Sorin Oprescu

Hands off RATB

by Craig Turp March 9, 2010 Bucharest

 Make a list of good public services in Bucharest. Finished? Thought so. There are not that many public services in Bucharest which approach anything that could even be said to resemble ‘good.’ But there are a few… Rubbish collection is one, at least in our sector (Sector 3). We get our rubbish collected twice a [...]

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Dogs. Again.

by Craig Turp February 3, 2010 Bucharest

 We read this yesterday with much enthusiasm: Bucharest City Council has pledged to change the law so that all stray dogs it captures and sterilizes will no longer be returned to the city’s streets. We take our hats off to the prefect of Bucharest, Mihai Cristian Atanasoaei, who said he supports “immediate, firm action [on [...]

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Don’t vote if you don’t want to

by Craig Turp November 19, 2009 Bucharest

 Romanians go to the polls on Sunday in the first round of voting in the country’s presidential election. That much you probably know. You probably also know that just three of the candidates have any chance of making the second round a fortnight later. They are: current president Traian Basescu; PSD leader Mircea Geoana; and [...]

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Lipscani is doing just fine without any input from Bucharest City Council

by Craig Turp October 23, 2009 Bucharest

 As we wrote in the foreword of the current edition of Bucharest In Your Pocket, the rehabilitation of Lipscani/Centru Vechi/Historic Bucharest as the city’s heart and soul continues apace. It is the one part of the capital that has the potential to become a worthwhile place to visit, a centre of nightlife and debauchery to [...]

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The Week in Bucharest: September 18

by Craig Turp September 18, 2009 Bucharest

A weekly digest of news, business and sport from Bucharest and around Romania

Basescu defends record before parliament

Traian Basescu, Romania’s president, defended his record in office on Wednesday in front of a generally supine parliament. Representatives of the main opposition parties left well before the close of Basescu’s speech.

Basescu said his main achievement had been to oversee ‘unprecedented economic growth,’ and was quick to praise the current government of Emil Boc, a member of Basescu’s Democratic Liberal Party (PDL).

Basescu heavily criticised the government of Calin Popescu-Tariceanu, with which he uncomfortably cohabited for the first four years of his term.

Read the full Week in Bucharest here..

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The Week in Bucharest: September 4

by Craig Turp September 4, 2009 Bucharest

A weekly digest of news and sport from Bucharest and around Romania

Former President attacks Basescu; Presidential election set for November 22

Former Romanian President Emil Constantinescu this week labelled called current president Traian Basescu a “lying, long-term Securitate informer” in an open letter (published on Constantinescu’s own website) in which he endorsed the candidacy of the Liberal Party’s Crin Antonescu. Constantinescu claimed that Basescu was man of “limited eductaion” who had repeatedly shown his incompetence in a long political career in which he had achieved little except “destroiying the [Romanian commercial] fleet and delaying the construction of motorways.”

Read the full Week in Bucharest here.

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Cancellation of third-rate motor racing event sparks Twitter outrage

by Craig Turp June 17, 2009 Bucharest

Not since thousands of western liberals began trying to bring down the Iranian government by sending endless Twitter messages from the comfort of their offices has Twitter known such outrage: Bucharest City Council has cancelled the Bucharest Ring! How dare they!

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