Bucharest’s Arc de Triumf is to benefit from a €7 million makeover. The city’s Mayor Sorin Oprescu signed a contract today that will see work start in the Spring. He hopes the refurbishment will be finished in time for December 1st, Romania’s National Day, when lots of soldier boys pass underneath and Romania shows off its military hardware in a rather Cold War-esque parade.

Besides restoration work on the Arc itself, the project will also include the construction of a pedestrian underpass underneath the busy roundabout which surrounds it. Until now, getting to the Arc required nerves of steel.

What was not stated today was whether or not the renovation of the Arc will be followed by the permanent opening of its viewing deck. We would hope so. It seems daft spending all this money if people will not be able to climb up to the top. (At present, the viewing deck is opened only on a couple of days each year).

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.

So Romanian president Traian Basescu this morning gave prime minister Emil Boc his marching orders (officially Boc resigned, but we are not sure if anyone is buying the resignation story).

Justice Minister Catalin Predoiu has been appointed as interim prime minister.

What happens next in anybody’s guess. Here is ours.

We think that there is no chance of a new government being approved by parliament. There is now no guarantee that the UDMR will vote with the PDL, and besides, the PDL/UDMR now only have a wafer thin majority in the Senate. Elections are therefore inevitable, possibly as early as April.

One other possibility worth mentioning is the opposition (and the UDMR) calling Basescu’s bluff, and allowing a PDL prime minister to lead a minority PDL government until scheduled elections in November. Assuming the economy will get no better the PDL would then be all but wiped out come election time.

A little Machiavellian perhaps, but that’s probably what we would do.

PS We hear that Basescu will be naming his first (probably stalking horse) candidate for prime minister this evening, after ‘consulting’ all of the political parties.