.
• Cas Mudde, "Populism in Eastern Europe", Radio Free Europe, 8 March 2000.
• Robert Cutler, "Soviet Dissent Under Khruschev: An Analytical Study", utilizes Ionescu's opposition paradigm.
• Laura Radulescu, "An Intellectual Cleansing Which Never Took Place, Or How We Became What We Are"

Out of Harm's Way in Romania

Out of Harm's Way in Romania, originally uploaded by UNHCR.

Peaceful days and a safe environment is probably more than these Palestinian and Sudanese refugees expected when they were stuck in a desert camp in Iraq. Now they are recovering at a special transit centre in the Romanian city of Timisoara while their applications for resettlement in a third country are processed. Most people forced to flee their homes are escaping from violence or persecution, but some find themselves still in danger after arriving at their destination. UNHCR uses the centre in Romania to bring such people out of harm's way until they can be resettled. The Emergency Transit Centre (ETC) in Timisoara was opened in 2008. Another one will be formally opened in Humenné, Slovakia, within the coming weeks. The ETC provides shelter and respite for up to six months, during which time the evacuees can prepare for a new life overseas. They can attend language courses and cultural orientation classes.

Acuma: 25 things that make me smile about Romania right now.

1. Andrei and his Harley looking for friends in Constanta. Somebody show him some Harley hospitality, please. Or just direct him to Red Bull Romaniacs...
2. Razvan Vintilescu's razor-sharp blog is just that. He will cut all fools to the quick. And nothing makes me smile like crying fools.
3. The new US ambassador to Romania plans to focus his efforts on corruption and adoption. He won't be distracted by small-scale social problems like poverty, housing shortages, or disease.
4. But someone, apparently, still cares about the plight of Romanian canines. Janak has some dog biscuits for sale and all the profits go to Romanian dogs. Brigitte Bardot seems a little old for the young Janak, but you know, you can't dispute taste.
5. A blogger watching the Enescu Festival in Bucuresti, the fond voyeur.
6. The discussions surrounding Charging the Rhino keep getting hotter. J'aime bien.

   

7. Organic food carves its market niche in Eastern Europe. Finally, the granolas and the yippies can start planning their vacations to Romania.
8. Architecture & Mortality compares the Romanian and German experiences under communism from a somewhat removed perspective.
9. Meanwhile, Abhishek waxes poetic about the Danube Delta with the help of a postcard.
10. More school choice and decentralization in Romania? Or is this just a change in management protocol? Hard to say from here.
11. The Ukraine accuses Romania of breaching environmental obligations. On that note, a new legal publication is due soon on Romania v. Ukraine with respect to maritime delimitation rights in the Black Sea.
12. Hardiek "books a rest" in Bucuresti and reveals his limited capacity to engage a culture he can only superficially apprehend.
13. Six things about teaching English in Romania.
14. Banesa Forest, north of Bucuresti, gets a quick view.
15. UN rights experts warn of "impact" of Romanian migration trends. If I didn't know better, I might think they were talking about a swine flu epidemic. 
16. Romania gets its own Muslim TV station. Why not?
17. The University of Bucuresti. Because it's still there.
18. If you can ignore the terrible pronunciation, this video "A World Without Romania" is actually quite illuminating.
19. US auto giant, Ford, starts work at its new factory in Craiova.
20. Bovine anthrax in Romania? Or maybe just doom and gloom.
21. How to outsource Romania's maps.
22. Romania is the first country in history to win three Pomme d'Or Tourism awards in one year.
23. Looks like Romania might also be at the top of another list-- the list for top ten spammers in the world.
24. A day with Michael Shermer in Romania.
25. Great post about Ceausescu court poet Adrian Paunescu, which also deserves credit for the image you see above. Clever caption from Poor Mouth describes Paunescu, walking next to the Ceausescus, in the act of "dissent". The smile that just won't go away.

On the Romanian horizon.

+ An ancestor's assistant named Romania. 

+ The Italian ambassador is "forging new links between Romania and Italy". 

+ Meanwhile, four young Romanians are arrested in Italy for robbery.

+ President Basescu says he supports Israel and Palestine as "separate states". 

+ Over 3,000 Romanian Catholics protest the government's treatment in Bucharest.

+ Foreign currencies prove a profitable investment for the first half of 2009.

+ Mark Gitenstein is confirmed as the US ambassador to Romania.

+ Dr. James F. McGrath marvels over the rumor mills in Romania, while I marvel at his suggestions that Romania is a tribal society most akin to what one might find in North Africa. Granted, some Romanians put their stock in unusual and even silly beliefs, but more than half of Americans believed W. Bush bombed Iraq to save us from weapons of mass destruction. For even more silly, ridiculous American beliefs, take a little visit to the Fox News website.

+ CEOWorld has all the details on Nabucco, and the demise of Russia's energy monopoly.

+ Romania's car park renewal program, Rabla, offers opportunities for leasing and buying.

It's settled.

Unlike most Hollywood starlets, Romanians drink more beer than bottled water.

10 bits from Romania.

1. Romania and Vietnam are boosting economic ties, especially in the oil and gas sector.
2. Hunedoara Castle, the insider's Dracula deal, has opened to the public.
3. Richard Andrew Hall's latest post on the 1989 revolution.
4. President Basescu said that almost half of Romanians depend on some form of government aid.  He also said he thinks this is too much-- a statement which won't win him any popularity points with the pensioners.
5. The Romanian government increases gambling taxes. Is this because the government needs more revenue, or because they wish to discourage gambling in these economic doldrums? 
6. Moldovan President Voronin said he would lift visa restrictions for Romanians only after the EU lifts visa restrictions for Moldovans.  
7. Drug consumption is low among Romanian youths, but the country is part of the heroin transit route, according to 2009’s World Drug Report published Wednesday by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).
8. A senior official says Kazakhstan will not take part in the Nabucco pipeline project. 
9. An Australian journalist finds the Romanian capital to be "romantic". 
10. The Romanian National Vanguard News Agency, an "interesting" outlet for lack of a better word, looks at German World War II weapons with wonder.  This would not necessarily be a cause for concern if the ad to the right didn't claim that blonds were becoming extinct-- as if blonds weren't usually armed with a case of peroxide in Romania anyway.

The strange attractions of socialism: A roundtable worth re-visiting.

In October 2006, Horia Roman Patapievici moderated a roundtable on "Intellectuals and Socialism", which explored the attraction posed by socialist ideology to Western intellectuals and academics in the 20th century. Over one hundred invitees attended this event at the Institute for Romanian Culture, and the vitality of the discussion can be appreciated in the video below.  

Why did the traditionally skeptical intellectual class find itself seduced by promises of government's power to work for that lovely abstraction otherwise known as the Common Good? Why do we assume that the state can provide better solutions to human problems than the marketplace of goods and ideas? What did the experience of communism teach us about the effectiveness of the state in working for the Common Good? Among other interesting explorations at this event: the relationship between culture and the state, the meaningfulness of left-right distinctions, the possibility of libertarianism as a credible alternative, the unspoken etatism of the EU, and more.... Don't take my word for it. See for yourself. 

A word of thanks to my comrades at Liberalism.ro for keeping the fires burning.

Help Phillipe Legrain with his new book.

Phillipe Legrain doesn't believe that immigration is the cause of Europe's social and economic ills. In fact, Legrain makes the case that immigration, as experienced through globalization, might actually be a good thing. Currently working on a new book about the effects of globalization, Legrain will be examining the "risks to globalisation from the ongoing crisis (such as protectionism, nationalism and political extremism)" and try to find what needs to change in the global economy, as well as what doesn't need to change. 

Using a combination of first-hand reporting, economic and political analysis, and reasoned argument, Legrain is in the process of gathering the materials, examples, stories, and real-life data which will give life to his book. On his blog, Legrain makes a request which I think might be well-taken by some English-speaking Romanians: 

I'd be really grateful if you could suggest papers I should read, people I should talk to, and places I should visit. I'm particularly interested in hearing about people that the mainstream media often neglects. You may be able to point me to a small business in China whose exports have evaporated and whose migrant workers are going home, or to one that is prospering by taking on a new line of work. You may know Icelandic people who can relate how their lives have been turned upside down by the financial collapse. You may have connections to communities in Australia that until recently were booming by exporting to China, and drawing in lots of foreign workers as a result; how are they coping? You may know Mexicans who have gone home from the US, or Poles who have left the UK or Ireland, because of the recession. And amid all the gloom and despair, what new opportunities are emerging that could help build a better and fairer global economy? Or something else entirely. Please email me on mail AT philippelegrain DOT com I'll get back to you if I think there could be a fit. Thank you very much.

Take F.A. Hayek to heart on this one, and provide Legrain with a little local knowledge that he might not otherwise discover. In the meantime, I'll be scratching my own head for ideas.

On the ledger.

• President Basescu pays a visit to the Middle East and proclaims the end of Romanian troops' missions in Iraq. Romanian troops have  been stationed in Iraq since 2003. [Mediafax]
• Romania's ruling coalition parties score big in the EU parliament elections. [The Sofia Echo]
• Talks on the details of Romanian-Polish cooperation wrapped up, with PM Boc announcing a strategic bilateral partnership between Romania and Poland. [Financiarul]
• Hungarian minority leader Senator Marko Bela says he "voted for a Europe that would impose minorities' rights". [Mediafax]
• Tensions between Slovakia and Hungary flare just before the EU election vote. [EU Business] 
• How Congolese workers in Romania are treated. [Being African in Romania] 
• Yoshiko Chuma’s new 90-minute work, “Not About Romanian Cinema: Poonarc,” which opened in New York City this week. According to the critics, it is "a feast of beautiful and strange images and sounds".[New York Times] 
• Romania's former car czar explains what happens when the government nationalizes the automotive industry. [The LRC Blog]  
• Elena Basescu won a seat to the European Parliament running as an independent candidate, but now she feels ready to return to the warm fold of the Liberal Party. [Mediafax] 
• A blues band in Oradea makes a lasting impression. [Insights] 
• The International Literature Festival begins in Romania. [Balkan Travellers] 
• The Seductiveness of the Interval. [Art Daily] 
• Romania might soon have its very first Animal Police. [Seven Times] 
• Lifeguards at Mamaia and Constanta threaten to go on strike unless the government pays their overdue wages. [UPI] 
• 78% of Romanians did not bother to vote in the EU elections. Is this absenteeism a form of protest? [Power & Politics]  
• Rumor has it that Trajan's palace was discovered in Zavoi, Romania. [Bread and Circuses] [SCA Today]
• Romanian high school students win an award from NASA in an international competition. [HotNews] 

An update on the romance between Romania and Moldova.

