Under the Sign of the Pandemic
In 2021 Romania
was for the second year affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. Facing wave after
wave of an epidemic caused by the dreadful virus, the Romanians had no choice
but to comply with the restriction measures imposed by the authorities, which
displeased with a vaccine rollout that didn’t go as planned, made decisions
that mainly affected the rights and liberties of those who refused the vaccine.
The low infection rate in summer was followed by another outbreak in autumn
with an increased number of infections and related fatalities. The fourth wave
took a heavy toll on the lives of the Romanians and according to statistics,
the most difficult period since the onset of the pandemic in Romania was
registered in mid-October when ICUs were overwhelmed and Bucharest had to ask
for international assistance. 2021 was also the year of hospital fires, which
killed scores of the infected patients. The first incident took place in Piatra
Neamt, north-eastern Romania in 2020, and was followed by others in Bucharest
and Constanta the following year. The dark situation prompted the Romanian
president, Klaus Iohannis, to make the famous statement that ‘the state failed
in its fundamental mission of protecting its citizens’. Luckily the situation
improved towards the end of 2021 putting Romania in the green tier, a unique
case in Europe.
Political crises
In this year of
medical crisis, Romania had no less than four Health Ministers – two from the USR,
one from UDMR and a PSD representative who started his mandate in late
November. The political unrest kicked off in April upon the then Prime Minister
Florin Citu’s decision to sack the USR Health Minister Vlad Voiculescu. On
September 1st, Justice Minister Stelian Ion was also dismissed and
the political crisis that followed lasted for three months. An enraged USR left
the ruling coalition and in October endorsed a censure motion initiated by the
Social-Democratic opposition. Two attempts to forge a minority cabinet failed
and the Romanian politicians resorted to a third alternative no one forecast.
Following intense negotiations, two political enemies PNL and PSD decided to
shake hands and work together with the UDMR part of an Executive headed by the
retired army general, Liberal Nicolae Ciuca. Florin Citu headed the Senate and
the National Liberal Party, the presidency of which he won in September against
the former PNL leader Ludovic Orban, who eventually left the party and decided
to forge a new political formation. The USR also held its own elections won by
the former European commissioner Dacian Ciolos.
A Standard of Living going down
Skyrocketing
energy prices were felt all over Europe with Romania bearing the brunt. The
situation worsened after the liberalization of energy market on January 1st.
After a chaos of almost half a year, the Romanians and the market apparently
calmed down. Sadly, in summer energy prices went through the roof again and the
government had to issue an emergency ordinance to cap energy prices for
households and cover part of the costs through the state budget. The latest price
hikes reignited inflation, which in October went up to 7.9% although employees
hadn’t seen a pay rise in years. The Romanian economy is expected to register a
7% growth in 2021 after a contraction of 3.7% caused by the pandemic in 2020. Salvation
could come from the National Plan of Recovery and Resilience approved by
Brussels in autumn, under which Romania would get up to 29 million euros in
investment until 2026.
Romanian
culture at home and abroad
During the 25th
edition of the George Enescu International Festival, in September classical
music lovers from Romania were delighted by the performances of 3.500 artists
from their country and from abroad. During the prestigious event, 32 orchestras
from 14 countries performed on stages in Bucharest and other big cities across
the country.
2021 was also an
important year for the Romanian cinematography! Director Radu Jude’s film ‘Bad
Luck Banging or Loony Porn’ reaped the Golden Bear award at the International
Film Festival in Berlin while Alexander Nanau’s documentary Colectiv got
Oscar nominations for the best international feature film and best documentary
feature.
2021- Not a good year for Romanian
athletes
The National
Arena in Bucharest hosted four matches, three of group C and one in the round
of sixteen of the European Football Championship, a competition for which the
Romanian national squad had failed to qualify. And to add insult to injury, athletes
from Romania managed to walk away only with four medals from the 32nd
edition of the Olympic Games in Tokyo, coming only 46th in a nation
ranking.
The world’s best
epee fencer Ana Maria Popescu announced her withdrawal from competitions after a
prestigious activity of two decades. Famous tennis player Horia Tecau also
withdrew from competitions in 2021 and so did world-reputed gymnasts Marian
Dragulescu and Larisa Iordache.
Those who left us …
Let’s not forget
those who left us in 2021! Actors Ion Dichiseanu and Ion Caramitru – the
director of the National Theatre in Bucharest and chair of Romania’s Theatre
Union, writer Ileana Vulpescu; multiple kayak-canoe champion Ivan Patzaichin,
historian Dan Berindei; director and leading figure of Radio Romania, Dan
Puican; folk singer Doru Stănculescu and Victor Socaciu as well as the
appreciated traditional music singer Benone Sinulescu.
(bill)
