Romania President Swears In New Foreign Minister

http://www.rferl.org


Romanian President Traian Basescu has sworn in a new foreign minister, a day after Prime Minister Emil Boc sacked his predecessor over disparaging remarks about street protesters.

Small and mainly peaceful protests against austerity measures have been staged daily in the capital and several other Romanian cities for more than 12 days.

Basescu told the new foreign minister, Cristian Diaconescu, that his main mission will be to reaffirm Romania's determination to continue reforms and austerity measures meant to pull the country out of the economic crisis.

"You have a difficult mission -- and I would say, after what I saw on television, almost impossible -- to [relay the message] that Romania has the strength to continue, and this should be the main message to relay to your counterparts in the European Union, those across the Atlantic and others," Basescu said.

Diaconescu, 52, previously served as foreign minister in 2009 in a coalition government led by Boc.

Diaconescu is a former member of the ex-communist opposition Social Democratic Party (PSD) and is now a leader of the newly formed center-left National Union for the Progress of Romania.

His predecessor Teodor Baconschi was fired on January 23 after criticizing on his personal blog demonstrators who clashed with riot police during protests earlier this month in Bucharest.

Protests Continue

Larger protests were held on January 24 as Romania celebrated a national holiday -- the Day of Unity.

At least 2,000 protesters protested outside the government building in Bucharest, and some 5,000 people participated in a protest march organized by opposition parties in the northeastern city of Iasi.

Basescu, in his first public remarks about the protests, accused opposition figures and the private media outlets of indulging in what he called "the joy of destruction," and of undermining and ignoring his government's achievements.

Basescu also compared the leaders of the opposition -- PSD head Victor Ponta and National Liberal Party leader Crin Antonescu -- to Moldova's ex-President Vladimir Voronin, who is also leading the Communist opposition in the Moldovan parliament.

Romania signed up for a 20 billion euro ($26 billion) loan with the IMF, European Union, and World Bank in 2009 to help pay salaries and pensions when the economy shrunk by more than 7 percent.

In 2010, the government raised value added tax from 19 to 24 percent and cut public workers salaries by 25 percent to reduce the budget deficit.

Romanians are also protesting against cronyism and widespread corruption.

Romanians demand elections as prime minister Emil Boc urges unity

Peter Walker
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 24 January 2012

Days of protests in Romania over government austerity measures have intensified, with thousands of demonstrators marching through Bucharest and elsewhere to demand elections.

The crowd in the capital, mainly trade unionists, teachers, nurses and retired army officers, gathered outside the main government building then marched to the HQ of the public television station, accused of being biased in its coverage of the administration of the prime minister, Emil Boc.

The protesters then moved on to University Square, where people have been assembling daily since 13 January.

Otilia Dobrica, a nursery teacher and part-time secretary, said she wanted Boc and his ally, President Traian Basescu, to resign. "I want to regain my dignity, I want this dictatorship formed by president and prime minister to fall," she said.

About 5,000 people chanted anti-government slogans in Iasi, Romania's second city, calling for the elections due in November to be brought forward.

Tuesday Boc address parliament at a special session for Romania's Day of Unity, a national holiday, and urged Romanians to work together to overcome the economic hardship facing the country during the global financial crisis.

The president also addressed the protesters. Basescu said: "I have seen a justified wave of discontent from people who … suffered wage cuts, VAT hike and a cut in certain pensions."

Romania joined the EU in 2007 (though not the eurozone), and its economy enjoyed 8% growth in 2007 and 2008. But in 2009 the economy shrank by more than 7%, leading the government to arrange a £16bn loan with the IMF, EU and World Bank to help pay salaries and pensions.

Following austerity measures imposed under the deal, the economy has limped back into growth, but at the cost of reducing incomes, which are less than half the EU's average. Romania's VAT rose from 19% to 24% in 2010, while public salaries were reduced by a quarter.

Many protesters are also angry at what they see as cronyism and corruption.

In the first weekend of protests more than 30 people were injured in University Square when demonstrators threw bricks while riot police fired teargas. A TV journalist was beaten by one group while broadcasting live.

Boc has made a few concessions in the face of the protests, such as reinstating a popular health official whose resignation prompted one demonstration.

On Monday, he fired his foreign minister, Teodor Baconschi, for having insulted protesters on his personal blog. The future of Romania, Baconschi wrote, would be decided by hard-working people and not by those from the "violent and clueless slums". Cristian Diaconescu, a member of a coalition partner party who has served in both leftist and centrist governments, was sworn in as his replacement on Tuesday.

Boc, who has been in power since December 2008, said in a speech on Monday that the protests were not just aimed at him: "Romanians protest not only because they are unhappy with the austerity measures, but because they are unhappy with the entire political class in Romania, not only with the government."

But, current opinion polls show his PDL party standing at 18% support, while the USL, a leftwing alliance also calling for early elections, has 50%.