The President of the Russian-Moldovan group, Moldovagaz, said there is a chance for the Russian gas company Gazprom to gain control over Moldovagaz actives through a judicial decision. This would mean Gazprom will take over Republic of Moldova’s gas pipes system. This could happen if Russia claims Transnistria’s debt for gas consumption. Gusev showed that Modova paid the entire 2008 gas bill, but without considering the Transnistrian consumption. Therefore, in the beginning of the current year, Molovagas debt to Gazprom amounted to 1.343 billion dollars, without the penalties. [Link.]

The president of the Commission for Investigation of the April 7 Events in Chisinau claims that there is no evidence to prove Romania’s involvement in April’s protests. His statements contradict incumbent Moldovan president Vladimir Voronin, who declared there was solid proof indicating Romania’s involvement in organising the violent events in Chisinau, Both the President of the Commission and the Prime-VP of Moldovan Parliament, communist Vladimir Turcanu,  sustains that the commission could not find anything palpable. Reports of several state institutions are currently being analysed. The European institutions and the opposition parties will name their delegates that will investigate alongside the commission before any decision is taken. Vladimir Vorononin declared for Russian radio Moldova’s Echo that "the results of the General Prosecutor's Office and of the special presidential commission demonstrate Romania’s involvement in organising the social unrest in Chisinau after the parliamentary elections". Voronin also suggested Romania could not have organised everything on its own. He pointed out that there have been used extremely advanced technology against the Republic of Moldova, saying that the day of April 7 saw the presidential and the Ministry of Internal Affairs servers attacked. "80 – 90% of these attacks came from Romania, but there were attacks from other countries as well", Voronin said. [Link.]

Romania exports a volkisch terrorist to Hungary.

A Romanian citizen from  Sambrias, Szasz Endre Istvan, was placed under preventive arrest for 30 days in Hungary, under charges of terrorism. Hungarian authorities describe Istvan as "part of a far-right movement that carried out attacks against socialist members of parliament." Police believe he was planning a bomb attack on the home of lawmaker Laszlo Esodi. For those unfamiliar with the current scene in Hungary, there have been a number of attacks by right-wing nationalists on liberal politicians. Istvan's name suggests he might be of Hungarian origin. If he was indeed planning such an attack, then he is part of an extreme nationalist movement in Hungary with irredentist claims to Transylvania. 

The Romanian attaché to the Ministry of Interior in Bucharest, Ioan Bente, says the Romanian was arrested on May 15 in Hungary, under charges of terrorism. He was wanted by the police under suspicion that he held suspect materials. Bente believes Istvan did not act alone:

"Some one month ago, the Hungarian police unfolded some raids following several attacks (...) There was an investigations, there was a circle of suspects and the trail led to the home of Szasz Endre Istvan, where authorities found various materials. He wasn’t arrested then. Police arrested him Friday (May 15), while he was in a house in Budapest. The second day, police and the prosecutor presented the case before the court with a proposition for 29-day preventive arrest. The judge allowed the request, thus he is now under preventive arrest for 30 days," Bente explained. 

Additional reasons to believe that Istvan was involved with Hungarian nationalist extremists can be found in a statement by Alin Serbanescu, spokesperson for the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Serbanescu told Mediafax "that the ministry has unfolded procedures for the identification of the citizen through the Romanian Embassy to Budapest, but Romanian authorities cannot intervene because the suspect has not issued a consular assistance request".

Sources: SE Times + Mediafax 

Romanian government keen on Iran.

The Vice-Speaker of Romania’s Chamber of Deputies Adrian Nastase underlined his country’s eagerness to expand relations with the Islamic Republic of Iran. Nastase made the remarks in a meeting with Director of Iranian Foreign Ministry’s Institute for Political and International Studies Seyed Rasoul Mousavi in Bucharest. 

As former Prime Minister, former Parliament Speaker and current President of Titulescu European Foundation, Nastase also urged expansion of relations between the two sides’ think thanks. He also stressed his enthusiasm for visiting Iran and giving lectures in the Iranian foreign ministry’s institute for political and international studies. 

Also during his stay in Bucharest, Rasoul Mousavi discussed bilateral ties and other issues of mutual interests in separate meetings with the President of the Romanian Science Academy, Director General of the Institute for European Studies, President of Romania’s Center of Euro-Asian Studies and Romanian foreign ministry’s Director General. Mousavi visited Romania to attend an energy confab in Bucharest last Tuesday dubbed as ‘New Interests for Safeguarding Basic Infrastructures’. 

During his address to the gathering, the Iranian official reiterated that Iran’s gas reserves play a strategic role in the security of the world energy. Mousavi also briefed participants about the volume of Iran’s oil and gas reserves and the Islamic Republic of Iran’s plans to transfer energy to the East through the Iran-Pakistan-India pipeline and the West through participation in different projects for transferring gas to Europe.

Source: Tehran Times.

Today's top ten list.

1. The complete list of castles from Romania, sorted by regions and towns.
2. Douglas Whitehead's bicycle trip through Romania leads him to Roma, Decebal, and "irascible" station masters. 
3. Foreign Minister Christian Diaconescu announced on Saturday that Romanian troops stationed in Iraq are "stretched to their limits". 
4. Piotr Kurek live at the Underground Festival. 
5. The Social Democrats in the Opposition asked that the Romanian government resign due to poor economic performance. Boy, this election promises to be a soap opera. 
6. Is wind energy the "way to Romanian energy independence"? Interested investors certainly think so.
7. Danny Sipos shares his interesting opinion and forecast on the Romanian presidential election horizon.
8. A recent video of a UFO sighting in Romania raises questions about the end of the Cold War, weeping icons, miracles, and secret military installations-- all signs of healthy democratic debate. 
9. A Ugandan newspaper reports that Moldovans "want their country off the map".  
10. The Masons are preparing for their 2009 reunion in Romania. Should be an interesting cast of characters.  

According to Google Trends, Romania does not exist.

Lacisoft tried to find some Google Trends in Romania, only to find that Romania doesn't quite exist in the world of Google. Despite the fact that I know a number of Romanians who work for Google...

The daily top 10 links on Romania.

1. Romanian oil-man Dinu Patriciu prefers Nabucco to South Stream, which is just another way of saying that the Nabucco pipeline will benefit more Romanian oil-men than Russian oil-men.


2. Morning in Moldova compares Russian and Romanian responses to the Moldovan crisis. I like the bias.


3. A report which was debated last night in a special session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe criticizes the Romanian authorities’ response in the context of tensions with the Republic of Moldova, assessing it as “inadequate and leading to even more tension.”


4. Ceausescu tried to kill Romania's vineyards, but Romanian wine seems to be coming back with a vengeance. In the US, you can purchase Romanian wines and "fruity merlots" at Whole Foods Markets.


5. According to a new EU study, Roma (or gypsies) feel least discriminated against in Romania. This is interesting given the EU's continuous warnings to the Romanian government about treatment of the Roma.


6. Mircea Geoana called for a major housing programme to create jobs and "bolster" Romania's flagging economy. I wonder if any construction moguls are financing his presidential campaign. If so, they should be happy with the way the money is talking.


7. David Berke comments on the future of Romanian film and its financing.


8. The swine flu tragedy, or the lack of swine flu as a tragedy, hits Arad. Alas, the immortal Romanian victim complex suffers another setback.


9. On the other hand, Romanians living in Spain can go ahead and panic. It's good for the soul.


10. The twentieth anniversary of International Roma Day is met with concern by Romanian Roma and trepidation by the international progressive community.

Romanian political sentiment moves against Basescu.

Romania News Watch (via Reuters) posted a bit of information that shows how the political landscape is developing with respect to the coming presidential election in Romania:

Public trust in Romanian President Traian Basescu and his centre-left prime minister has fallen sharply since the start of the year as the deepening economic crisis erodes politicians' popularity across the board. An opinion poll conducted nationwide by INSOMAR from March 26 to April 5 on 2,430 respondents for private television station Realitatea TV, showed that 53 percent of Romanians consider their country is heading in the wrong direction. "This opinion explains the rapid fall in trust," INSOMAR said, adding that 80 percent of respondents believe the new EU member is mired in an economic crisis and 55 percent said their families' financial situation had worsened this year.

The survey showed public trust in Basescu, the country's most popular politician, had fallen about 15 percentage points since January to around 43 percent. Trust in Prime Minister Emil Boc fell 22 points to 28 percent.

The only top politician to become more popular was opposition Liberal Party leader Crin Antonescu, who doubled his rating to 31 percent. Antonescu recently announced he would run for president in elections later this year.

Does this mean Romanian Liberals might be liberal again?

Over the weekend.

There was an earthquake, a shoot-out in Galati, and a sense of Euro-indifference mixing with diesel fuel to pollute the fresh city air. There are two Romanian movies selected for special viewing at Cannes. There are Transylvanian pioneers in psychotherapy. But are there Transylvanian pioneers in psychosis? Are the insane as pioneering as their treatments?

There are 50 people deemed to be the most important monde in the Romanian online industry. The short list below. The long list here.

1. Sergiu Biris - Founder of trilulilu.ro
2. Alexis Bonte - Co-Founder and CEO, eRepublik
3. Bogdana Butnar - MD & Head of Strategy, MRM Partners
4. Iulian Comanescu - Media Consultant
5. Marius Deak - Founder & Strategy Director, Green Pixel

There are the names and players competing in the battle over the national branding of Romania. There are many unhappy middle-aged people who purchased AC/DC tickets.

