Radio România Internațional

Tag: democracy

  • The Ratiu family, an important Romanian family in Transylvania

    The Ratiu family, an important Romanian family in Transylvania

    The Rațiu family (Rațiu of Noșlac in Turda) is one of the oldest and most respectable aristocratic families in Transylvania with a history spanning several centuries and roots dating back to the 14th century.

    The existence of this family was first documented during the reign of Sigismund of Luxemburg (1368-1437), with origins in the locality of Noșlac, Alba County (central Romania). Along the centuries, the family received several aristocratic titles, having as ancestor Stefan Rácz of Nagylak (Noșlac), who was made a nobleman by the Transylvanian prince in Alba Iulia in 1625. The Rațius remained the only noble Romanian family in Turda, a city ruled at that time by the Hungarian aristocracy and situated in north-eastern Romania. The other Romanian families had been subjected to the process of Hungarization, and gradually disappeared.

    Out of the leading figures of the Rațiu family, we’d like to mention: Basiliu Rațiu, a Greek-Catholic Archpriest or Ioan Rațiu, one of the main political figures of the 1848 revolution, lawyer and politician, chair of the Romanian National Party and one of the main authors of the “Transylvanian Memorandum”. Along the centuries, the Rațiu family gave lawyers, scholars, politicians and clergymen. The name is strongly related to the fight for the rights of the Romanians in Transylvania and the preservation of the national identity against the assimilation policies.

    A leading figure of the family’s recent history was also Ion Rațiu (1917-2000). Born in Turda, the Cluj County, he was a politician, lawyer, diplomat, businessman, writer and Romanian journalist representative of the inter-war National Peasant Party, which later turned into the Christian-Democratic National Peasants Party. Between 1940 and 1990 he lived in the UK, where together with his wife Elisabeth he founded The Rațiu Family Charitable Foundation back in 1979, which is promoting and supporting projects of education and research into Romania’s culture and history, both in Romania and the UK. The foundation offers scholarships on an annual basis.

    After his return to Romania in 1990, Ion Rațiu got directly involved in the process of rebuilding the National Peasants Party, jointly with another leading political figure after the anti-communist revolution of 1989, Corneliu Coposu. Ion Rațiu ran for the presidential seat during the 1990 election, when he got roughly 5% of the votes, ranking third. He later became an MP. In 1991, Ion Rațiu founded the Cotidianul newspaper, the first private publication after 1989. Pamela Rațiu, a descendant of the family and president of the Rațiu Foundation told us the following about Ion Rațiu’s legacy and his candidature to Romania’s presidency.

    ” You know when you meet people that have given so much of their life in the positive directions and for the country or for the people, it’s really just an honour to sit with them and listen to them and try to take some of them in. I understand why people were taken by him and I take it’s incredible to see in demonstrations today people holding placards with his photograph. And there is a great deal to be said in that he was the best president Romania never had, I do believe and that has become a legacy. I think it was a plus, because I do believe if he had succeeded to becoming president he would have been held back and not allowed to do anything that he could have done. He could have made really serious changes, but he would have had his hands tied as many leaders are by all those around him. So, by not becoming the president he became a role model, which has a legacy, a positive legacy as opposed to those who were in place at that particular time.“

    The Ratiu Foundation has a partnership with the London School of Economics IDEAS ThinkTank. The Ratiu forum focuses on programs for Romania or the Balkan region. It is a platform for free discussion on democracy and the democratic challenges in the Balkan region. The forum brings together academicians, practitioners, and Romanian citizens who share ideas and knowledge about the promotion and support of the democratic values in Romania and its neighbouring states. Also, Ion Ratiu’s cultural heritage includes the Rațiu Democracy Centre, which promotes the democratic values among youngsters, through various initiatives for pupils and students. These initiatives include legislative education programs meant to stimulate youngsters to understand and exert their civic rights and responsibilities.
    Here is what Pamela Ratiu told us, about these educational initiatives

    ” What we do, also, is try to follow in Ion’s footsteps. I mean, everything is about the family, we’re moving forward, we’re taking different steps with our partnerships and the work that we do, that, again, it goes back to the values of the family and where we see a possibility, of bringing…you know…we have the good fortune to bring in this expertise to Romania from around Central-Eastern Europe and the Balkans.”