Adding to Boc's woes has been the prominence given in the media to anti-government comments by Lt Alexandru Gheorghe, a serving officer. Members of the military are forbidden to join protests, but Gheorghe told the private Antena 3 TV station he had travelled 300 miles to Bucharest from his army base to take part. "I can no longer bear the way we are insulted," he said. "I saw old people beaten, and said to myself that we, the officers, who could die tomorrow in a mission in Afghanistan, must have the courage to fight and tell the truth here in our country."

Romania joined the Nato alliance in 2004, and 1,700 Romanian troops are in Afghanistan. The defence ministry said it was investigating what action to take against Gheorghe.

Unions rally, urge Romanian PM to quit

By Ioana Patran

BUCHAREST, Jan 24 (Reuters) - Thousands of Romanians rallied in Bucharest on Tuesday to demand the government resign over its tough austerity measures, the latest in a wave of protests that have led to some concessions but no change in policy.

The hardship caused by austerity measures passed in 2010 to keep a 20-billion-euro International Monetary Fund-led bailout on track has until recently provoked little of the unrest in Romania that has been witnessed in countries like Greece.

The ruling party's popularity has slumped months before a parliamentary election, expected in November, and anger at public sector pay cuts and an increase in sales tax has mounted.

At rallies last week on Bucharest's University Square, one of the scenes of the 1989 anti-communist revolution, police fired tear gas and demonstrators threw bricks and firebombs.

On Tuesday, about 2,000 trade unionists, teachers, nurses and retired army officers rallied on the broad expanse of Victory Square outside government headquarters to demand Prime Minister Emil Boc and his ally President Traian Basescu resign.

"I want to regain my dignity, I want this dictatorship formed by president and prime minister to fall," said Otilia Dobrica, a kindergarten teacher and part-time secretary who earns 1,400 lei ($420) a month.

Demonstrations bringing together students, pensioners, public sector workers and professionals have spread across the country in the past two weeks.

Boc has made some concessions, sacking his foreign minister for insulting remarks about protesters and reappointing a popular health official whose resignation brought people onto the streets, but he and Basescu remain under pressure.

BURST BUBBLE

Romania had the fastest growth rates in the European Union until the financial crisis of 2008, which plunged its economy into a deep recession and has left it languishing with per capita income less than half the bloc's average.

The IMF safety belt and austerity measures have maintained investor confidence and rebalanced the economy, but growth of 2.5 percent last year is far from enough to close the gap even on post-communist neighbours like Poland and the Czech Republic.

The average wage is less than 400 euros ($520) a month, some villages and even districts of Bucharest have no running water or electricity and horse-drawn carts are widely used in the countryside.

Opinion polls put support for Boc's PDL at 18 percent while backing for the USL, a fragile leftist alliance that has demanded the election be brought forward, is about 50 percent.

Analysts say the protests, the largest since the austerity measures were passed, are raising the pressure on Boc and Basescu but are unlikely to produce changes in government policy, at least for now.

"The government has made many steps back since protests erupted ... and this type of move could represent more fuel for the protesters in the square," said Bogdan Teodorescu, an independent political analyst.

"The government looks very fragile right now."

Romania PM sacks foreign minister for remarks on protest

BUCHAREST | Mon Jan 23, 2012

(Reuters) - Romanian Prime Minister Emil Boc sacked Foreign Minister Teodor Baconschi Monday for comments he made about anti-government protests, seeking to ease public anger and draw a line under more than a week of rallies.

Baconschi said last week that protesters who threw bricks and Molotov cocktails at police were "inept and violent slum-dwellers" and compared them to miners who in the 1990s repeatedly descended on Bucharest and used violence to influence political developments.

"I have taken the decision to recall Foreign Minister Teodor Baconschi and have forwarded a proposal to the Romanian president to remove him from his functions for the comments he made," Boc told parliament.

"I present apologies from the parliamentary tribune to the Romanian public for these verbal errors."

Romania has suffered little of the unrest that has been seen in other countries hit by rising economic hardship. Most of the protests against austerity measures, now in their 11th day, have been peaceful, marked only by sporadic violence.

Demonstrators have gathered in central Bucharest to protest against President Traian Basescu and his close ally Boc, who cut salaries by a quarter and raised sales taxes to cut Romania's deficit and help rebuild the economy.

Those measures helped to keep an International Monetary Fund-led aid deal on track and maintained market confidence, but delayed recovery from a deep recession and has left Boc's PDL party trailing in opinion polls on 18 percent.

A rally of some 7,000 supporters of the opposition USL last week was Bucharest's biggest since 2010 and more protests are planned for this week, notably Tuesday when teachers and nurses are organizing a rally.

The USL, a fragile leftist alliance which has also committed itself to working with the IMF, has about 50 percent support in opinion polls and is well set to win a parliamentary election late this year.

"I totally agree with this decision," said USL co-leader Victor Ponta. "But Romanians had expected much more."

