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| THE WEEK IN REVIEW (30.04-06.05.07) |
| (2007-05-04) |
| Last updated: 2007-05-04 20:25 EET |
In Romania, the campaign for the May 19th referendum on President Traian Basescu's impeachment is in full swing. On April 19th, Parliament suspended the President under the accusation of having violated the Constitution. The suspension was the result of an action initiated by the Social- Democrat opposition that was joined by PM Calin Popescu Tariceanu's Liberals. The largest part of the campaign consists of pro or anti-Basescu public meetings and, to a lesser extent, radio and television shows.
This week has seen rallies of support for the suspended president both at home and abroad. Associations of Romanians in Europe and the US have called, in a petition addressed to the Presidency, the Government and the Foreign Ministry, to be given the chance to vote in a referendum. They claim that their right to vote is limited due to the small number of polling stations available for them abroad. More than 1.2 million Romanian citizens are currently living abroad on a legal basis. In the 2004 presidential election, most Romanians abroad voted for Traian Basescu. The Romanian Foreign Ministry announced they would be given the possibility to vote at the referendum in 159 polling stations located in 94 countries, within the Romanian embassies or consulates.
Also this week, the Constitutional Court has decided that the President of Romania can be impeached by a majority of the votes cast by the citizens participating in the referendum. The law previously stipulated that impeachment would require a majority of votes cast by those citizens included on the electoral lists. After the Court had made this ruling, Basescu said he would not comment on the judges' decision and that quote “people should judge on their own why the rules of the game are changed during the game”unquote. He said the referendum would be a key-moment that will allow the electorate to choose the Romania in which they want to live. Opinion polls show that Basescu remains the most popular politician in Romania.
The Romanian Parliament voted, on Wednesday, in favour of stationing American troops on Romanian territory, under a bilateral accord signed in 2005. Under the accord, the number of American soldiers to be stationed in these bases by 2008 will reach 1,500 and in ten years' time their number will rise to 3 thousand. They will be deployed in bases made available by the Romanian authorities in the Black Sea area, namely at Babadag and Mihail Kogalniceanu, on the Danube, at Smardan, and in the Carpathians at Cincu. The air base in Mihail Kogalniceanu was already used in 2003 as a take off and logistics base for the American aircraft participating in the intervention in Iraq. Prime Minister Calin Popescu Tariceanu said the Parliamentary vote confirmed the Romanian-American partnership in the fight against terrorism.
The Prime Minister believes the stationing of the American troops brings benefits to Romania.
“The privileged military relations with the Washington authorities will lead to the strengthening of bilateral cooperation at all levels and will generate greater trust in the business environment. Other consequences of this decision will be the development of high level political dialogue between the governments of the two countries, and, at European level, the assertion of Romania as a leading actor with an active role in deepening trans-Atlantic relations”.
Since 1994, on May 3rd the world has celebrated International Press Freedom Day. Each year on this date, the American NGO Freedom House releases a report on the freedom of the press worldwide. According to the 2007 report, Romania ranks 90th out of 195 states in terms of the freedom of the press, 6 places up as compared to 2006. However, Romania continues to be considered a country with a ‘partially free press’. Criticism is levelled at the re-incrimination of slander and libel in the press, previously removed from the Penal Code in 2005.
The prosecutors' lack of discrimination has also been attacked, as, when investigating leaks of classified information, they fail to punish officials who allow leaks to take place, and instead pursue the journalists who publish such information. As to economic pressure, Freedom House draws attention to the monopoly tendency that can be seen in the big media trusts. According to the American organization, the press in Romania, especially in the provinces, is still dependent on state-funded publicity, and most newspapers are owned by a local baron. In Bucharest many newspapers, radio and television stations have been concentrated in the hands of several characters who hold financial and political power.
In terms of political pressure, Freedom House notices a “substantial” improvement of the freedom of the press after the latest presidential election won by Traian Basescu. He proved less interested in controlling and manipulating the press, unlike the big loser of the 2004 election, Adrian Nastase. Between 2000- 2004, Nastase punished critical newspapers and TV stations by placing pressure on employers. He placed his faithful supporters at the head of the public radio and TV stations or bought the goodwill of certain trusts through publicity contracts paid from public money, or by writing off various debts to the state.
At present, the Press Monitoring Agency, a Romanian NGO, claims that political pressure no longer comes from the authorities but from employers and press owners themselves.
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