Traian Basescu

Much ado about nothing

by Craig Turp January 15, 2012 Bucharest

 There was a mini-riot in Bucharest last night. A lot of fuss over nothing. You can read a BBC news report of the events here, and there is video from Reuters here. Anyway, two quick points. 1. If you are not happy with a government, you can choose not to re-elect it at the next [...]

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Bucharest Life 2012: It’s all about politics

by Craig Turp January 1, 2012 Bucharest

 One thing will dominate Bucharest Life this coming year, and it’s not Elena Udrea in latex. No, having taken a year’s holiday, Romanian politics is back in a big way, with two sets of elections scheduled for 2012, the first since the controversial presidential election of 2008. As things stand today, the loose and unholy [...]

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Romania’s not so secret CIA prison, and how low can Basescu go?

by Craig Turp December 10, 2011 Bucharest

 Just when you thought Romanian President Traian Basescu couldn’t go any lower, he plunged new depths this week with his behaviour towards the foreign press in Romania, Alison Mutler of the Associated Press (AP) especially. We assume that by now everyone has seen this AP report on Romania’s secret CIA prison, which was first aired [...]

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Sebastian Lazaroiu thinks that direct voting has weakened Romania’s political parties. Somebody needs to tell him Romania does not have a direct voting system

by Craig Turp April 26, 2011 Romanian Politics

 We’ve kept away from Romanian politics for a while: there just doesn’t seem to be much point in writing about such a ridiculous circus. Besides, very little has happened so far this year on the Romanian political scene. President Traian Basescu made a half-hearted attempt at ditching the prime minister, Little Emil Boc, but then [...]

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Rosia Montana: At the end of the day it’s about the rich telling the poor to make do with less

by Craig Turp March 29, 2011 Romania

 We were made aware of these short films yesterday; films which document the wishes of just a handful of the inhabitants of Rosia Montana, a small mining town in the Apuseni Mountains in the north west of Romania. – For those of you unaware of the Rosia Montana controversy,

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Dogs in parliament

by Craig Turp March 8, 2011 Bucharest

 Well, not quite dogs in parliament, but today in Romania’s lower house a vote on the never-ending matter of Romania’s stray dogs should see local councils once again have the power to deal with the stray dog problem as they – and they alone – see fit. This will include the right to kill them. [...]

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Liviu Babes: The man who set himself alight on the slopes at Poiana Brasov

by Craig Turp March 2, 2011 Bucharest

 Yet again, Romanian television station Pro TV came up with the goods last week – and no, we are not talking about Romanii au talent – when it broadcast a report exposing the trade in Certificate de Revolutionar (Revolutionary Certificates). Basically, these certificates ‘prove’ that the holder was directly involved in bringing about the Romanian [...]

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