(Reporting by Sam Cage, Radu Marinas and Luiza Ilie; editing by Tim Pearce)

Romanian anti-government protests enter 10th day

Sun, Jan 22 2012

BUCHAREST (Reuters) - Protests demanding the Romanian government resign over its austerity measures continued for a tenth successive day in the capital Bucharest Sunday and in some other cities around the country.

The occasionally violent demonstrations were initially sparked by the resignation of a popular deputy health minister but quickly spread to demand President Traian Basescu and Prime Minister Emil Boc resign.

Boc cut public salaries by a quarter in 2010 and raised sales tax by five percentage points, which have delayed recovery from a deep recession in the European Union's second poorest country, to maintain an International Monetary Fund-led deal.

About 600 people met again at Bucharest's central University Square, symbolic for its role in Romania's anti-communist 1989 revolution, chanting "Down with Basescu" and "Resign" in freezing temperatures and snow flurries.

The unrest in Romania is far from the size of protests in other austerity-hit European countries like Greece, Spain and France but marks the country's worst violence in more than a decade.

A rally of some 7,000 opposition supporters last week was Bucharest's biggest since 2010, when austerity measures were first passed, and more protests are planned for next week.

Opinion polls put Boc's centrist PDL at 18 percent support, compared with about 50 percent for the USL, and analysts say the protests are unlikely to affect policy or force the government out at this stage.

(Reporting by Sam Cage)

NYT: Romanian Protesters Urge Government’s Ouster

January 19, 2012

By NICHOLAS KULISH

BUCHAREST, Romania — Thousands of protesters gathered in Romania’s capital on Thursday to demand the ouster of the government and new elections, as a week of demonstrations against far-reaching austerity measures and years of difficult reforms seemed to gain strength.

Economic frustrations have spilled into the streets here, as they have in Spain and Greece. Protesters in University Square downtown shouted chants calling for the resignation of President Traian Basescu and his ally, Prime Minister Emil Boc.

Around 11 p.m. several demonstrators began dragging metal barricades into the street, and some hurled bottles and other objects at the police. Hundreds of riot police officers in black ski masks moved in, clearing the square and nearby streets. Fifty-five people were arrested, and five were treated for injuries, according to Realitatea TV.

The demonstrations were reminiscent of Sunday’s protests, which turned violent, with demonstrators smashing store windows, setting newsstands on fire and throwing stones at police officers, who dispersed the crowds with tear gas and arrested dozens of people.

The wave of protests, which have spread across the country, broke out after a popular health official resigned last week over government proposals to overhaul the health-care system. The official was reinstated this week, and a controversial proposal to partly privatize the medical emergency-response system has been shelved for now, but the protests have continued.

“I want the president to resign, the prime minister to resign and the entire government to be replaced with experts who are not involved in politics,” said Mihaela Leonte, 31, a hairstylist who joined the raucous crowd in the square in Bucharest on Thursday night. The dispute over the health overhaul “was the final straw,” said Ms. Leonte, who held a picture of President Basescu with the nose of a pig superimposed on his face. “But it is more than that. People are determined.”

Protesters focused much of their anger on Mr. Basescu, a former ship captain whose leadership style has been widely criticized as increasingly authoritarian. They cited cuts to government salaries, frozen pensions and an increase in the value-added tax, as well as what they said was deep-seated corruption and a broader sense that the government served only its own interests and those of its richest constituents.

Many of the same broad themes have been voiced by demonstrators in countries as diverse as Israel and India, from the “indignados,” or outraged, in Spain to the Occupy Wall Street protests that started in New York and spread around the world.

In Romania, news media reported that the unrest had spread over the past week to about 60 cities nationwide. About 7,000 people turned up at a rally in Bucharest on Thursday organized by the opposition National Liberal Party, according to the Ministry of the Interior, and the crowd in the downtown square later was said to number about 1,500.

Romania had to turn to the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the European Union in 2009 for 20 billion euros in emergency loans (about $27 billion at the exchange rates then). In response the government took tough steps to rein in the budget deficit, which was 7.3 percent of gross domestic product that year. Without the spending cuts and tax increases, that could have risen to 13.7 percent in 2010, according to Andreea Paul, an economic adviser to Mr. Boc. Instead the deficit was cut to 6.9 percent in 2010 and an estimated 4.2 percent in 2011, and the economy began to grow again.

“It was not easy at all, politically speaking, but these are times when political leaders separate themselves from demagogic politicians,” said Ms. Paul, who placed blame for the protests on opposition parties trying to drum up discontent in an election year.

Laura Stefan, a senior analyst at the Expert Forum, a research institute in Bucharest, disputed the government’s characterization of the demonstrations as driven by the opposition parties. “Economically, those were sound decisions taken by the government, but that doesn’t mean people were happy with them,” Ms. Stefan said. “It’s not at all an attempt to change the government for the opposition, but people saying that all parties are just as dirty.”