Criticalisms.

Some jokes remain "ungotten", which is why we have recording sessions. And Carpati.

The joke of the ballot box is a longtime laugh in modern representative democracies. Of course, the joke need not be lost on you merely because you are MIA. The generous Romanian Foreign Ministry announced that Romanian citizens who are temporarily out of the country can vote in the European elections in June 7, 2009. Polling sites will be available near embassies and consular offices.

Nicu Buculei is not happy with the results of Redhat's open source report for Romania. I'm just happy that he was kind enough to share it so we can all be a little less happy, if we so desire.

Basescu will push to put the Danuble Delta on the tourist agenda this year. Or perhaps he wishes to have a tete-a-tete with Ukranian President Yushenko, who recently declared that his country will consolidate both its economic and military interests in the Danube Delta.

It appears that some pensioners in Romania are abusing over-the-counter items in search of hallucinogenic heights. On that note, the Romanian Ministry of Health, together with the National Anti-Drug Agency and the Ministry of Agriculture, will "analyze the situation of products with hallucinogenic effect, those not included on the list of controlled substances, since in Romania there are now several shops selling such items". No more poppy-seed muffins....

Who's who in the 2009 Romanian elections: Part 1, The European Parliament.

Mark Percival makes an excellent point about the amorphousness of Romanian political parties. On the ominous side, the more things change, the more they remain the same. Percival laments the return on the National Salvation Front to Romanian politics:

..The PSD and PDL have combined, with members of the Hungarian Democratic Union of Romania (UDMR) settling for Secretary of State level positions after a standoff with PSD who said they did not want the Hungarian party to be in the government. The clock has effectively been turned back to the early 1990s, and the old National Salvation Front (FSN) has been revived. The Front was the successor of the Romanian Communist Party (PCR), and took over much of the PCR's infrastructure immediately after December 1989. Its leading figures such as Ion Iliescu and others were former second rank communists, and by gaining all the advantages of the old PCR infrastructure, made sure that the leadership change after the fall of the communist regime was limited, and that the positions of former high ranking officials was protected.

The Front used nationalism as a way to protect the position of former top communists, particularly in Transylvania, and the PSD's recent objections to UDMR presence in the government look like a throwback to those times. (Though UDMR is, itself, largely an evolution from ethnic Hungarian members of the Romanian Communist Party who enjoyed influence in the 1950s and early 1960s before Ceausescu embarked on a more nationalist line). In 1991, the Front broke into two factions. The first was the Democratic National Salvation Front (FDSN) led by Iliescu, which became the Romanian Party of Social Democracy (PDSR), the forerunner of today's PSD. The second was the National Salvation Front (FSN), which then became the Democratic Party (PD) and which after fusion with anti-Tariceanu liberals has become today's PDL. So today's PDL-PSD administration is a revival of the pre-1991 National Salvation Front.

It's hard to know who to vote for when no one believes in anything. Or when political pragmatism morphs into opportunism. Putting together a paper on the coming presidential election has been like asking for driving directions in a kindergarten class-- fruitless.

Here is what I have gathered thus far about the players in the coming EP elections:

2009 Elections to European Parliament

The 2009 European elections will take place on 4-7 June 2009, for the first time across all 27 member states of the European Union: including Romania, which joined in 2007. More than 375 million EU citizens will be called to elect 736 members of Parliament. So far, the Romanians candidates will be running for the 33 seats allotted to Romania in the Parliament.

Since a number of the candidates served as MEPs last year, Qvorum's report on the performance of Romanian MEPs in 2008-2009 provides relevant information. I've noted Qvorum's ratings as they apply to candidates listed above in italics. For information on what was considered in the compilation of these ratings, see Kosmopolito.

Social Democratic Party (PSD) is the ruling party. It has 15 candidates on the list so far.

1. Adrian Severin - current Minister of European Parliament, "Outstanding"
2. Rovana Plumb - current Minister of European Parliament, "Medium"
3. Ioan Mircea Pascu
4. Adriana Ticau - current Minister of European Parliament, "Outstanding"
5. Daciana Sarbu - current Minister of European Parliament, "Good"
6. Corina Cretu
7. Victor Bostinaru
8. Sabin Cutas
9. Catalin Sorin Ivan
10. Viorica Dancila
11. Minodora Cliveti
12. Aristide Roibu
13. Viorel Marian Dragomir
14. Marius Oprescu
15. As yet unannounced, some speculate the the PSD's final candidate will be Ioan Enciu.

The Democratic Liberal Party (PDL) is aiming for 14-15 mandates.

1. Theodor Stolojan -  first vice-president of the party and former prime minister
2. Monica Macovei - former Justice Minister
3. Cristian Preda -  known as an advisor to President Basescu and former foreign affairs minister
4. Traian Razvan Unguranu - a journalist and columnist
5. Marian Jean Marinescu - current Minister of European Parliament, "Outstanding"
6. Iosif Matula 
7. Sebastian Bodu 
8. Petru Luhan
9. Rares Niculescu
10. Oana Antonescu
11. Constantin Dumitriu
12. Dragos David
13. Elvira Andronescu
14. Irina Schrotter 
15. Alexandru Nazare

National Liberal Party (PNL) is aiming for 7 to 8 mandates.

1. Norica Nicolai - PNL vice president, confirmed to top the list
2. Adina Valean - current Minister of European Parliament, "Outstanding"
3. Renate Weber - a lawyer
4. Ramona Manescu - current Minister of European Parliament, "Good"
5. Cristian Busoi - current Minister of European Parliament
6. Ben-Oni Ardelean
7. Ovidiu Silaghi
8. Csibi Magor Imre
9. Catalin Turliuc
10. Cristian Cojocaru
11. Ionel Muscalu
12. Radu Surugiu
13. Radu Puscariu
14. Nechita Eduard Hellvig
15. Roberto Dietrich

The Hungarian Democratic Alliance (UDMR) and the national alliance of the Hungarians in Transylvania (CNMT) plan to win three mandates.

1. Laszlo Tokes - (CNMT) current Minister of European Parliament; "Bad"
2. Iuliu Winkler - (UDMR)
3. Sogor Csaba - (UDMR)
4. Szilagyi Zsolt - (CNMT)
5. Kovacs Peter - (UDMR)
6. Horvath Anna - (UDMR)

The Greater Romania Party (PRM) will hopefully not manage to secure any mandates. But Tudor will try anyway.

1. Corneliu Vadim Tudor - president of PRM
2. Gigi Becali - leader of New Generation Party (PNG), has been invited to join Tudor

Independent candidates

1. Elena Basescu - daughter of  president Traian Basescu, announced she managed to gather 200,000 signatures needed to run as an independent candidate for the EP and relinquished the support of PD-L

Source link.

10 for today.

1. Lots of Romanians spent the Easter holidays at Mamaia. Goran Bregovic joined them.
2. Claudia Ciobanu thinks the IMF loans are "dubious" at best.
3. The PSD calls for yadayadayada on citizenship laws because Mircea Geoana needs to get some press.
4. Bucharest Life corrects a plethora of mistakes made by the Independent in its coverage of Romania.
5. While almost 90% of Europeans are pessimistic by nature, only 58% of Europeans are pessimistic about the economic crisis, according to the latest Eurobarometer poll. Is a new European optimism on the rise?
6. The EC formally requested 5 billion euros to help "stabilize" Romania right now.
7. While Basescu refuses to recognize Kosovo's indepedence, Saudi Arabia has become the second Middle Eastern state to do so.
8. With the upcoming election, Basescu can't afford to look soft on corruption. So he tried a face-lift. Chief Inspector Ionel Georgescu has been appointed head of Romania’s General Anticorruption Department (DGA), replacing prosecutor Irinel Paun. 
9. The economic crisis is making Romanian goods "competitive". And those IMF loans are making everyone feel loved and special.
   
10. Romanian construction workers get creative.

Photo taken by Alexandru Florea.

The latest from Romania.

• 1 million Moldovans
• EP members affirm solidarity with Romania over Moldovan crisis 
• Boc says the liberals spent all the money
• US conservative lobby The Family Research Council urges Romania to keep incest & prostitution in dark rooms
• AIG goes neo-Romanian 
• Romania is supporting Serbia against Kosovo's independence in the world court 
• Cyprus is 5th among foreign investors in Romania 
• Three Romanians are arrested for double homicide in Italy 
• The EU is not happy with Romania's citizenship promise to Moldovans
• Neither is lawyer Ralf Grahn. 
• Princess Margarita celebrates her 60th birthday.
• Lebanese politician urges Romania to help reign in Israel.

A collection of non-culturally deterministic explanations of the Romanian transition.

I am wary of the overly-simplistic, culturally-determined arguments for the harshness and depth of the Romanian communist experiment. Those familiar with Romanian history know that the Orthodox Church plays a minor role in communism's ascent and maintenance of power in Romania. What really kept the communists in power was their ability to harness nationalism and the forces of history in the creation of a novel, indigenous, national-greatness communism whose vestiges pollute political discourse to the current day. Smug commentaries on Romanian political culture do not offer new frameworks for understanding the Romanian transition; they serve only to cement existing stereotypes and offer excuses for truly liberal scholarship.

What follows is a collection of resources which locate the challenges of the Romanian post-communist transition in something more sound than Samuel P. Huntington's overgeneralized framework.

I'll begin with Cheng Chen’s notable paper, “The Roots of Illiberal Nationalism in Romania: A Historical Institutionalist Analysis of the Leninist Legacy”, which traces the post-communist problems of resurgent Romanian nationalism to the period of Leninist nation-building in Romania. A number of the resources which follow reaffirm Chen's historical institutionalist approach. He notes:

The initial condition for Leninist nation-building in Romania could not be more ominous. Not only was there no indigenous revolution, but also nowhere in Eastern Europe, with the exception of Poland, was the Soviet role in imposing Leninism more open… Paradoxically, the regime’s inflexibility in adopting Leninism was intrinsically related to its extremely weak starting point and its non-Romanian and even anti-Romanian origin.