    Ion Rațiu was one of the most conspicuous democratic figureheads in Romania after December 1989.

  • Věra Jourová on transparency: “We all have to do much more”

    Věra Jourová on transparency: “We all have to do much more”

    From defending the rule of law and media freedom to fostering European democracy, from combating disinformation to promoting equality and diversity, journalists from the Euranet Plus radio network talked with Věra Jourová, Vice-President of the European Commission in charge of values and transparency, in a debate this week.



    In the context of next year’s European elections the Commission’s vice-president discussed with the radio stations in our network this week, at a Euranet Plus summit moderated by journalist Ella Joyner.



  • The centenary of the 1923 Constitution

    The centenary of the 1923 Constitution

    The
    WWI victory of the Entente, a coalition of nations that Romania joined in 1916,
    led to the union with the Kingdom of Romania of territories with a majority
    Romanian population in Tsarist Russia and Austro-Hungary. In March 1918,
    Bessarabia or the eastern Moldavian land between the rivers Prut
    and Dniester that had been annexed by Russia in 1812 joined Romania, followed
    in November and December by Banat, Bukovina and Transylvania. The Kingdom of
    Greater Romania thus created was a brand new and much more diverse
    entity than what had existed before.


    Romania’s 125-year-old
    constitutional history began in 1866, with the coronation of Carol
    of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen and the adoption of the first founding
    act of the Romanian state. To date, Romania has had no fewer than seven
    constitutions, each reflecting a different type of political regime. The 1866 Constitution
    was the founding constitution, that of 1923 was the constitution of the unification,
    that of 1938 was the expression of Carol II’s authoritarian regime, while the
    next three constitutions were adopted during the communist regime, in 1948,
    1952 and 1965. The final one, which is still in force today, was adopted in 1991
    and reinstated the values of democracy after the overthrow of the communist
    regime in 1989.


    The
    Constitution of 1923, which was published in the Official Gazette on 29th March,
    represented the most refined expression of Romanian constitutional law.
    The anniversary of 100 years since its adoption is an opportunity to remember
    the biggest Romanian democratic state that was created in the aftermath of WWI
    and for which around half a million Romanians sacrificed their lives, at a time
    when the country was led by King Ferdinand and Queen Marie.

    The Romanian
    Academy and the Italian Embassy in Bucharest celebrated together the
    anniversary of the 100 years that have since passed. The president of the
    Romanian Academy, the historian Ioan-Aurel Pop, outlined the most important
    moments in Romania’s constitutional history and discussed the 19th century
    Romanian legislation that helped lay the foundations of the future Romanian
    state:


    Romania had already had a
    constitution from 1866, but the general view was that it was no longer fit for
    purpose after 1918. Many said the Romanians drafted their constitution very
    late. In fact, they did so at the right time, together with most modern states
    in Europe. Italy had its own constitution in 1861 after the unification,
    incorporating the 1848 constitution created after the revolution in Palermo.



    The history of the period prior to the Romanian
    Constitution in the 19th century is fascinating. We can see the old
    customs disappearing, only to make room for other modern values replacing them.
    One such value was the importance of the popular vote.


    The historian Ioan-Aurel Pop:


    Just as we learned in school, the
    Constitution was the fundamental law of the states. I should add of the modern
    states, there were no constitutions in the Middle Ages, much as some pundits
    would like to push things back in the past. In the Romanian space, the Organic
    Regulations of 1831-1832 for Wallachia and Moldavia or the Leopoldine Diploma
    of 1691 for Transylvania had been imposed under foreign domination, having a mere
    constitutional value, without, however, being the democratic expressions of the
    Romanian people’s elected personalities. The Constitution of 1866 was the first such genuine act, written following an advanced European model, the Belgian
    model, and tailored to suit the Romanian realities, in a state that had barely
    become a constitutional monarchy.