Octavian Caldararu, 75, a retired construction worker, said he was not a member of any party but took part in the opposition rally at Bucharest’s triumphal arch, modeled after the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, to show his displeasure with the direction the country had taken in recent years. “I took part in the revolution in 1989” against the dictator Nicolae Ceausescu, Mr. Caldararu said, “and the ideals of the revolution have not only been forgotten, they have been broken.”

Mr. Ceausescu and his wife were executed on Dec. 25, 1989. Since then, Romania has made significant strides, joining the European Union and NATO. But the recession in the wake of the global financial crisis struck the country of 22 million particularly hard. And even as the economy has recovered here, some Romanians who used to work in other European Union countries whose economies have slowed, particularly Spain and Italy, have been forced to come home, making the search for jobs even harder for the long-term unemployed.

Alexandru Dragan, 46, an electro-technician, said he had been unemployed since 2009 despite having a lengthy résumé and work experience in Germany.

“Regular Romanian citizens who are not a part of any political party should be asked about new laws,” Mr. Dragan said. “If we look at the people, we can find smarter individuals than the ones in the current government.”


Mihai Radu contributed reporting.

Romania’s Alro May Reduce Output on Low Electricity Supplies

Romanian aluminum smelter Alro SA (ALR) may temporarily halt some production, lowering total capacity, or restructure operations as power supplies from hydropower generator Hidroelectrica SA falter.

Alro, majority owned by Vimetco NV (VICO), is trying to avoid an output cut as Hidroelectrica is only providing about 50 percent of needed electricity, forcing the smelter to buy the rest from the overnight market at much higher costs, the company said today in a filing to Bucharest Stock Exchange.

“We are focusing now on maintaining the activity,” Alro Chief Executive Officer Gheorghe Dobra said in the statement. “We are confident that we’ll find an acceptable solution regarding the electricity supplies, and we’ll be able to implement our long-term development strategy inRomania.”

Alro plans to build its own gas-fired power plant with a total capacity of 250 megawatts after it received financing from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and other commercial banks, the company said. The company completed the first step in selecting general contractor for the project.

To contact the reporter on this story: Andra Timu in Bucharest at atimu@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: James M. Gomez at jagomez@bloomberg.net

Romanian riots reveal growing gloom in region

By ALISON MUTLER, Associated Press

BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — Romanian cities are gripped by the worst street violence in over a decade. Slovaks seem poised to re-elect a confrontational and divisive populist. Hungary alarms the European Union with laws that erode democratic rights.

In former Soviet bloc nations now part of the EU, frustration is mounting due to economic stagnation and worrisome governance, encouraging street protests and unpredictability that could jeopardize growth and stability in an already troubled part of the continent.

Many of the problems are common far beyond the region: indebted states hiking taxes and slashing state spending to stay solvent. But the added burdens come to a region that was already grappling with much deeper poverty and corruption than in the West before the global financial crisis hit.

In recent days, the situation has played out most dramatically in Romania, where pent-up fury with the government and an eroding standard of living exploded into days of street protests that at times turned violent. In Bucharest over the weekend, 59 people were injured in fighting that saw riot police turn tear gas on protesters who attacked them with stones and firebombs.

"What happened last weekend is only the beginning," commentator Gabriel Bejan wrote in Tuesday's Romania Libera daily paper. "We are in an important electoral year and such confrontations will be frequent. What will they lead to when nobody seems willing to take a step back?"

Much of the frustration goes back to the way Romania transitioned to democracy after its 1989 coup against dictator Nicolae Ceausescu — with many former communists keeping control of power and resources. The results, today, are seen in entrenched cronyism, a huge gap between rich and poor and a lack of government transparency that feeds a widespread sense of injustice.

"The Mafioso government stole everything we had!" protesters declared on banners at several of the rallies that have taken place in more than a dozen Romanian cities since Thursday and appear set to go on.

Hungarians have also been taking to the streets with increased frequency in recent months over a new constitution and a blizzard of new laws that concentrate power for the right-wing Fidesz party of Prime Minister Viktor Orban.

Freedom House, a U.S. group that carries out a yearly global survey of political freedom and civil liberties, has observed "hints of re-emergent illiberalism" across central Europe, said Christopher Walker, the group's vice president for strategy and analysis.

This year's report, to be published Thursday, will highlight what it sees as a deteriorating climate for civil liberties in Hungary due to threats to the independence of the press and the judiciary.

"Hungary has shown a bent towards illiberalism which is really inconsistent with the European idea," Walker said.

The EU agrees. On Tuesday the EU Commission launched legal challenges against Budapest over its new constitution and other laws which took effect Jan. 1, saying they undermine the independence of the national central bank and the judiciary and do not respect data privacy principles.

Orban's tightening hold on many institutions comes thanks to an overwhelming 2010 victory for his party on the heels of near economic collapse by the previous, Socialist-led government.

But the mounting EU pressure appeared to have some effect: EU Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said Wednesday that he received a letter from Orban promising to modify the legislation that raised EU concerns.