Chen chronicles the communist leadership's attempt to indigenize communism through appeals to Romanian nationalism.

J.F. Brown's Eastern Europe and Communist Rule examines the history of East European communism, distinguishing the foreignness of communist ideology to Romanian political movements.

Stefan Auer's paper, "Nationalism in Central Europe-- A Chance or a Threat for the Emerging Liberal Democratic Order?", critiques the assumption that Eastern Orthodoxy is inherently more illiberal than Roman Catholicism and Protestantism. Auer observers that Croatia, a predominantly Catholic country, has more serious and divisive problems with illiberal nationalism than Romania.

Katherine Verdery's National Ideology Under Socialism examines the "modes of control" implemented by the Ceausescu regime to keep internal dissent at bay.

Vladimir Tismaneanu's Reinventing Politics: Eastern Europe from Stalin to Havel is a wonderful example of thoughtful and thought-promoting scholarship on the postcommunist transitions.

Romanian anti-Semitism was encouraged and promoted by the Ceausescu cult's emphasis on the purely Romanian communism which replaced the foreign, Russian, and Jewish communism of the Pauker days. Contrary to its universalist creed, Romanian communism reinforced existing anti-Semitic impulses. Given that communist ideology lacked an indigenous following in Romania, many Romanians were able to blame "Others" for communism, particularly Russians and Jews. For an interesting perspective on Romanian anti-Semitism, read "Anti-Semitic Propaganda and Official Rhetoric Concerning the Judeo-Bolshevik Danger: Romanian Jews and Communism Between 1938-1944".

Juliana Geran Pilon's book, The Bloody Flag Post-Communist Nationalism in Eastern Europe, invokes a personal, incisive view of postcommunist nationalism in Eastern Europe with a special focus on Romania. As a Romanian Jewish emigre, Geran Pilon is particularly well-equipped to analyze social trends in Romania.

Daniel Fehrer's paper, "Long Lasting Legacy Dangerous Games and Dangerous Consequences, The Impact of Romanian National History Writing Under Ceausescu on Politics in Post-Communist Romania" is delightful and on-pointe.

Odds & Ends - The webpage dedicated to transdisciplinarity in science and religion provides a wealth of resources on Romanian transdisciplinary studies. The discussion of Daco-Roman theory as instituted by Gheorghiu-Dej at the Ancient Roman Forum is quite rich. The photo, Galati 2006, was taken by Jana Cavojska. I welcome any more suggestions to add to this list.

The ozone layer over Romania remains pristine.

Rita Cook describes the pleasures of roaming around Romania.

The Moldovan Secret Service planned the Chisinau protests. NSF, anyone?

What happened in Moldova according to the wise men of World Socialism.

Romanians in Boston hate to miss out on the fun.

Can a prince be a president?

A cinematic caravan leads to Transylvania.

AC/DC May 31st.

"Romania is not aware that it is a member of the EU and that it needs to respect some rules", Voronin declared. He underlined that Bucharest officials cannot give up their expansionist dreams and refuse to sign the borders treaty and the one related to the two countries' relations.

The EC is still working on it.

Student Valeriu Boboc died from police beatings on Sunday after taking part in the Chisinau protests.

Dan Dungaciu is a sociologist and for him, the protest is driven by individualism. "Moldova isn't ready to join the EU. Young people want to join it individually, by getting Romanian nationality."

Romanian government is losing the popularity contest.

Public trust in Romanian President Traian Basescu and his centre-left prime minister has fallen sharply since the start of the year as the deepening economic crisis erodes politicians' popularity across the board.

An opinion poll conducted nationwide by INSOMAR from March 26 to April 5 on 2,430 respondents for private television station Realitatea TV, showed that 53 percent of Romanians consider their country is heading in the wrong direction.

"This opinion explains the rapid fall in trust," INSOMAR said, adding that 80 percent of respondents believe the new EU member is mired in an economic crisis and 55 percent said their families' financial situation had worsened this year.

The survey showed public trust in Basescu, the country's most popular politician, had fallen about 15 percentage points since January to around 43 percent. Trust in Prime Minister Emil Boc fell 22 points to 28 percent.

The only top politician to become more popular was opposition Liberal Party leader Crin Antonescu, who doubled his rating to 31 percent. Antonescu recently announced he would run for president in elections later this year.

As the global crisis engulfs Europe, Romania has swung from being the fastest-growing EU economy to one of its most fragile, its private foreign-currency debt and a growing budget deficit exacerbating big external debts amid sour market sentiment.

For the rest, see Kiev Post.

Rolling around Romania.

Romanian lawmakers decided Wednesday to eliminate the article regarding harm to the fetus from the Criminal Code, but another article states that a 24-week old fetus is considered a person. + The euthanasia of a patient, on request, will be punishable by one to five years imprisonment, as the members of the Parliament subcommittee analyzing the legal codes reduced the prison terms proposed by the Romanian Ministry of Justice. +  Curtea de Arges Cathedral + Construction of the EU-supported gas pipeline project Nabucco will begin in 2011, according to Reinhard Mitschek, managing director of Nabucco Gas Pipeline International. In an interview with Dnevnik, Mitschek gave more details of the consortium's plans. +  Letea Forest ecosystem +  Romanian Foreign Minister's visit to Azerbaijan has been delayed by the Moldovan crisis. + Romanian industrial output is down. + Univelever wants to develop an ice cream market in Romania. + The second reactor of Romania's sole nuclear plant in southern Cernavoda was restarted Thursday and reached its nominal power at around GMT 1300, the state-owned nuclear energy producer Nuclearelectrica said. + Comments on corruption and catwalks.

Prince Radu is running for President.

According to Mediafax, Prince Radu Duda of Romania officially announced his candidacy for the presidency of Romania in a speech delivered Thursday evening at the Elisabeta Palace in Bucharest. He said he does not plan to restore monarchy and stressed he will run independently. I found a nice list of biographical info, which I've shared below.

Born the 7th of June 1960 in Iasi , Romania , as Radu Duda ; Husband of HRH The Princess Margarita of Romania ; Created Prince of Hohenzollern-Veringen (1999)

Graduate from the University of Drama and Film in Bucharest, 1984
Graduate from the National College of Defence in Romania, class of 2002
George C. Marshall College in Garmisch, Germany, 2003
John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, 2004 Program for Senior Executives in National and International Security

PhD candidate in Military Science, National Defence University in Bucharest
Romanian Army Lieutenant-Colonel (r)

Special Representative of the Romanian Government for Integration, Co-operation and Sustainable Development
Advisor to His Majesty King Michael I of Romania
Patron of the British-Romanian Chamber of Commerce
Member of the Board of Directors of "House of NATO" Association in Bucharest
Honorary Member of the Senate of "Aurel Vlaicu" University in Arad and of the University in Oradea (Romania)

Over 25 years of artistic career in Romania and in Europe , America , Asia and Africa . He was the Artistic Director of the first project in Romania of art therapy for abandoned children in orphanages. The project, founded in 1993, was developed in eight cities over six years.Prince Radu played a major role in the concept, planning and organisation of the official tours undertaken by His Majesty King Michael I in 1997 and 2002 for the integration of Romania in NATO. The King visited the United Kingdom , Norway , Belgium , Denmark , Spain , Luxembourg and The Netherlands, meeting with heads of state and government.
The Prince accompanied The King on most of these visits.

 Since 1997, Prince Radu has regularly accompanied The King on his visits and created the concept of the King's "Millennium Tour" in his country for the year 2000. In the company of his wife, Crown Princess Margarita, the Prince represents the Royal Family of Romania on various occasions.

The Prince is the author of "Dincolo de masca" - Bucharest 1997, "L'Âme du masque" - Brussels 1998, "Anne of Romania - A War, an Exile, a Life" - Bucharest 2000 (in Romanian) and 2002 (in English), "Michael of Romania - A Tribute" , San Francisco and Bucharest 2001, "Kildine" (translation into Romanian of the Fairy-tales book of Queen Marie of Romania), Bucharest 2003, "Seven" , Nemira Bucharest 2003, The Royal Family of Romania , Humanitas 2004. He lectures and makes speeches in Romania , Sweden , Finland , Austria , Japan , India , Lithuania , Hungary , Switzerland , Belgium , France , Ireland , Canada , Poland , the United States , Italy and the United Kingdom . Prince Radu appears regularly on TV and publishes articles in the written press in Romania , as well as in Europe and the United States .

He is currently the Special Representative of the Romanian Government for Integration, Co-operation and Sustainable Development.

• The Government of Romania took the decision to appoint Radu, Prince of Hohenzollern-Veringen as a Special Representative of the Government for Integration, Co-operation and Sustainable Development.
• In this capacity, HSH Prince Radu holds a Ministerial rank.
• This function does not mean any political involvement and has no political consequences, but has connection with the major interests of Romania . As a Special Representative of the Government for Integration, Co-operation and Sustainable Development, Radu, Prince of Hohenzollern-Veringen will undertake missions such as: to promote the image of Romania to the public opinion, mass media, intellectual and business milieu and to the politicians of the NATO countries, whose Parliaments should ratify Romania's membership into the Alliance; to promote Romania's integration into the European Union; to encourage foreign investment in Romania; to promote Romania's economic, commercial and business interests; to promote Romania's culture and history in a European context; steps to modernise Romanian educational system and to connect it to the European values; to promote projects of Sustainable Development; to promote democratic values to the Romanian public opinion;
• Radu, Prince of Hohenzollern-Veringen will keep his quality of Advisor to His Majesty Michael I and will continue to take part in his initiatives and actions supporting Romania's integration into NATO and the UE, as well as in all the others public engagements of the Royal Family.
• His activity will join the efforts of the Ministry of Integration, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and other central institutions working in the same field.
• The Office of the Special Representative of the Government for Integration, Co-operation and Sustainable Development will be established at Elisabeth Palace . The budget necessary to cover the exercise of his attributions will be provided from the Fund for the Promotion of Romania's Outside Image, on the base of the projects submitted to the approval of the Government, according to the legal regulations.