    The 19th
    century ended properly in the 1920s of the 20th century, after
    the great world clash of the 1914 -1918. Everything changed yet again, while the
    new circumstances of the newly-emerging state of Greater Romania lead up to the
    birth of a new Constitution.


    Ioan-Aurel Pop:


    In 1918, Romania doubled its population and enlarged its territory, to
    be optimistic, not twice but almost three times as much. Therefore, a
    unification was needed and a uniformization, primarily a legislative one. And
    that, only the Constitution could accomplish. Our Constitution of 1923, adopted
    by Parliament, was a democratic one, considering the level of democracy at that
    time, and I’d like to add, the level of democracy in the South-east European
    states. The document declared Romania a national, unitary and indivisible
    state, with an inalienable territory. It was dubbed the Constitution of the
    union and was rather short-lived.


    Unfortunately, the Constitution of 1923 fell
    prey to both totalitarian regimes, fascism and communism. In 1938, it fell
    apart under the blows of fascist ideas, while in 1948, when it was barely
    reinstated, it was dismantled by the regime of the Communist Party.

    The historian Ioan-Aurel
    Pop:


    After less than two decades of being in force, in 1938, Romania had another constitution. Then,
    after World War Two, the one of 1923 had been officially reinstated and was in force until the official instatement of the communist regime in 1947. A little over four decades of communism followed, while the present constitution of
    Romania, adopted after 1989, with all the ensuing changes, owes a lot to the
    content of the old constitution of 1923. It was a document that was elaborated
    after a long period of reflection, it symbolized the formation, from a domestic
    legislative point of view, of unified Romania, also proving its perennial dimension.


    The Constitution of 1923 re-emerged in 1989 as a
    re-founding document of democracy. Its centenary today proves it still is a
    landmark of the heritage of Romanian judicial thought.






  • Ion Ratiu and the Rebirth of Romanian Democracy

    Ion Ratiu and the Rebirth of Romanian Democracy

    Politician Ion Ratiu was one of the role models for Romanian society as it was beginning to rebuild democracy in 1990, after 45 years of communism. He was a descendant of a family that was instrumental in fighting for the national rights of Romanians in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Ion Ratiu had a considerable contribution to the improvement of the Romanian political climate after December 1989. He stood out by his signature bow tie, by his supremely polite way of expressing himself, and the slight English accent he had when speaking Romanian. Ratiu was one of the most important democratic Romanian politicians after 1990, one who had previously militated against both the Fascist and Communist dictatorships. Upon his return to Romania in 1990, he was instrumental in rebuilding the Christian-Democratic National Peasant Party, and got deeply involved in rebuilding a democratic climate.

    Ion Ratiu was born to a family of intellectuals on June 6, 1917, in Turda, in what is now western Romania. He had a degree in law from Cluj, and one in economy from Cambridge. He was active in the youth organization of the National Peasant Party. In 1940 he was appointed as a diplomat with the Foreign Ministry, and was sent to London right away, in February of that year, before the fall of France. After France was occupied, a country which used to be one of Romanias most important allies, Ratiu continued to work at the Romanian legation to the UK until early September 1940, when power in Romania was grabbed by General Antonescu and the Iron Guard. As an anglophile and francophile, Ratiu refused to accept his countrys joining the alliance with Nazi Germany.

    In 1985, in an interview with Radio Free Europe for the Romanian Current Events feature, preserved in the archives of the Center for Oral History by Radio Romania, Ion Ratiu described how he got to remain in the UK:

    “After King Carol II departed, and the Legionnaire state was set up, I resigned, in September 1940. I went to the British Foreign Secretary and asked for political asylum, which they granted me right away. I had the great luck to get a scholarship at Cambridge, and I studied there for three years and got a Master of Arts degree in economic sciences. While I was at Cambridge I made several radio broadcasts on patriotic topics with regard to Transylvania, especially after Northern Transylvania got taken away in 1940, and I was active in student life in the association of Romanian students in Great Britain.”