In Slovakia, meanwhile, opinion polls predict a probable return to power in March elections for Robert Fico, a former left-wing prime minister who has also worried Western diplomats with a sympathetic approach toward authoritarian states. Fico took Russia's side during its 2008 war with Georgia — bucking a trend across the former Soviet bloc to express concern over Moscow's use of power. He has also celebrated Fidel Castro's Cuban revolution.

In striking contrast to trouble in much of the region, there is one relative oasis: Poland, the largest of the 10 ex-communist states that joined the EU in recent years. Its economy has seen unusual dynamism given the difficult times, thanks in some part to massive infrastructure projects in recent years as Poland prepares to co-host this summer's European football championships with Ukraine.

But economists fear that its economy, too, could lose momentum after the Euro 2012 and with far-ranging austerity measures set to start taking effect this year in an effort to keep state debt from spiraling out of control.

But for now, anger is clearly greater in Hungary and Romania, and in both places the unfolding developments are shaped greatly by the legacy of communist rule.

In Hungary, Orban has justified his upending of the country's laws by arguing that the former communists and their way of thinking were never purged entirely from democratic Hungary.

Romania sees many of its problems exacerbated by the continued rule of some former communists, including President Traian Basescu, 60, who under Ceausescu was a ship captain for the state shipping company Navrom in Antwerp. That was a position of privilege which allowed him to earn coveted hard currency.

Feeding frustration is a sense that there is too little transparency over the doings, past and present, of Romania's leaders.

More than two decades after the overthrow of Ceausescu, authorities have opened only a handful of the files of the former dreaded Securitate secret police, which had 760,000 informers in a nation of 22 million. Former agents are believed to be active in politics, business and the media — though the public has never been given the full picture.

Also, only a handful of senior officials were ever tried for the mass shootings of unarmed civilians in the 1989 revolution, perpetuating a sense that that story, too, is being covered up.

A political analyst who has studied the revolutions of Eastern Europe, Christopher Chivvers with the RAND Corporation, sees many of today's injustices as being rooted in the overly rapid move toward a market economy in the 1990s.

When state-run industries were privatized then, it was generally only the former communist apparatchiks who knew how to maneuver the system to take hold of them and run them.

"Those who had the know-how — the former regime officials — were able to snatch up large amounts of former state property in ways that ultimately entrenched their position in society and in the state," said Chivvers, who is also a professor in European studies at Johns Hopkins University.

Many Romanians express deep frustration over this.

"We still have unanswered questions regarding shady privatization deals made in the 90s," said Cristina, a Romanian woman who asked that her last name not be published because she works for the government and fears retribution.

Vanessa Gera reported from Warsaw, Poland. Associated Press writer Karel Janicek contributed from Prague.

Romanian Media Groups Express Concern Over Police Targeting Of Journalists

BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — Demonstrations against Romania's harsh austerity measures took place across the country again on Wednesday, with protesters demanding the government's resignation.

In Strasbourg, France, Martin Schulz, the newly elected chief of the European Parliament, said Romanian officials should take urgent economic action to improve the public's living standards. He said governments in all countries, but especially hard-hit Romania, should listen to protesters and their grievances.

A total of about 2,000 people, including 300 in Bucharest, were taking part Wednesday's peaceful demonstrations in cities across Romania — as they now have for seven days in a row.

Opposition leaders urged Prime Minister Emil Boc to fire his interior minister and begin talks on early elections to replace his government. Boc rejected both demands, saying early elections are not justified because Romania has a ballot scheduled next fall.

In 2009, Romania took a two-year euro20 billion ($27.5 billion) loan from the International Monetary Fund, the European Union and the World Bank as its economy shrank by 7.1 percent. It imposed harsh austerity measures under the agreement, reducing public wages by 25 percent and increasing taxes. Anger has mounted over the wage cuts, slashed benefits, higher taxes and widespread corruption.

In another development Wednesday, a media organization urged Romanian authorities to identify and prosecute protesters and policemen who reportedly attacked nine journalists during previous violent anti-government demonstrations.

The Vienna-based South East Europe Media Organization said that reporters were assaulted while covering protests against the austerity measures that degenerated into violence in Bucharest on Sunday and Monday. At least 59 people were injured during the disturbances.

The media organization said the exact number of attacked journalists is not known. However, it mentioned nine cases of journalists and other media employees who were either hit by stones and Molotov cocktails hurled by protesters or allegedly detained or beaten by riot police.

The Romanian Press Club, which represents journalists in Romania, expressed concern over "some excessive actions" by police who allegedly targeted journalists. Chairwoman Indira Crasnea said Wednesday the club is aware of up to five cases of journalists who were attacked in the first days of the protest when the police were "tougher" in their handling of violent demonstrators.

The opposition said it will organize another protest march on Thursday.

___

AP writer Alison Mutler contributed from Bucharest.

Viewpoint: Romania protests a warning from the street

BBC News
EUROPE

By Sorin IonitaAnalyst, Expert Forum

"Brutal and unthinkable in a West European country." That was the verdict on two years of Romanian austerity measures from Andreas Treichl, the president of Austria's Erste Group, the largest foreign investor in the Romanian banking sector.

