Romanian Politics

Servire l'Ideologia: Storiografia e Nazionalismo nella Romania di Ceausescu

by Francesco Zavatti

This article originally appeared on Modena History Institute's "Annale 2011", Edizioni Artestampa, Modena, 2011, pp. 44-51. Written in Italian (English version will come soon).

From the "Fortress Europe" to a Democratic Confederation: Romanian

by Mihai Sebe

Paper presented in the international conference "European Integration Realities and Perspectives", Galati, May 13 - 14 2011

The end of the First World War, with its dramatic changes, opens up the way for a fresh thing as regards Europe. From... more The end of the First World War, with its dramatic changes, opens up the way for a fresh thing as regards Europe. From now on we will be dealing with a thinking balancing between two extremes. On one hand we will have the idea of a Confederation, a union of equals, free and democratic states. On the other side there is the vision of a united Europe under a totalitarian regime, a continent whose frontiers are gone due to the brute force of a totalitarian regime. The start of the Second World War will first favor the Nazi totalitarian ideas on the future of Europe. We will have then a united Europe under the German rule, with a dominant master race. On the opposite side the democratic speech on Europe tends to continue the Inter-war ideals. The Romanian thinkers are also influenced by the European ideas. If in the beginning their speech was influenced by the totalitarian influence, later on, as the tide of war changes they will go toward a more democratic version of the European construction. Europe must be united, the states must be equals and every European coordination mechanism must take into consideration the national sovereignty.

Constitutional Conflicts between Politics and Law in Transition Societies: A Systems-Theoretical Approach

by Michael Hein

Published in: Studies of Transition States and Societies 3 (2011) 1, pp. 3–23.

Post-autocratic transitions are often followed by constitutional conflicts between state powers. With respect to the... more Post-autocratic transitions are often followed by constitutional conflicts between state powers. With respect to the question of rule of law in young democracies, clashes between the executive and legislative branches, on the one hand, and the judiciary and constitutional courts, on the other, as well as those between ordinary and constitutional courts are particularly virulent. All these conflicts have massively affected the key distinction between politics and law that had been mainly violated in the previous autocratic regimes. Based on Niklas Luhmann’s theory, this article presents a systems-theoretical approach in order to explain the occurrence of these constitutional conflicts. The central argument reads as follows: constitutional conflicts between politics and law will occur under two circumstances—if a constitutional order allows the decision of legal questions based on political criteria or vice versa, and if a constitutional order allows the judiciary or the constitutional court to decide political questions based on political criteria. This argument is further substantiated by means of two exploratory case studies with a special emphasis on post-socialist transitions in Central and Eastern Europe. The main results are eight detailed hypotheses on the question of when, in constitutional orders, and under what circumstances are constitutional conflicts to be expected.

On Dead Aunts and Exchanged Estates. The Fight Against Government Corruption in Romania and the Role of the Parliament (in German).

by Michael Hein

published in: Zeitschrift für Parlamentsfragen, vol. 40 (2009), pp. 824–840.

From late 2006 to early 2009, Romania underwent a constitutional conflict concerning the opportunities to fight... more From late 2006 to early 2009, Romania underwent a constitutional conflict concerning the opportunities to fight government corruption. In this conflict, the vast majority of the political elite tried to prevent former and current members of government from being prosecuted in criminal proceedings, namely in corruption cases. In particular, eight leading politicians were involved, including former Prime Minister Adrian Nastase. The cause of the conflict can be found in the Constitution of 1991, which entitled the parliament as well as the president with the competence to decide on prosecution attempts against government members. In the course of the conflict, many formal constitutional and legal obstacles have been removed, not least through five Constitutional Court rulings. Nevertheless, the impression prevails that the political elite mainly exploits the issue of corruption in their mutual conflicts instead of faithfully trying to solve the problem itself. As a result, so far, not a single former or current government member has been convicted by a court of ultimate resort. Consequently, the prospects of successfully fighting grand political corruption in Romania are sceptically assessed.

Stop Smoking within USAMV Cluj-Napoca and All Romanian University campuses and Anywhere in the World – for a Sustainable Romania and Development – The Human and His Decisions is the Most Contaminating Aggregate (Romanian language article with English abstract)

by Adrian Toader-Williams

Author: Adrian Toader-Williams
Keywords: Stop smoking, university campus, Romania, economy, ecology, sustainable development, public health, world economy, personal health, efficiency, academic performance, public policy, law, terms conditions, human mind, bureaucracy, interests, education, life sciences, research, tobacco, natural resources, campaign, Global impact, 31 may, WHO, World Health Organization, OMS, Organizaţia Mondială a Sănătăţii, FĂ FIECARE ZI  ZIUA MONDIALĂ FĂRĂ TUTUN, Make Every Day World No Tobacco Day, University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine Cluj-Napoca, USAMV Cluj-Napoca,