    Ion Ratiu got involved in the propaganda to get Romania out of the Axis and have it join the Allied side. He deeply wished for CEE, Romania included, to remain under the influence of Western democracies after the end of the war:

    “I worked on the International Student Council, where they made me vice-president during the war, and in the World Youth Executive Committee. Because we were all concerned about the future of Europe after the war, as exiles in England, we set up an organization we called Central East European Students for a New Society. Also, even though I was young, I was co-opted into the movement of free Romanians who opposed Romanias falling in line with Nazi Germany policy, and who said that Romanias place was next to the great democratic powers in the West who had created Greater Romania. During that time I wrote articles, I held conferences, and I spoke on the radio, as I said, at the BBC, of course.”

    As the prosperous businessman he became, Ion Ratiu did not watch passively from afar as Romania was being turned communist. He set up an anti-Communist organization, the World Union of Free Romanians, and printed democratic leaning publications, such as The Free Romanian, one of the most influential publications for Romanian exiles. In 1985, Ion Ratiu was convinced that only the unity of all Romanians could make democracy return. The organization welcomed all who wanted to help in the effort of restoring democracy:

    “In 1980, together with Professor Brutus Coste from America, we launched an appeal telling everyone that it would be the time to do something for this country to be represented in a dignified manner in the West. Until 1975 we had had the Romanian National Committee, which ceased its activities that year. We believed that this struggle needs to continue, and so we launched the appeal and we set up in 1984. We said from the beginning that this cannot be done around parties, we said that all Romanians who want to make an effort for the national cause should join us, irrespective of party, past or present. This did not mean that parties should not function. Quite the opposite, parties have to function, because there is no democracy without parties.”

    On January 3, 1990, the National Salvation Front issued a law decree on the creation and official registration of political parties in Romania. This act meant the renaissance of political parties and political pluralism in Romania, after 45 years of absence. Returning to Romania in 1990, right after the decree was issued, Ion Ratiu continued to display the same firm democratic beliefs, as a true moral compass. He passed away in London on January 17, 2000, and, as per his wishes, was laid to rest in his native Romanian town of Turda.

  • December 19, 2019

    December 19, 2019

    LAW Romanian president Klaus Iohannis on Thursday promulgated
    a law, which abrogates the compensatory appeal endorsed by the Chamber of
    Deputies, as a decision-making forum on December 4th. The controversial law
    endorsed by the former Social Democratic government allowed for the release of
    thousands of convicts. Some of those, serving sentences for serious crimes have reoffended. Justice Minister Catalin Predoiu has recently explained that the flawed text of the law put Romanian citizens at risk. He added that the
    ministry he leads had drawn up a draft law with measures to be applied in
    penitentiaries across Romania, whose precarious state sparked off a lot of
    complaints to the European Court of Human Rights. The authorities are chiefly interested
    in improving detention conditions.










    IMPEACHMENT President Donald Trump has become the third president of the
    United States to be impeached when the House of Representatives charged him
    with abuse of power for personal gain a move that paves the way for a trial in
    the Senate, AFP reports. Only two other presidents were impeached, Andrew
    Johnson in 1868 and Bill Clinton in 1998. The Democrats believe that Trump is
    guilty of pressing his Ukrainian counterpart to launch investigation into
    political rival Joe Biden. President Trump has also been accused of obstructing
    Congress by refusing to allow his aides to testify in an inquiry and for
    failing to provide documents to House investigators.










    CELEBRATION The European Parliament is marking today 30 years since the
    anti-communist revolution in Romania. The European Parliament in Strasbourg has
    recognized that the sacrifice of the peaceful protesters of that time paved the
    way for Romania’s transition towards democracy. 1142 people lost their lives,
    over 3000 were severely wounded while other several hundred were imprisoned and
    tortured. The MEPs are expected to recommend the Romanian authorities to step
    up efforts to find out the truth about the events 30 years ago. Events
    commemorating the heroes of the 1989 revolution are continuing all over the
    country. Three decades ago, workers in factories in Timisoara, western Romania,
    went on a strike and created the first anti-communist organization shortly
    before the fall of the country’s ruthless dictator Nicolae Ceausescu. December
    19th was the day when the communist authorities tried to hide any evidence
    of the bloody repression of the peaceful demonstrations against the regime.