For more:

• Diana Mandache has the video of Prince Radu making his announcement.
• More on the announcement here.
• Prince Radu in California here.
• Prince Radu's blog is a great way to keep up with him.
• Prince Radu's libel case against British magazine.
• Wedding photos for Radu and Margarita.
• Accusations that Prince Radu has ties to former Securitate.
• Romerican on the royals.

Romanian news as the broken part of sunlight in a bright room.

Over 500 students have gathered in Cluj to burn things and torch road-blocks to their favorite future. The soft, warm scent of civil war and scorched flags is today's best import from neighbor, Moldova.

With every Mocanu arrested, a baba makes the sign of the cross and promises never to do laundry on Sunday again.

Romanian diplomatic goals are tossed, like the hair of a girl who wakes next to her lover, and tangled. Sunlight seeps through a screened window, the shadows motion in sign language. Batranete, haine grele because cotton is heavier than polyester, and now the grandchildren know more about technology and utopia than the gods.

Ambassadors are floated, the Danes wink your way, debates on education fill the forecast, and nobody wears sunglasses in bed although the light makes it hard to see the lover. And the lover makes it hard to see the light. So you focus on her hair, on the tangles somehow softer than her perfect skin. The morning sun bleaches the room, turns the lover into a saint, and tastes like a provocation.

What is going on in Moldova?

Moldovan "democratic-communist" President Voronin has called the protests in Moldova a "fascist coup d'etat", and he insists that the Moldovan government will defend the "integrity of the state" against this fascist ploy. To cease the moral highground, Voronin keeps barking that the protestors are not true "patriots". His statements remind me of President Iliescu and the National Salvation Front's statements before the miners were brought to town (not to mention the blather of President Bush after September 11th).

So far, there has been one death and at least 200 injuries as a result of the protests. Grenades, stones, tear gas, and storming of public buildings makes it clear that this revolution is the real deal. All websites in Moldova are currently inaccessible, and the television programs alternate between jazz and culture rather than providing any coverage on the protests. The Romanian Foreign Ministry has backed the EU's call for an end to violent in Moldova. The UN has also expressed concern. The Council of Europe is irked.

Reconstructing the course of events is complicated by the Moldovan government's shut-down of communications and broadcasting. Here is what has emerged so far (subject to future revisions, for sure):

The leaders of the Opposition in Chisinau negotiated on Tuesday afternoon with the head of Government, Zenaida Greciani, and with the president of the Communist Party, said the Unimedia.md executive manager, Dumitru Ciorici, for HotNews.ro. The Opposition is represented by Serafim Urecheanu, Vlad Filat and Mihai Ghimpu, leaders of the main parties - Liberals, Democrat Liberals and the "Our Moldova Alliance. The Opposition leaders repeatedly called for a new scrutiny. The Government also hosts several members of the foreign diplomacy in Moldova, the officials of foreign states expecting to discuss with the Opposition leaders as well.

The first round of negotiations between the Opposition and Vladimir Voronin ended in failure, without any clear understanding. The speaker of the Parliament, Marian Lupu, insisted that the protests are an attempted coup d’état, and he suggested that it may be inspired fueled by Romania. As a prove, he referred to the Romanian and the EU flags raised above the Parliament’s building earlier today.

AFP and Reuters reported that negotiations led to a decision to recount the votes, but Parliament speaker Marian Lupu says that the recount is a competence of the Electoral Commission, not of political parties. Vlad Filat, one of the leaders of the opposition in the Republic of Moldova, denied on Tuesday that a deal has been reached with the communist authorities regarding a recount of the votes in the Sunday general elections, according to AFP. He said authorities had yet to respond to opposition demands. Previously, an official of the Electoral Commission quoted by AFP said the Government and the Opposition reached a deal on Tuesday evening on a recount of the vote, but that it all depended on technical means.

Conspiracy theories abound, and true facts are in short supply. Valeriu Vulcan's report from the scene offers a play-by-play of what is happening outside the Parliament. A better play-by-play can be found in Romanian here. Also try Scraps of Moscow's post. If you didn't love Twitter before, you will heart it now.

Among the interesting, provocative, and disturbing things / theories being reported:

#1    The head of the CSI Relation commission in the Russian Duma, Aleksey Ostrovsky, believes that Moldovan authorities must end the protests in Chisinau, while still respecting the legal means, Interfax informs. The official claimed that the events in Chisinau are directly connected to the influence of foreign forces, including American ones, but mostly of Western specialized intelligence services. On his opinion, the Western states are unhappy with the neutrality status adopted by president Vladimir Voronin and intend to "cause changes, so that Moldova joins the Euro-Atlantic alliance". "An important aid comes from Romania, which intends to swallow Moldova and create a new state in the region", said Ostrovsky.

#2    Sociologist Dan Dugaciu lists the elements required for a succesful revolution in Moldova. He notes that the population is divided between the young, Western-minded thinkers and the older, Russo-leaning folks.

#3    Official Moldovan radio and TV stations have condemned the "hooligans". Boy, did they read straight from Iliescu's script or what?!

#4    The Romanian government, while supporting the EU position, added a few comments about the recent visa problems for Romanians trying to enter Moldova. The heat is on.

#5    Rumors abound that the Moldovan army is preparing to enter the fray. Seems like Romanians and Moldovans are brothers after all-- even their revolutions share the same script.

#6     On hand to observe and certify the elections, the OSCE has urged restraint and an end to the violence. The OSCE's preliminary findings on the process and legality of the Moldovan election are available here.

#7    Voronin has called on the West to restore order in Moldova. Always better to have the global democrats on your side.

#8    Russia congratulated Voronin on his election win. In a clear message of support, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev urged the country to stick to election law and to its constitution to solve the latest crisis. Yes, Moscow is still the master.

#9    The opposition was expected to win the Moldovan elections by many Moldovans.

#10   The Moldovan government has been guarding its borders in what almost seemed to be anticipation of such protests. Voronin suspects that the hand of the Romanian government is involved in this "fascist coup".

Flowers for Moldovan liberals.

Basescu hopes for a "strong EU-US relationship", the emphasis being on channeling Romania's interests through the EU and NATO, rather than continuing the unilateral relationships encouraged by the Bush administration. +  Nabucco is back on the map, much to Gazprom's chagrin. + Social Democratic leader Geoana reaffirms his commitment to playing dirty during in the presidential election as he launches into Basescu's family. + The Romanian press and the Japanese press, a lover's comparison. +  The Romanian government institutes a profit tax on losses-- not the best way to make the Romanian economy attractive to international investors in times of economic sluggishness. + Scholar Michael S. Radu passed away at 61. + A Romanian company, MBTechnology, won the most important award at the Geneva exhibition of inventions with its ROBOSCAN, a vehicle capable of scanning large lorries and trailers with no human intervention. + The three main opposition parties in Moldova are asking for a recount and accusing Voronin's government of fraud in the recent election which claimed victory fot the communists. Although pre-election polls seemed to predict a win for the communists, I confess to being suspicious, given Voronin's track record and the articulated feelings of young Moldovans who were sure the communists would not survive this election.

Lovely linkage.

• President Basescu declared that Romania "fully reached its goals" at the NATO summit. Whether he is saying this to avert a crisis of confidence or due to final negotiations is not yet clear.
• A Romanian ambassador visits a school in the United Kingdom.
• Romanian trade union are not happy with IMF loan condictions on labor. I'd be willing to bet a few chips that Geoana is taking note, as he attempts to secure labor unions in for his electoral constituency in the coming presidential election.
• Romania's political parties finished their lists of candidates for the European Parliament elections scheduled on June 7 and will hand them in to the Central Election Bureau now.
• Never stop the Europop? Elena Gheorghe and the Balkan Girls on video.
• A list of ethnic minorities currently residing in Romania.
• Hope about a non-Communist victory in the Moldovan elections no longer seems so strong. It looks like the new Molodvan government will have to choose between closer ties with Russia or the West.
• A Transylvanian student will represent Romania at the cartoon competition on EU and citizenship issues.
• Romania and Turkey signed a memorandum of understanding in Istanbul on April 3rd regarding Romania's participation in the Black Sea naval operation Harmony. The two countries will take part in the exercises, along with Ukraine and Russia.

What Romania wants from NATO and why they might not get it.

President Basescu is pushing for a NATO missile shield, which puts him at loggerheads with Russian leader Medvedev, who will try to convince Obama later this month that a NATO missile shield would be a mistake. It appears that Obama is already inclined to cut the defense spending budget; Gates is expected to announce major cuts in missile spending later this week.

As a particularly active member of the 25-nation NATO Alliance, the Romanian government played a significant role in the American war on terrorism under the Bush administration.Unfortunately, the Obama administration will not be impressed by Romania's willingness to do Bush's bidding in the Balkans. In fact, it might even make the current administration more skeptical of congruence between US and Romanian security interests.

Recently, Basescu's courtship of the Serbian government dove-tailed with statements made yesterday calling on NATO to maintain "political neutrality towards Kosovo". According to an article in Financiarul, Basescu stressed that Romania wants that the anniversary NATO summit "to continue to mention the Black Sea area as a region of interest and a strategic element of security within NATO security policies, keeping in this way the message sent in 2008, in Bucharest". Basescu admitted that security in the  Black Sea region is not possible without Russian cooperation:

"The cooperation with the Russian Federation, following the conflict with Georgia has been questioned. Our point of view is that the cooperation between NATO and the Russian Federation has to be resumed, and Romania is one of the most interested countries that this cooperation be unfolded on the basis of principles set previously, on pragmatic bases, but starting from the reality that the security of  the  Black Sea is  not possible  without the  commitment of  the  Russian Federation," explained president Basescu.