The article is in Romanian language and it marks the beginning of Stop Smoking campaign within the University campuses... more The article is in Romanian language and it marks the beginning of Stop Smoking campaign within the University campuses in Romania, starting with the University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine Cluj-Napoca. It encourages students and professors to stop smoking on the campus and anywhere. The essential purpose of an educational institution, of a university is to prepare professionals. USAMV Cluj-Napoca being a Life Sciences University has a more accentuated obligation not to only research Life Sciences but also to protect Human Life and its Human Condition. Healthy professionals are a better, sustainable investment. Stopping smoking assures public health, reduces public expenditures and wasted natural resources. Therefore, smoking has a huge negative impact upon the Global Ecological and Economical problems given the inter-dependence of resources and of the negative outcomes of tobacco consumption. The article is also an invitation to observe 31-st of May as the „Make Every Day World No Tobacco Day” initiated recently by the World Health Organization (WHO). The article calls for initiating in Romania such campaign and the 31-st of May to be a day to celebrate the success. Lots of resistance / opposition / arguments have been met from the newspaper’s staff in order to have the article published in the USAMV Newsletter. It was called as being a campaign and the paper’s policy does not support any campaign and concentrates on informative articles. Ironically, on the cover of the same paper (issue nr. 21, February 2011) the administration published a campaign for „Mărţişor”. Several other conflicting and non-sense arguments were sent to me. To mention sadly, it is very difficult to lunch an initiative in Romania. The article in essence, using Romanian language says: Recent, Organizaţia Mondială a Sănătăţii (WHO),  a declarat 31 Mai a fi ziua Mondială împotriva fumatului. Numită „FĂ FIECARE ZI  ZIUA MONDIALĂ FĂRĂ TUTUN,.”  USAMV Cluj-Napoca poate pre-întâmpina ziua de 31 mai dând un exemplu în rândul universităţilor din România.
The electronic version as PDF (see page 15) has been hardly sent to me by papers staff and here I made it available to you for download. I invite readers to take a stand and send to the University a paper letter via regular /registered mail and express your point of view. It is a beginning of a major project and I need any possible support from allover the World and from Romania as well. It is not a domestic concern; it is not a national concern. It has a Global Impact as the borders that divide us are just symbolic. Thank you.

Moldova and Romania - Between Unification and Alienation

by Bogdan Ivanel

Scholars and observers of Eastern Europe were expecting the fall of the USSR to also bring along the re-unification of... more Scholars and observers of Eastern Europe were expecting the fall of the USSR to also bring along the re-unification of Romania with Moldova. Despite such expectations doubled by apparent popular enthusiasm in the two countries for such a scenario, re-unification did not take place. Even though all scholars of the region agree that the re-unification question is the central one in determining Moldo-Romanian relations as well as the internal dynamics of the two states, no study has ever been dedicated to this issue. This thesis takes a qualitative approach in examining the factors that deemed the re-unification scenario unattainable. The first chapter analyses the societal attitude towards such a prospect, showing that the Romanian ethnic majorities of the two states were compatible for an eventual re-unification. The second chapter examines how politico-economic and geopolitical barriers made the political elites of the two states drop re-unification.

Idea of Europe In Inter-War Romania

by Mihai Sebe

Abstract:
The present paper intends to examine the evolution of the European idea in inter-war Romania. On this... more Abstract:
The present paper intends to examine the evolution of the European idea in inter-war Romania. On this occasion, I try to have a synthetic presentation of Romanian currents and intellectual evolutions, a history of that idea in inter-war political and intellectual environments. Romanian élites prove to be connected to the evolutions at the European level, offering solutions and professionally commenting the proposals presented.

The Romanian conception on the united Europe remarks itself through the great importance given to the political factor – the European states should be united, equal and have the frontiers guaranteed. We have a qualitative evolution that starts with the idea of regional associations culminating with the idea of a united Europe based upon the proposal of Aristide Briand. By the end of the 1930s and mid-40s, the accent is set upon the idea of a European Economic Community, partially based upon the German ideas of World War II.

Keywords: History of the idea of Europe, Romania, inter-war period, European Union, extremism, political thinking, communism, social-democracy

JEL Classifications: B30, Z00

EU-27 Watch No. 8, 2009 - Romania Country Report

by Mihai Sebe

Co-authored with Iulia Serafimescu

In the second half of 2008 the European Union has been faced by many crises: the ‘ratification’ crisis, the ‘Georgian’... more In the second half of 2008 the European Union has been faced by many crises: the ‘ratification’ crisis, the ‘Georgian’ crisis, and last but by no means least, the financial and economic crisis. These crises touch the institutional architecture and the future shape of the EU, its neighbourhood and external relations, and the financial and economic policies within the EU. During these ‘hard’ times, one of the founding members of the EU was holding the presidency of the EU – and some say luckily so.

In this issue of EU-27 Watch all those issues are dealt with and a prospect for 2009 is given, a year that might well be a year of opportunities but also of uncertainties:
- the future of the EU after the Irish ‘No’,
- the priorities for transatlantic relations after President Bush,
- the EU response to the financial crisis and the challenges of global governance,
- the evaluation of the French Presidency and expectations for the Czech Presidency,
- prospects for European Neighbourhood Policy and enlargement after ‘Georgia’,
- other current national issues.

This survey was conducted on the basis of a questionnaire that has been elaborated in November 2008 by all participating institutes. Most of the 29 reports were delivered in February 2009. This issue and all previous issues of EU-27 Watch (formerly EU-
25/27 Watch) are available online.

Keywords: Romania, Irish Referendum, Lisbon Treaty, transatlantic relations, French Presidency, Georgia, parliamentary elections