But he added that "Easterners are used to brutality", placing the measures taken in response to the global crisis in the broader context of hardship as a result of post-communist transition: the job losses, 25% public salary cuts, pension freezes and harsh reductions in social security benefits.

Whether he really meant it as a praise for Romanian resilience against adversity is a good question.

In any case, it is no longer true. A wave of spontaneous protests began last week, directed against the centre-right coalition government, and especially against President Traian Basescu, who since early 2010 has played the role of main communicator and driving force behind the austerity package.TV spat

The trigger was a live, televised spat between President Basescu and junior health minister Dr Raed Arafat, a physician who is well-known and respected for reforming almost single-handedly, largely against the wish of the old medical establishment, the ambulance-paramedics system.

When the president blamed Dr Arafat for blocking an important health care reform law because "he was a leftie who didn't like privatisation and competition", the public instinctively stood with the austere doctor against the rude and flamboyant politician.

Their response was even more remarkable in a Latin nation with little experience of immigration and occasional inclinations towards jingoism, since Dr Arafat is a Palestinian, born in the West Bank city of Nablus, who came to Romania for the first time in the 1980s as a medical student.

When he resigned from the Ministry of Health, crowds began to gather in the streets of Bucharest and Targu Mures, the Transylvanian city where he studied and began his career.

In the capital, demonstrators used Facebook to co-ordinate and marched around the presidential residence with Dr Arafat's portrait.

Sensing trouble, the president asked the government the next day to withdraw the controversial draft law.Riot police

But it was too late: the protests had taken on a life of their own.

On Saturday, Bucharest saw clashes between riot police and a few radical groups - apparently organised football fans, who had infiltrated the meetings with their usual arsenal of pyrotechnics.

By starting a gratuitous war with a popular figure, President Basescu merely popped a bubble of social tensions which had been accumulating since the beginning of the crisis.

From the second day of the protests, few people in the street were mentioning the health care law or Dr Arafat any more. The government has now humbly asked him to return, and he has agreed.

Older people are complaining about pensions, salaries and prices.

Students and professionals are unhappy about corruption or the coupling of local and parliamentary elections later this year (a tactical move by the government thought to increase their chances).

Eco-activists are fighting a large, open-pit mining project believed to be favoured by the president and the ruling party. And nastier fringes are grumbling about foreigners and the freemasonry which they see as trying to enslave the country through global financial machinations.

On the other hand, it is also true that there have been relatively few protesters all along: on one day the police put the total at about 13,000, spread around 50 Romanian cities and towns, with a maximum of 1,500 in Bucharest.

It is unlikely that the government will be unseated by such small crowds, and the numbers are falling.Mistrust of politicians

The opposition Social Democrats and Liberals are trying hard to capitalise on the street events: there are signs that in many locations that their youth organisations have played a part in organising the demonstrations.

But open involvement for them is risky: senior opposition figures were booed by the genuine protesters on a par with the government. And the same has happened to other marginal, populist would-be leaders, in a sign that the political class in general is distrusted, not just the ruling power.

Their use of excessive language - "dictatorship", "tyranny" - when most commercial media are harshly critical of the government and public TV has broadcast live the protests for four to five hours a day - may play well with the hardcore activists but is likely to alienate the silent majority, who are otherwise not necessarily sympathetic to the president.

In short, Romanian society has risen up against its political leaders - but not very high.

There is still a long way to go before the protests reach the critical mass and coherence of the Spanish "indignados" or other "Occupy" movements.

Nevertheless, President Basescu and the ruling coalition would be ill advised to ignore the message of the street.

Sorin Ionita is an analyst with independent Bucharest think tank Expert Forum

Romania to sell 10 pct stakes in power producers

Wed Jan 18, 2012

BUCHAREST Jan 18 (Reuters) - Romania's government approved a plan to sell 10 percent stakes in state-owned power producers Hidroelectrica and Nuclearelectrica, it said on Wednesday.

Romania completed a 20 billion euro bailout led by the International Monetary Fund earlier this year and has a new deal, under which it pledged to sell small stakes in transport and energy firms to increase efficiency and raise revenues.

But the failure to sell a 10 percent stake in oil and gas group Petrom last year raised doubts over whether it could sell other holdings, particularly as markets have since fallen due to the euro zone debt crisis.

An IMF mission will be in Bucharest on Jan. 25 to review Romania's progress in meeting conditions of its aid deal and it is likely it will recommend steady progress with selloff plans.

(Reporting by Sam Cage; Editing by Luiza Ilie)

Romania Opposition Union Would Win General Election, Poll Shows

Jan. 18 (Bloomberg) -- Romania’s two main opposition parties, which are cooperating in an alliance, would take most votes in a general election, followed by the ruling Democrat Liberals, a poll showed.

