More from the Census.

The list of Romania’s biggest cities (excluding Bucharest, which is the only city in the country of any real size) has been changed radically by the data released last week.

The 2002 list looked like this:

1. Iasi 321,580
2. Cluj 318,027
3. Timisoara 317,651
4. Constanta 310,526
5. Craiova 302,622
6. Galati 298,584
7. Brasov 283,901
8. Braila 216,929
9. Oradea 206,527
10. Bacau 183,484

Today the top 10 cities outside of the capital are:

1. Cluj 309,136
2. Timisoara 303,708
3. Iasi 263,410
4. Constanta 254,693
5. Craiova 243,765
6. Galati 231,204
7. Brasov 227,961
8. Oradea 183,123
9. Braila 168,389
10. Arad 147,992

Romania now has just two cities outside the capital with populations over 300,000.

The figures (along with the fact that the percentage of Romanians living in the countryside has remained stable at around 48 per cent) also suggest that as many people are emigrating from cities as they are from rural communities.

Dear Bucharest Life

Ron Ionescu
Iasi

Romanian president Traian Basescu yesterday named the head of Romania’s foreign intelligence service Mihai Razvan Ungureanu as prime minister. Ungureanu now has to try and form a government and have it approved by parliament. The full story is here.

Definitely an upgrade from Emil Boc and a rather nice man (we’ve met him: he was doing research at the same university where we studied Romanian, SSEES) there are, however, a number of issues which immediately make his appointment questionable.

1. Nobody has ever elected him to anything

Ungureanu was not elected as prime minister. In fact, he was not even elected to parliament. Like Boc he has been appointed prime minister without ever undergoing the scrutiny of the electorate. There is nothing unconstitutional in this, but surely there should be? Should a prime minister not be chosen from amongst elected politicians only?

2. He is very much Basescu’s man

Ungureanu was foreign minister in the Tariceanu government from 2004-2007. If you remember, by the time Romania joined the EU on January 1st, 2007, Tariceanu and Basescu had already fallen out, so much so that two huge EU parties were organised that New Year’s Eve in Bucharest: one by the government, one by the presidency. Despite being a member of the government, Ungureanu went to Basescu’s party. He left the government shortly afterwards.

3. Before 1989 he was a member of the Central Committee of Romania’s Communist Youth Organisation, the UTC

Had Romania ever passed a law forbidding those who held positions of authority before 1989 from taking office in democratic Romania, Ungureanu would be one of those declared ineligible. (To his credit, however, it should be said that he has in the past recognised this anomaly himself).

4. He was until yesterday the boss of Romania’s intelligence services

Just imagine if Vladimir Putin made the head of the KGB his prime minister. Go on, just think about the reaction. Spot the problem?

Of course, we have no idea if Basescu actually wants Ungureanu to be prime minister, or if he is a stalking horse whose government is never meant to actually take office. Second guessing Basescu is becoming increasingly difficult. We also think that it is not impossible for Ungureanu to become a decent prime minister. He will only achieve this, however, if he is his own man.

The first test will be naming his cabinet. If you see Elena Udrea’s name on the list of proposed ministers then you will know who is still personally running the country.

Thanks to Jackie Kirkham @Flickr for the photo

Remember the census carried out by the INS last year?

Well, preliminary results were released yesterday. You can browse them at your leisure here.

Edited highlights:

The population of Romania has fallen by more than two and a half million since the 2002 census. The current population of Romania is now just 19,042,936. It has not been this low since 1966. (Romania’s population peaked in 1992, at 22,810.035).

The population of Bucharest has fallen to 1,677,985, down from a peak of over two million in 1992.

Romania remains a mainly urban country, but only just: 48 per cent of the population still live in the countryside.

The government has been quick to say that something must have gone wrong with the census. The ruling PD-L is scrambling to ensure that party leader Traian Basescu, president since 2004, does not go down in history as the president who oversaw The Great Exodus.

These are indeed preliminary results, but they look reasonable enough (the biggest question mark is probably over the Bucharest number), and given the huge numbers of Romanians who have emigrated (to Spain and Italy especially) we do not expect any huge changes in the numbers when the final figures are released.

Looks like us immigrants could soon be the only people left.

We assume that even the most ill-informed of visitors to Bucharest Life is aware of the fact that former Romanian prime minister Adrian Nastase was sentenced to two years in prison on Monday for corruption. Nastase remains a free man for the time being, pending an appeal. Here is the Reuters report on the matter.

Anyway, The Economist’s man in these parts posted this on the Eastern Approaches blog last night. It is a very good assessment of the case.

We particularly like the line:

The president has a reputation for seeking to bring corruption charges against his opponents.

As someone suggested to us this morning, the post must have taken ‘some serious lawyering.’

Oh dear