Basescu should be aware of the Obama administration's desire for rapprochement and cooperation with Russia. The Romanian government will need to weigh this desire against its security interests in a missile shield and a Black Sea security corridor. In order to influence US policy in the Balkans, the Romanian government will need to assume a larger role in the EU and cultivate a strong relationship with NATO's new chief, Danish Prime Minister Rasmussen.

To recap, Romania's strategic and economic interests in the NATO Alliance currently include (in no particular order):

1. Re-commitment to the Black Sea region as a strategic security interest (possibly involving energy security via the Nabucco pipeline).
2. Maintaining the commitment to protect energy infrastructure.
3. Maintaining commitments made by NATO on full coverage of the NATO territory by the anti-missile shield (including Romania and the Balkan area).
4. Encouragement of Montenegro and Bosnia in their attempts to join the Alliance.
5. Political neutrality with military engagement on the question of Kosovo's status.
6. Negotiation with Russia on a peripheral role in the Alliance.

For more on NATO, Romania, and the strategic playing field:

• "US-Russia ties on a new trajectory", Asia Times
• "Medvedev: Russia and US still have differences", Boston Globe
• "NATO allies pledge 5,000 troops to Afghanistan", CNN
• "In US, Europe a delicate political topic", AP
• "Obama, Medvedev agreed to disagree only on Georgia in G20" , New Europe
• "Obama: Threats to security, economy worldwide", Boston Herald

Homeless in Bucharest.

Bucharest Below Ground is a web documentary that introduces you to some of the 5,000 to 6,000 children living on and under the streets of Bucharest. Kobre Guide offers the following synopsis and background information:

This large-format audio slideshow by the Bombay Flying Club is a stark look at homelessness in Bucharest. The story examines the lives of several people who make their homes in abandoned heat and sewage pipes beneath the streets of this large, busy city. Marius Iordacha is a 31-year-old man who lives with his brother, mother and 5-year-old nephew in a hole crawling with rats and garbage. Iordacha’s neighbors are a group of young drug addicts, including Adam Andrei who says he has been sniffing glue for 15 years. An estimated 1500 people live this way in Bucharest with little means for improving their lives. This Dickensian scene represents Romania’s lost generation, and they all have strong stories to tell – about abuse, violence, economic disaster – in short, their secret and dark lives under the European capital. In addition to their voices, we also hear from Bogdan Bucico, who works for an NGO helping Romanian street children.  The package is composed of striking you-are-there black-and-white photographs, audio narratives, and stirring natural sounds of the city.

Bombay Flying Club was established in 2005 by two students at the Danish School of Journalism. Photojournalist Poul Madsen and journalist Frederik Hoelge decided to spend 6 months as interns with the Indian Express in Bombay. During the following months they regularly found themselves reporting local news stories from the airstrip at the original Bombay Flying Club. A few months later they won a national short-documentary film award and the Bombay Flying Club Production House was born. In 2006 photojournalists Henrik Kastenskov and Poul Madsen produced their first web documentary about a suicide spate in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Their story won a second place in Best of Photojournalism that year. They decided to join forces. The group then quit filming to concentrate on developing flash journalism for the web. Their mission? "To produce mind blowing and innovative interactive narratives. BFC wants to challenge the established media and to take photojournalism a huge step further."

For more on Romania's homeless:

• FEANTSA
• Relief Fund for Romania works specifically with homeless children.
• Casa Ioana
• "National Strategy to Prevent and Tackle Homelessness"
• New York Times review of the award-winning documentary, Children Underground.
• Hearts For Romania works with orphans as well as the needy.
• Eileen Kovchok's photos of homeless children and stray dogs in Bucharest.
• Survival Guide to Homelessness blog.

Today.

President Basescu can't imagine how East and Central Europe would thrive without NATO enlargement. Just in case the US or EU is considering downplaying NATO's role in collective security given Russia's recent anti-NATO comments. Oh, and for the record, Romania does not support protectionism-- especially protectionism originating in other countries which restricts Romanian grain markets on the continent.

Romanian private pensions are the only ones to make a profit in the region. Pensioners can start planning those parties now.

A beautiful tree hugger.

Bucharest hosted a summit for prosecutors-general from 112 countries and 16 international organizations on their role in criminal justice. The pictured attendee appears to be thrilled by the event.

The BBC maps the fall of communism in 1989 with this video.

Former Romanian ministers are officially charged in privatization corruption scandal.

The Romanian Foreign Minister calls on Moldova to "cease abuses against Romanians". The die keep rolling as tensions escalate in the neighboring Balkan states of Serbia and Kosovo.

Those dedicated to the care and treatment of HIV-positive children in Romania offer insight on the past few years.

Is Cluj a potential target for the next outsourcing boom? That might be a comfort to the 3,000 + Cluj residents who are currently unemployed.

One IMF expert thinks Bulgaria is in better shape to weather the economic crisis than Romania. That does not explain why a survey showed Bulgarians to be the unhappiest Europeans. 

Edward Lucas wants to talk about the Ruthenians. And he hope Balkan governments will listen. 

The EU tries to reassure Balkan nations that enlargement will continue. At some point. When Russia doesn't seem so tough.

The Romanian government plans a 4-year railway upgrade, which should also create more jobs.

Busteni in the snow.

[The photo is Our Land by Vlad Dumitrescu.]

The daily Romania list: What's quasi-hot, what amounts to naught, what brews on the horizon.

Matthew Hulbert thinks the EU's drop-scotch on the Nabucco pipeline should have been foreseen. He might be right, but I try to avoid historical cynicism as an explanatory method.

Diana Mandache shares a video of King Carol II and Magda Lupescu in exile, circa 1943.

Bukres Blog reveals the secrets of socialist mosaic in the fountains of Bucharest, and offers a view of Bucharest via the matchbox collection of Dorotea Momir.

A Romanian tenor leaves the fold, while Crin Antonescu agitates the dispossessed.

A Romanian family living in Michigan finds little truth to "the American dream" as they are deported. Acting Chief Counsel for the US Dept. of Homeland Security's office of Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Detroit Michael Dobson doesn't feel much sympathy for the family--"A fairly ordinary case... He's like the other 20 million walking around that aren't supposed to be here". Too bad a little diplomacy and human decency are not prerequisites for US government jobs. Mr. Dobson should be deported as well.

Romania works toward its prewar position as "the breadbasket of Europe", only this time, it will be the breadbasket of non-protectionist states like Pakistan. Being the "breadbasket" for failed states must suffice for now. 

Andrew Potter considers hell and healthcare in Romania.

Cardinal Martino is set to receive the Romanian Order of the Star, which is not as impressive as being inducted into Tepes' Order of the Dragon-- all flair is good flair.

Inczeklara wants to hold Margaret Thatcher as a model for Romanian women.

EC Spokesperson Mark Gray excels at spokes-person-like tasks as he speaks about the Romanian criminal and civil codes.

The shroom-maze pictured in this post was created by icecevici.

The Chinese government warns its citizens not to accept jobs in Romania or Poland.

The news in free verse, a list like any other.

The President of Serbia is visiting the President of Romania
armed with a suitcase of smiles and diplomatic emissions;
the President of Hungary demands an emotional refund
for the high cost of border patrol in the era of human rights.
The business of politics continues apace,

            one government sells rights to humans
to another government, who prefers mining rights, or rights to oil corridors, but
no one complains.                                 The grin is its own treaty.

Still there is always gold in Transylvania,
always a political gold mine with its stiff German architecture, superlative arts,
and language rights piled like blooms in a bouquet.

Romanians continue to stare longingly at Moldova, scuffing their shoes
on the bothers of borders. The elevators have stopped, now everyone has a motorcycle,
or an iron-clad excuse for leaving. The revolution still simmers,
a climax too long fore-played, any match in the hand of a Romanian conspires
to arson, any breeze to a hurricane, any mind to hacking NASA.
The leu lacks a gold standard, pegged instead
to the whims of governments, like the fushcia flower on an old lady's purse,
the overall picture inevitably kitsch.
Still, "Romania is hoping" and stacking delegations like poker chips
because the game must appear serious
and overly fun-tastic
to draw more players to a table in which the gains are garish
fuschia flowers.
Or maybe 220 hectares. Or love in new flavors. Or a bigger better broadband. A date with Dracula.

The sordid excitement of demographics offer a dull edge to this post-planned economy, sharp enough only to mangle without maiming.The ground is wet with a possible spring, the expressions have a "preemptive character". A dream tinged with tuica is "subprime territory". The national mood masquerades around the potential for junk, and identity wraps itself around prospects for pipelines.
                                                            Hope is now officially more grotesque than potholes.

If you have a hankering for economic charts...

Then Steffen Heringhaus has a surprise for you. He has been living in Romania for the past six months, learning about Romanian culture, and putting together a wonderful website called Romania Central, which leans economic. Apart from the website, Heringhaus has been drawing his own conclusions about Romania and Romanians at his blog; some are less flattering than others. Heringhaus observes:

"Romanians are always eager to criticize themselves and their country in the sharpest ways, but on the other hand, they do not like it at all if strangers do so. When it comes to international relations Romanians are very proud of their country and their ethnic heritage, which they consider to be a unique miracle in history."

Uh-oh. Heringhaus does not seem to buy the "unique miracle" school of Romanian history.

"The story goes somehow like this: Some 2000 years ago there were living the Dacians in these regions, strong and proud people, though occupied by the Romans, which conquered Dacia Felix for being beautiful and rich of mineral resources (Gold!). After great and glorious battles the Dacians got romanized, mixed with the large bulk of Italians (actually, still Romans then) which flooded Dacia Felix (Lucky Dacia - the ancient Roman name for the province) in a big rush to gain a better life, and finally: the outcome were the Romanians: The first and single Christian born nation on earth and in history – which resisted the next 2000 years as an island in a oceans of Slavic nations, keeping their very Roman identity and culture and still full of Dacian virtues.

On the other hand, one could be confused by the fact that history does not know anything about Romania and Romanians until the early 12th century and that the Romanian states which emerged during the 13th and 14th century used the Slavic alphabet (until a reform in the 19th century). The Romanians themselves are less confused about that issue and celebrated in 1984 »2000 years of statehood«."