The opposition Social-Liberal Union, formed by the Social Democrats and Liberals, would get 48 percent of the vote, while the ruling Liberal Democrats would garner 21 percent, according to a poll conducted between Dec. 20 and Dec. 30 by Bucharest- based pollster CSOP.

The People’s Party, newly-founded by media owner Dan Diaconescu, would also get 12 percent, while the Democratic Union of Hungarians in Romania, an ethnic minority party which is part of the current governing coalition, would win 6 percent, according to the poll published by the Romanian newspaper Evenimentul Zilei today.

Prime Minister Emil Boc’s coalition government faces growing opposition to its austerity budget ahead of a general election scheduled for later this year, as it froze wages and pensions and plans to trim state jobs. Thousands have protested across the country over the past six days against the government and President Traian Basescu, who is backed by the Liberal Democrats.

The poll is based on interviews with 1,033 people across the country. No margin of error was released.

--Editors: Douglas Lytle, Alan Crosby

To contact the reporter on this story: Irina Savu in Bucharest at isavu@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: James M. Gomez at jagomez@bloomberg.net

In Romania, protesters find voice after years of apathy

BELGRADE, SERBIA

On Tuesday, Romania's government moved to reinstate a popular minister whose resignation triggered days of protests. Frustration over corruption and austerity has been building.

By Andrew MacDowall / January 17, 2012
The Christian Science Monitor

Protests drawing thousands to the streets and leading to violent clashes in Romania have brought years of anger about economic stagnation and official corruption to the surface. On Tuesday night, the future of the government remained uncertain as demonstrators continued to call for the president’s resignation.

The country of 22 million people, one of the newest, most populous, and poorest EU members, is undertaking a long haul out of its economic crisis, and austerity measures are cutting deep. The perception of a remote, authoritarian, and corrupt political and economic elite that has changed little since the days of Communism has exacerbated public frustration.

But the protests have added a new dynamic to Romania’s political and social scene. After some years of apathy, public anger and a desire for change are being expressed on Romanian streets again. The demonstrations forced the government Tuesday to reinstate popular deputy health minister Raed Arafat, whose departure triggered the protests last week.

“The Arafat affair could just be the tip of the iceberg,” says political analyst Dorel Sandor. “It’s opened a [Pandora’s] box, revealing a lot of sensitive issues – this is very new for Romanian society. While the protests have not been that large, they are a very important signal.”

Mr. Arafat is viewed as a rare example of efficiency and transparency in modern Romania. He resigned last week after an acrimonious public dispute with President Traian Basescu over a new health bill that would generate greater private participation in emergency health services. In a live television program where viewers can call in, a favorite Basescu platform, the president attacked Arafat in personal terms.

Ongoing austerity measures is one of the many issues being protested. Following several years of high growth and rising government spending, in 2009 Romania accepted a €20 billion loan from the IMF, and in turn imposed a 25 percent cut in public sector salaries and a 5 percent increase in value-added taxes. Many state jobs were also eliminated. During this time, Romanians have grown less tolerant of Basescu, seeing him as increasingly aloof and authoritarian.

But while the demonstrators have focused on the president, leading Romanian journalist Ovidiu Nahoi says he believes the root cause of dissatisfaction is more complex and dates back to before 2009.
Corruption looms large

“The protests aren’t just against one person,” he said. “Pensions, prices, poverty, injustice, and corruption are all major issues that have been amplified by austerity. People are protesting not just against austerity, but against a political system seen to be corrupt and unjust. They want a new structure of society.”

The demonstrations, which entered their sixth day on Tuesday, have been predominantly peaceful and relatively small, but several hundred people have been arrested and dozens wounded. Protesters have set fire to cars and buildings and have hurled bricks and chunks of concrete at police, who in turn have been accused of violent response.

Despite Arafat’s return this week, and the rapid scrapping of the president's controversial health bill, protesters have threatened to continue rallying until the embattled Basescu resigns. Many believe it is unlikely the protesters, who are portraying themselves as the European equivalent of the Arab Spring, will topple the Basescu government before this year's election.

Furthermore, the president is strongly allied with Prime Minister Emil Boc, who has a small but sustainable majority in parliament. Though the current government is expected to hold its ground, if there is a split, it is far from certain the opposition, which is divided and tainted by previous stints in power, will be able to answer protesters' calls for change.

Romania PM reappoints deputy minister to ease anger

BUCHAREST, Jan 17 (Reuters) - Romania's Prime Minister Emil Boc on Tuesday reappointed a popular deputy health minister, whose resignation last week over proposed healthcare reforms sparked violent protests across the country.

Raed Arafat, a respected Palestinian-born doctor who created an efficient medical emergency system in Romania, resigned after criticising the draft bill, which aimed to privatise parts of the health system and is backed by President Traian Basescu.

Protests which initially began on Thursday in support of Arafat have widened to express general discontent against government spending cuts. Arafat's return is unlikely to satisfy thousands of Romanians who have staged street protests for five straight days and are gearing up for more.

