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| THE WEEK IN REVIEW 14-20/12/2009 |
| (2009-12-18) |
| Last updated: 2009-12-21 13:53 EET |
The Constitutional Court validated Traian Basescu as president of Romania for a second 5-year term in office, following a recount of spoiled ballots which confirmed his lead over his challenger, the Social Democrat Mircea Geoana. At the validation ceremony, Traian Basescu promised to be a president for all Romanians from inside and outside the country’s borders. He recalled that Romania is going through a difficult situation and said solidarity was needed more than ever. After talks with all parliamentary parties, he charged Emil Boc with the formation of a new government. Boc is the leader of the pro-presidential Liberal Democratic Party and his cabinet fell through a no-confidence motion in Parliament this autumn. Here’s how Traian Basescu justified his decision to nominate Emil Boc:
“He is a man dedicated to public service, a man who has done his duty as a member of parliament, as a mayor and as a prime minister. He is a man open to dialogue, a man who is open to dialogue, a man who has taken on the responsibility of implementing the extremely difficult measures established in the international financing agreements ratified by Romania’s parliament, namely the loan agreement with the European Union, the World bank and the International Monetary Fund.”
Quite predictably, the opposition criticised Emil Boc's appointment and blamed the president for missing the opportunity of national reconciliation. The Social Democrat leader Mircea Geoana:
“It's an unfortunate choice, which proves that, Traian Basescu's second term in office is going to be just like his first maybe even worse than. By deciding to appoint an obedient PM, Mr. Basescu missed the historic chance of providing the national reconciliation project that Romania so badly needs.”
According to the head of the National Liberal Party, who announced his party decided to stay in opposition, Romanians shouldn't expect too much from the new government. Crin Antonescu:
“The fact that the president appointed the only Prime Minister sacked by Parliament through a no-confidence motion is clear evidence that the president does not care about such things, that the only criterion that a prime-minister must meet is that of complete docility towards the president.”
Following his appointment as PM, Emil Boc has said he will continue the implementation of the measures he started taking during his first term in office:
“I'm taking over this office in order to do what must be done for Romania. First of all, we need a government able to ensure the stability of the country and we also need the 2010 budget to be passed by the government and Parliament in early January .”
President Traian Basescu has voiced hope that the new cabinet can take office by December 23rd. The haste is motivated by the difficult economic situation that Romania is facing. Forced to borrow 20 billion Euros from the external market, Bucharest has so far received one third of this loan, as the IMF and the European Commission have decided to postpone talks with the Romanian authorities until the political situation in Romania becomes stable. This week, however, representatives of the two international bodies came to Bucharest, and it seems that provided it fulfils its obligations, Romania might get two payments of its foreign loan in February.
Snow and blizzard have hit Romania hard this week. Air and railway traffic has been seriously affected and many roads have been blocked. Hundreds of people caught by the bad weather while travelling were forced to stay in their cars for hours. Due to the low temperatures, several homeless people have died. Meteorologists have warned that it will continue to snow in the coming days, though not quite so heavily.
The martyr city of Timisoara, in western Romania, has celebrated 20 years since the protests that sparked the 1989 anti-communist revolution in Romania. Timisoara is the place where the first victims of the revolution fell on December 17th 1989. Religious services and other events were held in memory of the victims. From Timisioara, the revolution spark spread to other cities to culminate in Bucharest on December 22nd, the day when the Ceausescu regime fell. Over one thousand people were killed in the events.
None of the four football teams that represented Romania in the Europa League groups has qualified for the European spring. In the last two games, the vice-champion FC Timisoara beat the Croatian squad Dinamo Zagreb 2-1, and Steaua Bucharest ended in a 1 all draw the game against Twente from the Netherlands. Dinamo Bucharest and CFR Cluj have also failed to qualify for Europa League's last 32, where Romania will be represented by the champion Unirea Urziceni, which came in third in its Champions League group.
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2025-04-03
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