Yearbook 2006
Romania. In February, Romania's former Prime Minister
Adrian Nastase was cleared of corruption charges. He denied
the accusations, saying that the government was chasing
political opponents to show the EU that it meets the main
requirement to become a member of the Union, namely to
tackle corruption.
In the spring, Romania received praise from the EU just
for its increased anti-corruption efforts. A number of
criminal investigations were underway against politicians,
lawyers and officials.
In June, the EU reintroduced a previous import ban on
poultry from Romania due to a second epidemic of bird flu,
which has spread to several villages and also the capital
Bucharest. About a million animals had been slaughtered.
According to
CountryAAH, President Traian Băsescu was forced in August to refute
allegations that he worked for the former security service
Securitate. Several politicians were identified as former
co-workers since Securitate's archive was opened. Băsescu
said he had never signed an agreement with Securitate, but
as a sea captain he had written routine "travel reports" for
his superiors. He also defended the decision to open the
archives, saying that Romania could not enter the EU without
doing so.
In September, the European Commission declared that
Romania and Bulgaria were ready to be accepted as members of
the EU on 1 January 2007. However, there were a number of
requirements that needed to be met gradually. Among other
things, both countries must report once a year on the fight
against corruption. However, the disappointment became great
in both Romania and Bulgaria when the UK and Ireland
announced that guest workers from both countries would not
have free access to the labor market after EU entry.
In November, the former head of government Nastase was
indicted for bribery, extortion and abuse of power. The
prosecution was linked to an apartment building in
Bucharest. Nastase denied the charges.
At the end of the year, the prosecutor's office decided
to start criminal investigations also against the outgoing
finance minister and communications minister, who were
suspected of corruption in connection with the privatization
in Romania.
Ahead of the New Year's EU accession, the government lost
its majority in Parliament when the small Conservative party
left the coalition.
Government crisis and financial crisis 2009–2012
With the country in a government crisis that had lasted
over a month, presidential elections were held in late
November 2009. Sitting President Traian Băsescu won in front
of Socialist Democrats Mircea Geoană. National Liberal Party
leader Crin Antonescu came in third. The opposition between
the PNL National Liberals and the PDL Liberal Democrats has
now become so great that Antonescu recommended his voters to
vote for Social Democrat Geoană in the second round of
elections on December 6. Nevertheless, the election was won
by a small margin by Băsescu, who was thus renewed for five
years. After the presidential election, the government
crisis ended in December 2009 by Emil Boc formed a new
coalition government of the Liberal Democratic Party (PDL),
the Hungarian Party (UDMR) and partisan politicians.
Boc's reign was marked by the Great International
Financial Crisis, which also hit Romania and caused a deep
economic downturn from the end of 2008. In 2009, Romania
signed an agreement with the International Monetary Fund
(IMF), the EU and the World Bank on aid loans. The Romanian
countermeasures were hard budget cuts and structural
changes. With the euro crisis and the major debt problems in
many EU countries in 2011, the prospects of a rapid
improvement in living conditions in Romania became even
worse, and in January 2012 the country experienced a
widespread wave of protests. On 6 February 2012, Emil Boc
resigned as prime minister. He justified the departure with
a desire to ease the political and social tensions in the
country.
After a few days, Boc was followed by Mihai-Răzvan
Ungureanu. The government was a coalition government where
the Liberal Democratic Party (PDL) was a majority. When the
opposition, which consisted of an alliance between the
Social Democratic Party (PSD) and the National Liberal Party
(PNL), submitted a motion of no confidence in April 2012,
the proposal was passed in Parliament, leaving the Ungureanu
government to resign. The Alliance, named the Social Liberal
Union (Uniunea Social Liberală, USL), was founded in 2011.
The two parties, which should be ideologically far apart,
met in opposition to President Băsescu. Prior to the vote, a
number of politicians from the ruling party had announced
the transition to the opposition, resulting in a majority
against the government.
New Prime Minister from 7 May 2012 became Victor Ponta of
the Social Democratic Party (PSD). The government consisted
of government ministers from the Alliance Partners in the
Social Liberal Union (USL).
Attempt to sell Băsescu 2012–2014
The parliamentary majority was used in the summer of 2012
to suspend President Băsescu on charges of abuse of
power. The referendum which, in accordance with the
Constitution, was to decide whether to dismiss the
president, was held on July 29. For the result to be valid,
the attendance had to be over 50 percent.
Doubts about the electoral rolls having a correct number
of names, which could have an impact on the calculation of
turnout, led the Constitutional Court to spend some time
assessing the validity of the vote. But on August 21, it
determined that turnout was too low to approve the voting
results, and suspended President Băsescu returned to office
August 28. Meanwhile, Senate President Crin Antonescu, the
leader of national liberals, had served as president.
Romania's political crisis, where the country's major
economic and social problems were the backdrop of protracted
party political and personal quarrels, was further deepened
during this period.
The fall of 2012 was marked by the election campaign
ahead of the December parliamentary elections, with two
dominant main blocs, the Social Liberal Union USL (PSD and
PNL) and the Center / Right Alliance ARD (PDL and some other
parties). USL won a superior electoral victory with around
60 percent of the vote. Băsescu-friendly ARD gained just
under 17 percent. The turnout was low, around 42 per cent,
but still somewhat higher than in 2008.
Victor Ponta's coalition government continued after the
election. But after the apparent contradiction between the
two main parties in government cooperation in the winter of
2014, the National Liberal Party (PNL) chose to withdraw its
ministers from the government on February 26. Ponta
continued as prime minister. The contradictions between the
two parties were not expressed through ideological
disagreement, even though the parties, through their
traditional ideologies, should be distant from each other,
but through disagreement about positions, both in the
re-furnishings of the government and in terms of who would
stand as a candidate in the presidential elections in the
end of 2014. After PNL left the government, the Hungarian
party UDMR became a new coalition partner for Ponte's social
democrats, allowing the restructured government to continue
as a majority government. |