    TRAFFIC The Romanian authorities have taken additional measures to ease
    traffic at the border checkpoints during the winter holidays when a significant
    increase in the number of tourists is expected especially at the border with
    the Schengen zone. In order to avoid traffic jams, border police resorted to
    additional measures aimed at maximizing the traffic capacity of any border
    check point. Over 42 hundred police troops are presently involved in
    surveillance and control activities at the country’s borders, sources with the
    Romanian border police have announced.








    (translated by bill)

  • Teachers and the values of democracy

    Teachers and the values of democracy

    ‘The percentage of teachers who have a low attachment to having a democratic regime in the country is worrying. Social tolerance among teachers is low, even lower as regards certain categories of people than in the rest of society. These are just two of the conclusions of a recent sociological survey on the democratic values fostered by Romanian teaching staff. These disquieting findings have caused heated debates in the public space, and many voices rushed into putting more blame on an already highly-criticized education system.



    According to the authors of the study, a group of reputed sociologists and psychologists working under the aegis of the Friedrich Stiftung Romania Foundation, have admitted that ‘schooling is important for acquiring a political culture adequate for democracy. Therefore, the values embraced by teachers are very important, especially at a time when part of Europe seems attracted to authoritarian trends that question the very concept of democracy. Here is next Gabriel Bădescu, the chair of the political sciences department of the Babes Bolyai University in Cluj, with details about what the study authors have discovered:



    Gabriel Bădescu: “We set out to find out to what extent teachers believe society should be governed according to democratic rules. All in all, around 90% said they like democratic systems, which may sound as a relief. But the problem is that when we moved on to more detailed questions, a rather high percentage of the teaching staff, that is around 40%, said that even in a democracy there should be a strong leader who should not bother with free elections and parliament.



    Moreover, 14% of the teaching staff believe that Romania exiting the EU would be a good thing. A similar proportion would approve of a military regime, and 11% would favor a system governed by religious law (which means no political parties and no electoral mechanisms). Despite what this study reveals, namely that the values of teachers are less democratic than expected, sociologist Claudiu Tufis believes the data should be read in the broader context of the current trends within society. From this perspective, teachers emerge in a more favourable light than society as a whole.



    Claudiu Tufis: “The data in the report were only analysed in relation to data regarding teaching staff in the undergraduate education system. The findings have not been contrasted to figures regarding the society as a whole or higher education graduates. I have read similar data gathered in early 2018 in Romania as part of international research. And weve reached the following conclusion: although they are relatively intolerant and less democratic than most higher education graduates, teachers in Romania are actually more open and more democratic than the general population. The problem is not that teachers are undemocratic, but that the entire population is. It seems that since the fall of communism 30 years ago, weve failed to internalise the values associated to democracy.



    But the problem should be viewed in an even wider context, says Claudiu Tufiș:



    Claudiu Tufis: “The problem in Romania is that the overall decreasing support for democracy is compounded by the fact that people are not well aware of what democracy means and what its values are. In contrast, in other countries, where democratic tradition spans over 50 years, the democratic system runs properly, even though peoples confidence in democracy is decreasing.



    As far as social tolerance goes, Romanians are not far from the European trend. The groups that teachers rejected most frequently are drug addicts (58.7%) and alcohol addicts (53.6%). The third most unwanted group is the ethnic Rroma (42.5%), followed by other categories, such as homosexuals (38.3%), people with a different native language (33.7%) and unmarried couples (33.1%). As regards Rroma pupils, some Romanian teachers go too far, according to the survey titled “Education for democracy in Romanian schools.



    Gabriel Bădescu: “One of the questions concerned teachers opinion on the education of Rroma children. Is it appropriate to educate them together with the others, or would it be preferable to have them study in separate classes? The answers to this triggered many debates, as well as concern, because one in eight respondents said Rroma children should go to school in separate, segregated classes. This is a problem. Education science experts have long reached consensus that pupils should learn together, irrespective of their ethnic membership, gender, differences or physical disabilities. Schools should be inclusive.



