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| THE YEAR IN REVIEW (PART I ) |
| (2007-12-27) |
| Last updated: 2007-12-31 20:03 EET |
2007 has been the first year for Romania as a EU member. It has also been marked by strong dissent between the president and the prime minister, a year which has seen two referenda, as well as the first European parliamentary election.
The local political scene has seen major changes, while the Christian Orthodox community, which is the prevailing denomination in Romania, was bereaved, after Teoctist, the 5th Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church passed away.
It was also in 2007 that the central city of Sibiu was declared European capital of culture, drawing throngs of foreign and Romanian tourists. Also culture-wise, it is worth recalling that for the first time, a Romanian long-reel received the Palme d'Or award at the 60th Cannes Film Festival: Cristian Mungiu's movie '4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days'.
But here is Brussels' assessment of our country's first year as a EU member. Jose Manuel Barroso, president of the European Commission, in an interview with Radio Romania:
“This first year has been a great success for Romania and Europe. There have also been difficulties, as is well known, which is why we imposed monitoring mechanisms, but the overall situation has been a success. The EU is involved in Romania's economic and social development. To confirm this, in the following years, Bucharest will receive 30 billion euros, which the European Commission will manage jointly with Romania.”
Analyst Cristian Parvulescu defines 2007 as an adjustment year:
“I know that many people have criticised Romania's inability to absorb structural funds. However, at a more realistic look, Romania's position is similar to that the states which joined the EU in 2004. The absorption of structural funds in the first year, is slow, due to community mechanisms, because the adaptation of administrative mechanisms. We will certainly catch up with apparently lost time, as was the case before, because the first clear contact with the EU and the European Commission only came to an end in June, and that concerned regional development policies. I believe, however, that to a large extent, Romania's image in the EU has been affected mainly due to the domestic political conflict, the conflict opposing the president and the government, as well as the president and parliament. Before October’s election, Poland had been seen as the sick state of Europe. This image is increasingly emerging as Romania's own image, and this could take its toll on its capacity to influence European policies, especially since European parliamentary election was delayed until November, that is by more than half a year. All this has left a negative mark on Romania's image and diminished confidence in its ability to adjust to European practises.”
The political scene has seen some upheaval. Previously part of the governing alliance, the Democrats were removed from power by a reshufflement conducted by the Liberals. Opponents of prime minister Calin Popescu Tariceanu in the Liberal Party split off from the party to set up the Liberal Democratic Party, while in December, the Democratic Party and the Liberal Democratic Party merged to give rise to the center-right Democratic Liberal Party. This party belongs to the European Popular Party and is president Traian Basescu's stoutest support. Analyst Cristian Parvulescu believes this dynamic has met expectations:
“Relations between the National Liberal Party and the Democratic Party within the Justice and Truth Alliance, DA, got tense as early as the summer of 2005 and continued to sour mostly because of the institutional conflict between the president and the government. The Social Democratic Party, in its attempt to get out of the parliamentary isolation it was in , in 2005, planned to hasten the dissolution of the DA alliance. In fact, it was successful in its attempt, because in early April 2007, Tariceanu ousted representatives of the Democratic Party from the government and at that moment we saw themselves in a strange situation, having a minority government which still enjoys the support of only 20% of the MPs-and a fractured opposition, that is a pro-presidential opposition made up of the Democratic Party and -later on -by the Democratic Liberal Party, and a Socialist and nationalist opposition. Because of this situation, the government was able to remain at the Victoria Palace, but its capacity of imposing strong government policies has decreased considerably, because every policy should be negotiated with various parts of the opposition. This situation is the outcome of the institutional conflict between the president and the government, primarily between the president and the prime minister, a conflict which is caused by the wish to hold control of power in Romania.”
Two referenda were held in Romania this year-in May, the Romanians voted for president Traian Basescu’s remaining in power and in November for the introduction of the uninominal voting system. The turnout was low in both cases. Cristian Parvulescu again:
”It is true, but the turnout in the May the 19th referendum was almost 45%, whereas in the November the 25th referendum it stood at only 26%. It was a significant decrease which stirred many disputes and sparked internal conflicts, because there were people speaking about the legitimacy of the referendum, apart from the aspects related to its legality. It is very clear that the November referendum on the introduction of the uninominal system was in fact aimed at repositioning president Basescu, at putting him in accord with the political parties, allowing him to start the year 2008 in force. It didn’t happen like that, as back then, the president used other methods to be able to take initiative at political level. First and foremost I believe the merger between the Democratic Party and the Liberal Democratic Party, which was most likely than not initiated by the presidency was one of the president’s attempts to keep control and particularly to anticipate his adversaries’ moves. President Traian Basescu wanted to be able to consolidate his political position in 2008-2009 and to get wide parliamentary support, especially due to a predictable victory of the new party-The Liberal Democratic Party.”
(Corina Cristea)
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