Alas, the sarcasm is deafening-- though I would certainly understand Heringhaus' historical skepticism if he hails from Germany, since German history is quite shameful and unforgettable. On the other hand, Heringhaus does seem to find a few bright specks to life in Romania:

However, you should know; it is not that bad here. We are not using horse-chariots, but cars (though the streets often suck) in daily life and I did not even know when I have seen the last time such a thing (but on pictures). Smoke signals are by no means a popular measure of communication, but cell phones are cool and a must have. My internet connections here (WAP, UMTS and Cable) are even better than I was used from in Germany.

And to answer the question how I came here: By plane. Romania has plenty of airports and even nice ones. Currently, I work for a domestic online agency here, I really like that shit and enjoy learning some things about the country (or state of emergency) my grandma came from.

Good to know. I should note that Germans always seem to have a harder time in Romania than, say, Italians. Must be the weather.

The Nabucco project still rankles Romanian leaders.

The Romanian government continues to lobby the EU for the Nabucco pipeline project. Granted, the Romanian government is swimming in loans and bailout plans at the moment, which does not provide any political or economic leverage to push the matter. The EU subsumed funding for the Nabucco pipeline under a broad, open category including the "Southern corridor". As such, there is no guarantee for the Nabucco pipeline, which makes it difficult for the Romanian government to attract investors.

The EU decision affects other countries as well. Kazakhstan, whose investors are primary holders in Rompetrol, was hoping to use Romania as "a potential bridgehead to Europe". Kazakh diplomat Kairat Aman was quite forthcoming in a recent interview with Bucharest Business Week:

While indicating that there are 11 Kazakh companies registered in Romania, the Charge d'Affaires specified that the volume of investment from Kazakhstan amounted to around 63.2 million USD in 2008. At the same time, the bilateral trade totaled some 3.5 billion USD. On this note, Aman said that KazMunayGaz is the most important Kazakh investor in Romania, following its acquisition of a 75 per cent stake in Rompetrol. "I believe the technology, expertise and know-how that these two companies possess will help them achieve positive results. There are great prospects for development. For Kazakhstan this is one of the major gateways to Europe," said the diplomat, while suggesting that Romania represented an opportunity for his country, as it intends to access the EU markets. In addition, he also said that Kazakhstan and Romania had a lot to learn from each other, especially in the energy sector. "Considering that Romania has plans to develop its green energy sector and Kazakhstan is a very important worldwide player in the oil industry, our countries can definitely continue exchanging know-how. Unfortunately, the international context prohibits economic expansion, but I believe that when the crisis is over, a stage which according to analysts could be reached in 2010, the bilateral relations will resume their development at an impressive pace." Adding that Kazakhstan may also invest in Romania's agriculture sector, the diplomat said that Romania, unlike many other countries, can overcome the financial crisis relatively easy due to its great potential. "Romania may face recession, but in this context all markets are crashing. Moreover, there are many things to be done in this country, which could boost the local economy," said Kariat Aman.

Meanwhile, Putin continues to flash his teeth at the EU where pipelines that don't lead to Russia are concerned.

[The photo of a Bucharest subway was taken by Nikolai Yotoff.]

Notes for the daily margins.

Mircea Vasilescu, editor of Dilema Veche, shares his views on the conflict between editorial freedom and the demands of the marketplace in current Romanian journalism. 

It is easy to complain about the quality of the press in Romania, we all do it all the time, journalists, managers, readers. In the logic of lamentations and of our inferiority complex, we can say not only that "we don't have a Le Monde", but also that our tabloids are worse than the German Bild or the UK Sun. But the quality of the press overall depends on its relationship to the quality press, which addresses itself to a public somewhat more sophisticated in taste, but with ideas and opinions that matter to society. In this sector, the winning party will be those managers who have the patience over at least two or three years to find a formula that is sufficiently intelligent to deliver quality newspapers and journals to a waiting public. Something that demands not arid disputes but creative harmony between journalists and managers.

Metal-heads might appreciate this video of an interview with Samael's Vorph at a club in Cluj.

A Romanian doctor is suspended in the UK for what seems to be "racism", though it verges on "speciesism". Complicated, no doubt.

A robot for Romania was not in the IMF's bailout plan.

Those with a little extra cash in these sour times might find A guide to Romanian property investment useful right now.

The Italian construction firm, Mixer, has plans in Romania. And targets, too.

20 billion euros in rescue loans.

Virginity doesn't seem to have a high price these days. At least, not on the international marriage market.

Romania opens an emergency refugee center for, well, emergency refugees. I wonder if Roma are welcome..

[Photo by Cristina Birladeanu.]

Top 13 in and about Romania and Romanians today.

1. The Buckhead Church went a mission trip to minister to the ski slopes in Romania.
2. The "spring of coffee-houses" begins in Cluj.
3. Billboards might make up less of the scenery in  Bucharest. 
4. Foto Fangen continues its photo dialogue.
   
5. Geoana urges rapid changes to the budget as the dark cloud of recession gives him a profound headache.
   
6. Constantini brings the hot and heavy back to Romanian football.
7. Romania and Bulgaria eye the Indian wine market for comparative advantage.
   
8. Turks and Bechtel are not finding themselves as welcome in Transylvania right now.
   
9. Basescu's daughter decides that being daddy's girl might not be the best election platform after all.
   
10. GE will supply turbines for Romanian windfarms.
11. Boc is trying to get medicines for pensioners subsidized.
    
12. Al-Ghazi, a Lebanese man arrested in Romania with the assistance of the Romanian government, was found guilty of agreeing to sell weapons to leftist narco-guerillas in Colombia by an American court of law. 
13. The Last Sunset by Sechel Sergiu is the last on the list.
    

Romania's relations with Ukraine sour.

Since Romania's relations with Hungary are currently on the rocks, it does not help that Romania and Ukraine can't seem to get along either. According to an article released by the Jamestown Foundation, Ukraine, the non-NATO member with the greatest level of cooperation with NATO, expelled two diplomats of NATO-member Romania. The diplomats were expelled after the Ukrainian government levied accusations of supporting separatists and damaging the Ukraine's reputation with the NATO alliance.

Taras Kuzio fills in the details:

The expelled diplomat and military attaché lived in the Romanian Consulate in Chernivtsi, the capital of the oblast of the same name, in the Northern Bukovina region annexed from Romania by the USSR in 1945. A visit by Romanian President Traian Basescu to Ukraine scheduled for February 24 and 25 was put off indefinitely. Basescu had planned to visit the Romanian minority in Chernivtsi Oblast, Ukrainian sources believed, so that he could establish his nationalist credentials and proclaim in his election campaign that he was a "collector of Romanian lands".

Two Ukrainian diplomats were also expelled from Bucharest. This was fourth time a country had expelled Ukrainian diplomats since 1991 (the three earlier cases were from Canada, Russia, and Georgia). The Ukrainian military attaché was alleged to have been purchasing military secrets from Petar Zikulov, a Bulgarian who had ties to Florizel Akimom, an officer in the Romanian Ministry of Defense.

The official Ukrainian statement accused the Romanian diplomats of having propagated "unionist and separatist feelings" among the Romanian minority. The Romanian diplomats also allegedly financed civic organizations and cultural societies that "propagate anti-Ukrainian ideas".

Romanian diplomats also agitated among Romanian civic organizations to support calls to establish an autonomous ethnic Romanian region in Chernivtsi Oblast. Ukraine has always ruled out creating any autonomous entities outside of the Crimea, and the issue of autonomy is quite sensitive.

A more nebulous Ukrainian charge was that the Romanian diplomats had propagated a picture of the Ukrainian authorities that "discredited our country in the world arena". In the last four years, President Viktor Yushchenko has not required any Romanian assistance in discrediting himself and the Orange Revolution. As Zerkalo Nedeli (March 7-13) pointed out, the doors to NATO for Ukraine will remain closed for some years, and "we have discredited ourselves far better than any Romanians could have accomplished."

Segodnya (March 6) wrote that the Romanian aim was to establish an image of Ukraine in the EU and NATO as a country "that undertakes espionage activity against NATO members." Bucharest is aware that the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry has greater maneuverability for adopting a tough line toward Romania than it has toward Russia.

Romanian-Ukrainian relations have never been particularly good for five reasons. First, Romanian irredentist nationalism has traditionally permeated Romania's entire political spectrum. Extreme nationalists, for example, aligned themselves with the post-communist social democrats who ruled the country in the 1990s. Romania joined Russia in 1997 as the last of Ukraine's neighbors to recognize Ukrainian borders.

Second, Ukraine and Romania have never given priority to improving their relations. Ukraine has focused on Slavic Poland and the three Baltic states, dealt as best it could with Russia, was rebuffed by the EU, and prioritized relations with the United States. Romania has focused exclusively on relations with the West, that is, joining NATO and the EU, while turning its back on its eastern neighbors.

Third, Romania condemns Ukraine's policy of defining Moldovans in its censuses as an ethnic group distinct from Romanians. This issue is intimately bound up with Moldova's status and Ukraine's historical relationship with the Trans-Dniestr separatist enclave, which was the Moldovan Autonomous Republic in the interwar Soviet Ukraine. The Moldovan Soviet Socialist Republic was the only Soviet republic (aside from Ukraine) with a larger population of ethnic Ukrainians than ethnic Russians.

Fourth, during Leonid Kuchma's presidency, Ukraine began building a canal on the Danube that Romania opposed. Kuchma opened the first part of the canal on August 26, 2004, with the words, "I give the command to restore navigation in the Ukrainian part of the Danube Delta" (see EDM September 9, 2004). The EU added its critical voice to the building of the canal in the registered 70,000-hectare UNESCO World Heritage Site. In the Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in a Transboundary Context, issued by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, members are required to notify and consult with each other on projects such as the Ukrainian Danube canal.