    But perhaps the most worrying issue is the outlook of young teachers, under 35 years. As many as 54.5% of them say it would be good for Romania to have a strong leader and 17.9% say it would be a positive thing for Romania to no longer be an EU member state. Sociologist Claudiu Tufiș concludes:



    Claudiu Tufiș: “These are people younger than 35, who were 5-6 years old when the communist regime collapsed and who do not remember anything about life in communism. They grew up during the difficult post-communist transition. They lived unpleasant economic experiences, they were affected by inequality, but they have no first-hand experience whatsoever of what the lack of political liberties and violation of fundamental rights actually is. This, together with a sense of disappointment with how democracy is functioning in Romania today, might be an explanation for their views.



    (translated by: Lacramioara Simion, Diana Vijeu)

  • From State of the Union to Article 7

    From State of the Union to Article 7

    With over two thirds of the vote, the European Parliament on Wednesday decided to call on the European Commission to trigger sanctions against Hungary under Article 7, which include temporary loss of voting rights in the European Council.



    The vote is the effect of a report debated the previous day, accusing Hungary of corruption, breaching minority rights, perpetrating abuses against immigrants, eroding press, social and academic liberties. The author of the document, the Dutch MEP Judith Sargentini with the European Greens, claims Hungary failed to uphold European principles and is not a fully functional democracy. Over the last eight years Hungary has been on a downward trend, its citizens finding it increasingly difficult to express their opinion, the report shows. At the same time, Sargentini argues the election law was changed, preventing the opposition from campaigning for fair and unbiased elections.



    This is the first time the European legislative body has chosen to notify the Council over rule of law irregularities in a member state. In the case of Poland, the European Commission launched a similar procedure in December 2017. On the day of the vote, Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker said, in his state of the union address, that the Commission opposes any systemic threat to the rule of law, which will automatically lead to activating Article 7 of the Treaty on European Union. The vote against Hungary shows that Conservatives and Christian-Democrats have grown tired of protecting Viktor Orban, whom many consider to be Central Europes troublemaker.



    During Tuesdays debate prior to the vote, Viktor Orban delivered a defying speech, stigmatizing the report which led to the sanctioning procedure. Prime Minister Orban labeled the report an insult to Hungary, grounded on double standards. Hungary cannot be condemned for wanting to be a country free of illegal immigrants, Orban went on to say. The Hungarian Foreign Ministry said the vote was a “petty revenge of pro-immigration politicians.



    Article 7 is considered to be the EUs “nuclear weapon, as it may lead to suspending a member states right to vote in the European Council, and it has never been activated since the EU was founded. Sanctioning Hungary is yet highly unlikely, as this would require the unanimity of Member States, with Poland already making it clear it would oppose any sanctions brought against Budapest.



    Wednesdays decision nevertheless stands as a warning for leaders and governments toying with what political scientists have termed “illiberal democracy, where election winners use their comfortable majorities in Parliament to legitimise discretionary actions going against the principles of the rule of law. The controversial modifications brought to the justice laws and the criminal codes as well as the unwarranted forceful intervention of the gendarmerie during the August 10 protest have made Bucharest a target of the most vocal advocates of the rule of law and the EU principles.


    (translated by: Vlad Palcu)

  • June 10, 2018 UPDATE

    June 10, 2018 UPDATE

    PROTEST – A fresh anti-government protest was organized in Bucharest on Sunday evening. Under the slogan “The Country is on fire! Light for democracy, the civic organizations which initiated the rally want to express their disagreement with the policies pursued by the ruling coalition in such domains as justice, the environment and the economy. The protest is staged just a day after the Social Democrats and Liberals-Democrats on Saturday organized the biggest rally since taking over power, a year and a half ago. The over 100,000 participants protested against what they called abuses and the infringement of the principles of the rule of law. They denounced the existence of an illegitimate and underground structure, which they generically deem as “the parallel state and which allegedly influences the state institutions and decision-making in the justice field. On Friday, the High Court of Cassation and Justice postponed issuing a verdict, for a third time, in a lawsuit in which the leader of the Social Democratic Party, Liviu Dragnea, is accused of corruption offences. The anti-corruption prosecutors called on the court to issue a seven year and five month jail sentence for abuse of office on Dragneas name, in addition to two years and six months for forgery. In 2016, Dragnea got a final, suspended two year sentence, for attempted rigging.



