21st May
2007
Romania is facing a realignment of its political forces
After the vast majority of the electorate voted not to depose President Traian
Basescu. Basescu now returns to the office he had to leave during the referendum
campaign with a strengthened mandate after three quarters of the public voted
not to impeach him.
The five parties from the government and opposition that had pushed for Basescu's
impeachment are now considering the consequences of their defeat.
Prime Minister Calin Popescu Tariceanu must pay the price for the very unsatisfactory
plan by parliament to try and shut out Basescu.
Leading politicians from Tariceanu's National Liberal Party (PNL) demanded Sunday
that he resign. Tariceanu and his allies accused Basescu of violating the constitution
by interfering in the running of the government. The Constitutional Court rejected
these claims.
The voters were not convinced by the moves either and saw Basescu as a kind of
knight in shining armour battling against corruption.
Tariceanu and parliament were against Basescu because the industrial mafia wanted
it, the president had said. Basescu said that he was for effective judicial reforms
to combat the mafia.
Basescu also benefited from his victim status, which cast him in a good light
compared to the traditionally unpopular parliament. A very large majority of the
322 members of parliament had voted for the referendum to impeach the president.
The result was that it looked like a conspiracy against gifted populist Basescu,
who knew exactly how to exploit its emotional message with the people.
Heads could also roll at the opposition Socialist Party (PSD): one faction within
the PSD, the so-called Group from (the Transylvania city of) Cluj, had been against
any impeachment of Basescu from the start, but they had been unable to push past
the ex-communist faction of former PSD chairman Ion Iliescu.
Iliescu, who was president from 1990 to 1996 and again from 2000 to 2004, forced
current PSD head Mircea Geoana to initiate the impeachment proceedings against
Basescu in parliament.
Speculation in Bucharest is mounting over whether Basescu will align himself with
the Group from Cluj within the PSD to launch a no-confidence campaign to topple
Tariceanu.
Basescu can also rely on the middle-class Democratic Party (PD), which had been
a part of the government until Easter when Tariceanu threw them out of the ruling
coalition as part of his long-standing fight with Basescu.
It was still unclear how the other smaller parties that had joined the campaign
against Basescu would react as massive numbers of grass-roots supporters of the
ultra-nationalist Romania Mare (Greater Romania) Party, the Conservative Party
(CP) and the Hungary Party (UDMR) voted for Basescu in the referendum, as did
many supporters of Tariceanu's PNL and the Socialists.
All of these parties' supporters registered protest votes during the referendum,
and even before the vote, opinion polls showed a massive drop in support for them.
Basescu's PD, meanwhile, climbed by 18 percentage points in the opinion polls
over six week to reach 51.9 percent in the most recent ones.
The trend and the resounding referendum victory suggest that Basescu could reconfigure
not only the government, but also the opposition.
Source: IM
Jobless Romanians to be given Goats instead of welfare
benefits
Jobless Romanians are to be given goats instead of welfare benefits as part of
a scheme to make them contribute more to the economy.
Under the pilot project, welfare benefits are to be axed from September in a collection
of villages in southeastern Romania, the Independenta district, where unemployed
families instead will receive 10 goats each.
They will be expected to milk the animals and sell milk and cheese to earn an
income, and when they find work, they will have to return the goats to the local
council.
The scheme has been set up by the council's campaigning mayor, Cristea Gascan,
who said: "We have 30 families that are on benefits, and just paying them
cash does not help them or us. But with goats they are making a positive contribution
to the economy and will be working instead of sitting at home expecting handouts."
Under Romanian law, unemployed people who can demonstrate an income of less than
$24 a month a head are eligible for assistance of up to $80 a month from their
local council, which receives funds from the central government. Independenta
has a population of just over 3,000 and unemployment of 8%. "We have 30 families
that qualify for aid, but there are no rules on what form that aid takes,"
Mr. Gascan said. "We have large areas of rich common ground here in Independenta,
more than enough to keep the goats on.
"We are thinking about their own good when we do this. Ten premium goats
will go to all the families entitled to benefits and any who refuse will not be
offered any cash alternative — after all, it will mean they are turning
down work and that is a reason to stop their benefits. It is the goats or nothing."
Mr. Gascan said all families receiving the goats will have to pay a "tax"
of three kids a year to the city hall.
Source: NY Sun
Romania offers 'dramatically beneficial' prospects
for property market
The Romanian property market has the potential to offer investors "dramatically
beneficial" returns in future as the European property market continues to
open up, according to an industry body.
The Federation of Overseas Developers, Agents and Consultants (Fopdac) has said
that although there is an "element of speculation" in common with all
emerging markets, the region offers significant potential for property investors,
Easier reports.
Furthermore, with a number of UK investors in the region, the standard of property
is very high in order to match expectations, the news provider notes.
Steve Emmett, chairman of Fopdac, commented: "Unlike more traditional investment
countries - such as Spain and Portugal - there is no record of capital growth
or rental returns, but nevertheless as Europe opens up, there are opportunities
for speculative investment which could prove dramatically beneficial."
Last week, the Romanian national institute of statistics reported economic growth
across the main short-term economic indicators. In addition, industrial production
increased by 11.5% in total.
Source: Ready2Invest
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