Fifth, territorial conflict over Serpents Island and its territorial waters was only resolved in February in Romania's favor, after a five-year investigation by the International Court of Justice. The ruling equally divided the maritime zone without taking into account the existence of an island. Romania has consistently argued that the island was not mentioned in the 1947 border treaty between Romania and the USSR. The Ukrainian-Romanian dispute over Serpents Island centered on the delimitation of its shelf and the exclusive economic zones between Romania and Ukraine. If the island were to be recognized as an island, then the surrounding shelf would be considered Ukrainian waters. If it were not defined as an island (as the February ruling concluded), the maritime boundary between Romania and Ukraine would then simply ignore the island. Another area of contention was Chernivtsi Oblast (formerly Northern Bukovina), which has a Ukrainian majority and a Romanian/Moldovan minority.

Relations between Romania and Ukraine were already poor before the spy scandal. In an unusual move, Ukraine made the spy affair public and has used the occasion to condemn Romania's support for separatism, which is always a sensitive issue in Kyiv. Romania has not made similar accusations of Ukraine's committing espionage or supporting separatism. Neither country will go so far as to recall ambassadors, but relations will decline to a very low level, thereby losing Ukraine a potential ally in its goal of seeking NATO and EU membership. The Polish, Hungarian, and Czech ambassadors have advised Ukraine that joining NATO would require "political stability" and the "regulation of joint questions with [its] neighbors".

On the brighter side,  the Polish government stuck out its neck for Romania and defied Germany over the Nabucco pipeline project, which the EU has shelved.

The Hungarian Foreign Ministry takes the Romanian government to task.

It seems that the landing rights refusal drama has moved from the ranks of mere drama to melodrama and now to policy drama. The Hungarian government is upset, which, of course, is completely unrelated to the new relationship they are nurturing with Russia. Alas, the potential for political nastiness is always present.

Here is the full text from the Hungarian Foreign Ministry's press release today:

The Foreign Ministry of the Republic of Hungary is pleased to note that the commemorations of the anniversary of the 1848/49 Hungarian revolution by ethnic Hungarians in Romania, attended by the President of the Republic of Hungary, were held in a solemn and dignified manner, without any disruptions, on March 14, 2009.

However the presidential visit originally planned for March 15 was put in jeopardy because the Romanian side cancelled the flight clearance and landing permit of the president's aircraft, despite the fact that the Hungarian side had submitted an official notification of the visit in due time and in an appropriate form to the Romanian Foreign Ministry, asking for co-operation with regard to the technicalities. The Foreign Ministry at the same time acknowledges that the Romanian police in the end did co-operate in securing a free road passage for the president’s convoy.

President Sólyom’s visit to Romania is an important element of strategic co-operation between Hungary and Romania, who are both EU partners and NATO allies, and it served not to hinder but to strengthen the partnership. To question these intentions contravenes the development of relations based on partnership, and is therefore unacceptable.

Romania’s response to the president’s visit departed from the spirit of bilateral relations, which has been developing recently. Hungary is determined to further enhance these relations and to efficiently prepare the 5th joint Hungarian-Romanian government session envisaged for the second half of the year. It is convinced that the common need for modernisation unites their countries, as do bilateral and EU infrastructure and regional development projects, as well as joint responsibilities for the region’s security and development in an Atlantic and European Union framework.

The communities of Romanians living in Hungary and Hungarians in Romania also create a link between the two countries. There are several approaches in European and international law to implementing the rights of national minorities, but we are aware of the fact that it is in our mutual interest to adopt solutions through which these rights can be exercised at the highest level, contributing to the creation and advancement of an atmosphere of understanding and trust between the majority and minority communities as well as the neighbouring countries.

These endeavours were supported by President Sólyom’s participation in the commemorations at Piatra Nierges (Nyerges-tető in Hungarian) organised by the local authorities of Harghita (Hargita in Hungarian) county and Cozmeni (Csíkkozmás in Hungarian) municipality on March 14, 2009. The same is true of the message sent by the Hungarian prime minister to Hungarians living outside Hungary’s borders, and the greetings delivered by the Romanian head of state and prime minister to Hungarians in Romania on the occasion of the national holiday. We intend to continue building relations and co-operation in that spirit.

Russia stands between Romania and its potential oil revenue.

Gazprom stands firmly against the Nabucco project, which would connect Central Asia and Europe, via Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkey, Romania, Hungary and Austria, by-passing Russia and Ukraine. Nabucco was originally supported by the US and the EU, but recent developments (including Russian sabre-rattling and the economic crisis) led EU officials to confirm on Monday that Nabucco is no longer among the energy projects to receive European financing.

It looks like Moscow has won a point in the battle to become the region's heavy-weight oil producer, since Nabucco will now be prevented from competing with Russia's baby, the South Stream pipeline. This pipeline is designed to carry 31 billion cubic meters of gas per year from Russia and Central Asia towards the Balkans and other European states.

Diaconescu got understandably a little huffy at a recent meeting in Brussels:

"I have clearly indicated that replacing the name Nabucco from the project with ‘projects regarding the south corridor' is unacceptable to us. This is not about blocking the way. Dialogue will continue, both within the European Commission's structures and at bilateral level, but I do not have to repeat myself by saying that the European Union has already voiced agreement on the Nabucco project.   This is a priority project that was agreed upon by the EU energy ministers on February 19 and the ECOFIN Council approved it. Romania believes that the Nabucco project certainly correspond to the  EU  objectives  in the  area  of  energy security.  As  I  was saying,  it  is  included among the interconnection projects, but, strangely enough, its name Nabucco has disappeared.

We do not know to what extent the name ‘projects for the south corridor' includes or not the Nabucco project. This is a necessary mention and we do not know what political interest diminishing the way in which the Nabucco project is mentioned in the package serves".

The Romanian government had counted on creating a proactive leadership role for itself in the Black Sea zone while opening a market for European-centered energy policy. Unfortunately, Russia is doing its best to prevent such a development.

Mircea Geoana did not hesitate to play the Russia card in his reiteration of Romania's desire to continue commitment towards the formulation of a "European strategy for the Black Sea zone":

Mircea Geoana drew the attention upon the fact that Romania should play a more active role in the setting up and implementation of a joint European security strategy in the Black Sea region, as well as upon the need to take into consideration alternative energy routes.

In its opinion, Romania has the obligation to support Ukraine in the context in which, "at security level, a weakened Caucasus would represent a permanent temptation for Russia, the conflict in Georgia being an exception which should not be reproduced in the future".

Referring to the new US Administration plans for the Black Sea region, Mircea Geoana pointed out that a relative disappearance of this zone from the new American Administration's agenda would represent a mistake.

"We cannot but note the way the new American Administration seems to look at, over the Black Sea, Iraq and Afghanistan, where we all have serious and urgent issues to settle, but we think that a relative disappearance from the new American Administration's agenda of the Black Sea zone would represent a mistake and I think that our obligation is to reiterate the vital geopolitical importance of the Black Sea region and bring it into the attention of the new American Administration", stated Mircea Geoana.

The heat is on. And it looks like Romania might have a lot to lose under the Obama administration's multilateral foreign policy. For more on the energy corridor controversy:

• Romanian government opposes "unique corridors" soft-pedaling. 
• Romania blocks GAERC talks over questions about Nabucco financing.
• Russia and Hungary move forward on South Stream.
• The latest on the gas spat between Russia and the Ukraine.

[Photo taken by Rudi Roels.]

Around the web.

Princess Margarita and Prince Radu attended a book released in Bucharest today for their new book. Diana Mandache has a live video and all the royal details.

The Vietnamese Embassy keeps tabs on Vietnamese working in Romania.

The Romanian Health Ministry revealed new regulations governing mandatory hospital admission today. It looks like the bad press coverage of the Romanian health system is forcing converts among policy-makers.

Proposals for "Dobrobanti Tower" promise to provide "immediate contrast to the jagged edged communist architecture" nearby.

The Romanian Senate prepares to decide on the question of biometric passports. Meanwhile, the pension system remains "in disarray".

There has been a massive reshuffling in the Ministry of the Interior. No one seems to know exactly why.

An Obama satire created by a Romanian-born boy was banned from his Portland school.Free speech has never been the strong point of American schools.

Vice Premier Dan Nica announced today that the former Romanian government's debt would be fully paid by the end of March.As for those IMF loans, well, you know...

Romania's industrial output "slumps again", but investors remain hopeful. Because pessimism bodes bad luck.

Romania and Bulgaria celebrated "cautiously" the news of Switzerland's referendum on labor mobility within the EU. Cautious celebration is quite trendy in these economic doldrums.

President Basescu is keeping the pressure on the EU for financial assistance by making clever analogies to safety practices. "Romania needs a safety belt, meaning a foreign loan", he said in an address to Parliament. Indeed, the last time I rode in a Dacia, the back seat lacked safety belts, which might offer a reason for Basescu's belief that such an analogy would resonate with Romanians?

Christian Tudor Popescu denies plans to run for President. Bucharest Life thinks that's a "shame".

Transylvanian airports are offering tax cuts to keep business flying through. On that note, former Romanian astronaut Dumitru Prunariu will take over the Presidency of the UN Committee for Peaceful Use of Outer Space.

A little drama with the Hungarian minority.

Romania's President addressed Hungarians living in Romania a message as they celebrated their national day, on March 15. He encouraged them to be proud of being Romanian citizens as well, mentioning that their double identity, that of a Hungarian and a Romania, is easier than ever, a press release of the presidency reads.

Hungarians living in Romania celebrated their National Hungarian day in Romania: the events evoked are related to the Hungarian revolution, part of the revolutionary wave to takeover Europe in 1848-1849 when Europeans were fighting for modernization and national independence.

Hungarian President, Laszlo Solyom was present at the ceremonies on Saturday even though his visit was delayed because Romanian authorities at the International Airport Henri Coanda withdrew the landing permission of the Hungarian presidential airplane.

Romanian authorities recommended Solyom not to attend the ceremonies in Transylvania, central Romania. Sources declared that he was suggested that his visit is not welcomed in this period considering his intention to sustain the Hungarian territorial autonomy.

[Posted at Hotnews.ro today]