    JUSTICE – A delegation of the Venice Commission pays a two-day visit to Romania as of Monday, for consultations on the modifications brought to the justice laws. The delegation is due to have talks with President Klaus Iohannis, with other officials at the Romanian Parliament, the Justice Ministry, the High Court of Cassation and Justice, the Constitutional Court, the Prosecutor Generals Office, the National Anti-Corruption Directorate, the Superior Council of Magistracy, associations of judges and prosecutors and civil society organisations. Both President Iohannis and the Committee on the Honouring of Obligations and Commitments by Member States of the Council of Europe (Monitoring Committee) have requested the opinion of this consultative body, made up of independent experts on constitutional law, on the laws on judicial organisation, the functioning of the Superior Council of Magistracy and the status of judges and prosecutors. The requests were made amidst accusations launched by the right-of-centre opposition, civic organisations and part of a press, according to whom by modifying these laws, the ruling coalition made up of the Social Democratic Party and the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats in Romania is allegedly trying to halt the fight against corruption and to subordinate magistrates.



    ADMINISTRATIVE CODE – The Romanian Senate will debate on Monday the draft Administrative Code, after it has been debated and adopted by the relevant parliamentary committee. The Senate is the first notified chamber in this case. The document regulates the organisation and functioning of authorities and institutions in the public administration: the government, ministries, prefects offices, county councils, city halls, defines the status of those working in these institutions and sets the guidelines for decentralisation and local autonomy.



    HALEP – Romanias President Klaus Iohannis has congratulated the Romanian tennis player Simona Halep on her victory at the Roland Garros tennis tournament. In a message posted on a social network, the head of state has underlined that Haleps first Grand Slam trophy in her career comes at the end of a final in which she fought for every ball, without giving up any moment. In turn, PM Viorica Dăncilă has praised, in a message, the way in which Halep fought on court, saying her performance was a further confirmation that she deserved the trophy. Both the Romanian and international press has hailed Simona Haleps win in Paris. The no.1 WTA tennis player defeated the American Sloane Stephens 3-6, 6-4, 6-1. Her success at Roland Garros comes 45 years since Romanian Ilie Năstase won the tournament hosted by the French capital city for the second time in a row and 40 years since her current manager, Virginia Ruzici, won the French Open.



    SINGAPORE – The North Korean leader, Kim Jong Un, has arrived in Singapore, ahead of a historic summit with the US President, Donald Trump. In turn, the White House leader comes from Quebec, where he attended the G7 summit. The Kim-Trump Summit scheduled for Tuesday morning will be a first meeting between the Kim dynasty heir and an acting US President. The discussions which are likely to produce uncertain, unclear results, will be aimed at reaching an agreement on North Koreas complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearisation, in exchange for an easing of economic and diplomatic sanctions.



    CANOEING – Romanians Leonid Carp and Victor Mihalachi on Sunday won gold in the 500m double canoe race, at the European Championships held in Belgrade, Serbia. On Saturday they grabbed a silver medal in the 1,000 m double canoe race. Romanian Mihaela Lulea also got silver in the 200m paracanoe race.



    THEATRE FESTIVAL – The Sibiu International Theatre Festival, one of the largest festivals of its kind in the world continues in Sibiu, central Romania. Sundays highlights included 50 events organised not only in halls but also in unconventional places: theatre and dance shows, contemporary circus, concerts, exhibitions, theatre workshops and street parades. We recall that over 3,300 artists from 73 countries are participating in the 25th edition of the Sibiu International Theatre Festival, which runs until next Sunday.