Protests in Bucharest on Tuesday drew more than 1,000 people but were largely peaceful. More rallies were expected on Wednesday, riot police officials have said. Thousands of protesters demonstrated in other cities.

"The protests signify an undercurrent of strong anti-Basescu feeling as well as discontent with the government's austerity measures," Barclays Capital' Daniel Hewitt said in a note.

"This is hardly a game changer, but it is negative for the government because Romania had been relatively quiet for some time."

Riot police estimated that a total 13,000 protesters have hit the streets across the country since Friday. Bucharest has seen Romania's worst unrest in more than a decade.

Small rallies in support of Arafat quickly turned into wider protests calling for the resignation of Basescu and Boc's centrist coalition government, even though it has now withdrawn the healthcare bill.

"He will resume his job as deputy health minister," Boc told reporters. "Mr Arafat remains the same expert and professional in his field ... and will be part of the team working on the new healthcare bill."

Unlike other European states, Romania had managed to avoid violent protests despite cutting state wages and jobs, freezing pensions and raising value added tax in 2010 to shore up public finances it committed under an international aid deal.

In Bucharest at the weekend, protesters smashed windows, set fire to newspaper stands and rubbish bins, damaged bus stops and buildings and hurled stones at riot police, who used tear gas.

"I think officials realised they have made a mistake in pushing away a reputed expert," said Cristian Patrasconiu, a political commentator. "But this move will not cancel the idea of protests, which have long ago moved to other topics than healthcare."

Earlier in the day, Romanian media said the International Monetary Fund had postponed a mission to review Romania's precautionary aid deal due to the protests but the Fund said it would stick to its scheduled visit which starts on Jan. 25.

"In contrast to what has just been reported in the press today, the IMF mission is still on schedule as indicated in the press notice previously sent," it said in a statement.

Romanian health official who resignation sparked days of violent protests returns to job

BUCHAREST, Romania — Romania’s prime minister said Tuesday that a popular health official whose resignation sparked days of sometimes violent protests across the country will return to his job, in what was seen as a step to defuse widespread public anger at the government.

Premier Emil Boc said Raed Arafat — who has publicly clashed with the government over a controversial law allowing for some privatization of emergency services — will return to his Heath Ministry post later Tuesday and will be part of a team drafting a new health care law.

Dozens of demonstrators gathered in downtown Bucharest, Monday as Romania’s prime minister warned that violent protests that left 59 injured over the weekend could jeopardize stability and economic growth. Police on Sunday clashed with a small contingent of around 1,000 protesters in the capital, after four days of demonstrations against austerity measures turned violent. Tear gas and flares were used to repel demonstrators hurling stones and firebombs.

But as night fell Tuesday, about 200 anti-government protesters gathered in downtown Bucharest and yelled slogans such as “Resignation!” and “Down with Basescu!” referring to Romanian President Traian Basescu.

Protesters have raged for five days over austerity cuts and falling living standards. Protesters have gathered in freezing temperatures, chanting “Freedom!” and holding banners saying “Hunger and poverty have gripped Romania!” Authorities said that more than 10,500 people took part Monday.

Boc called Arafat “an expert and professional,” saying both sides wanted to resume working together. Arafat earlier met with Basescu.

Police said they fined 247 people, and 36 were charged with illegally carrying knives, vandalism or disturbing public order during Monday’s protests in Bucharest and other Romanian cities.

Romania Paid Overdue Debt in December to Ease 2012 Burden

Romania paid its overdue debt to private companies in December and met its 2011 budget deficit target of 4.4 percent of gross domestic product, Finance Minister Gheorghe Ialomitianu.

The Balkan nation has taken advantage of higher than estimated revenue, which helped it keep the budget gap to about 3 percent of GDP at the end of November, and paid its arrears to companies as agreed with the International Monetary Fund, Ialomitianu told reporters today in Bucharest.

“We paid our debts in December and we reduced the payment burden for this year,” Ialomitianu said.

The government plans to narrow its budget deficit to about 1.9 percent of GDP this year to meet pledges to the International Monetary Fund and the European Union, from which it secured a 5-billion-euro ($6.4 billion) precautionary accord.

To contact the reporter on this story: Andra Timu in Bucharest at atimu@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: James M. Gomez at jagomez@bloomberg.net

Romanian flu vaccines recalled

BUCHAREST, Romania, Jan. 17 (UPI) -- A flu vaccination program in Romania was suspended Monday due to the poor quality of the vaccines, officials said.

About 350,000 doses of the vaccine will be withdrawn from use, the news agency Romanian Times reported.

Health Minister Ritli Ladislau said the medicine was produced by the Romanian Cantacuzino Institute, and that its effect against the three most common influenza viruses had not been ensured. He also asked for an emergency report regarding the immunological value of the vaccine.

The vaccination program will be suspended until an analysis has been completed.

The ministry purchased 1 million flu vaccines at a cost of 2.5 million Euros ($3.2 million) to dispense free of charge to high-risk citizens. Ladislau also said that the money will be recovered.