  • The Romanian Revolution and the Revival of Democracy

    The Romanian Revolution and the Revival of Democracy

    Around the mid-19th century, the word revolution started to refer mainly to an overthrow of old ideas and practices, a renewal of society overall. Politics underwent a sea change, both in terms of political ideas, and in terms of promoting change, as often as possible. Revolution was believed to be the engine of history, with Marxism being the ideology that had the biggest influence on the way revolution was seen. Marxism said that class struggle was what moved humanity forward. Revolution is seen by it to be a process of insurrection, by which capitalism had to be removed and destroyed, as well as a continuous process, after the proletariat had grabbed power and transformed society.



    After Marxism grabbed power in Russia in 1917 in the form of Leninism, and then took over with Soviet occupation of Central and Eastern Europe, the revolution was supposed to continue until it prevailed all over the world. However, the soviet regime and the concept of revolution as social upheaval failed in its project of becoming the superior form of human life. Communism meant repressing some of the most elementary human rights, and brought with it widespread impoverishment. Historians and political scientists saw the 1989 revolutions in Central Europe, which came as a natural effect of the dramatic drop in living standards, as a return to democracy. The revolutions in 1989 are no longer seen as founding events for social upheaval, but for building democracy. In 1989, the understanding of the word revolution went back to the original meaning, that of revolving back to a starting point, a significance given to it by the Glorious Revolution in England in 1688. The 1989 revolutions are glorious revolutions because they put an end to tyranny and returned dignity to political man.



    Every year in December, Romanians commemorate the fall of communism and a return to normalcy. Paid in death and injury, the return to democracy became the most important of political values, the more important as time tends to take the edge off it. The first stirrings of anti-communism occurred in Timisoara on 16 December 1989, continuing in Bucharest on December 21 and 22, culminating with the fall of dictator Nicolae Ceausescu.



    Political scientist Ioan Stanomir believes that the date of 22 December 1989 has all the features of a founding moment, or, in this case, as he puts it, a re-founding moment: “22 December indisputably represents the final point of the communist period. We should emphasize this aspect, because some of the politicians on the rise after December 1989 tried to minimize the anti-communist and democratic dimension of popular protests that led to the fall of the Ceausescu regime. I insist on this aspect. It was not just about removing a dictator who dishonored this country, but also about affirming values which, though not very clearly defined, were subsumed to a wish to eliminate the communist regime with its cortege of material privations and dramatic restriction of freedoms.”



    However, ridding people of the inheritance and reflexes of communism proved to be a lengthy process, which few back then understood properly, as being a painful effort to separate public good from public evil, to have a perspective on the past and another on the future.



    Here is Ioan Stanomir again: “22 December is similar to Janus, an event with two faces. On the one hand, it is the process of celebrating freedom; on the other it is the moment when the drama of the terrorists begins. Were it not for the terrorists and the deaths that occurred in conditions very hard to clarify to this day, 22 December would most likely have had a different future. Let us not forget that there is a cemetery of the Heroes of the Revolution, and that the people buried there are there mostly as a result of the action of the mysterious terrorists after 22 December 1989.”



    Romanian democracy was revitalized and the pluralism of opinions was a sign of societal recovery. Historical parties that had been banned by the communist regime were being recreated, people were free to come up with ideas and act accordingly. Their voices started to be heard and the politicians’ behavior was adjusting to the electorate’s demands.



    Ioan Stanomir: “December 22, 1989 was indeed a moment of fraternity and fraternization followed quite quickly by a lack of unity among the political class. Romanian citizens were divided, and what triggered this division was the National Salvation Front (FSN) and Ion Iliescu, that also confiscated the moment of December 22 to the benefit of a party-state. This was the beginning of the end for this dream, for this illusion of fraternization. December 22nd was followed by January 1990, with the protests of the democratic parties who were violently repressed, then by February 1990, March 1990 and the incidents in Targu Mures, the University Square and finally the miners’ riot in June 1990.”



    The Romanian Revolution of 1989, Europe’s most violent return to democracy, was paid with the lives of 12 hundred people. The passing of time makes people get used to certain living standards and freedom is now seen as an essential right. Nevertheless, history reminds people the fact that things have not always been like that, and the year 1989 is the most recent such example.