Some IMF funds would be useful. A bus in Bucharest. (AFP)

Winter of discontent

Hard hit by the economic crisis, and without a government since mid-October, Romania has fallen on hard times, to the point where some of its institutions have been left without electricity. While politicians battle to gain control of the government, the gap in living standards between the country and other states in the EU continues to widen. The editor of Adevarul looks on in dispair.

Published on 22 October 2009 at 15:33
Some IMF funds would be useful. A bus in Bucharest. (AFP)

I turn on the TV. Disaster! Footage of schools in Brasov, Transylvania: kids dressed for a snow fight shivering in the school which has run out of funds to pay for heating. And no one seems to care! The journalist examines a thermometer, which shows it is 12°C in the classroom. Then we see a mother packing a lunch box. No sandwiches for this kid, but she's careful to give him his supply of Nurofen (according to a recent study, most Romanian schoolchildren in the 8-9 age group are jaded and depressed).

News item two from Zlatna hospital, also in Transylvania: there has been no sign of life from the radiators since last year. Touch them, they are as cold as the bodies in the morgue. One patient who is still alive huddles in a foetal position under layers of blankets. In the wards, the temperature is only two or three degrees higher than it is outside. A lady, bundled up in clothing to the point where she resembles the Michelin man, complains that she came in with one illness and now she will be leaving with another...

Light years from Finland

But these are not the news headlines. These are the human interest items tacked on after the very important opening ten minutes devoted to the Basescu-Geoana-Antonescu-Oprescu-Croitoru-Iohannis power struggle. Do you think the children who are shivering at their desks can be warmed up by a generous blast of political hot air? Not likely! What we need are solutions, and we need them now—today, not tomorrow, and certainly not next year. And what about the sick who are dying of the cold in our hospitals, they may be six-feet under by the time they see "the land of plenty" our politicians have so ardently promised...

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The sad truth is, these images of neglect show the reality of life in Romania, and it is a reality that is so different to life elsewhere in the European Union we were so proud to join. I switch channels to the cheery comfort of CNN, and run straight into another report that leaves me gobsmacked: "Finland has become the first country in the world to make broadband internet a fundamental right for all citizens. From July 2010, local telecommunications providers will have to ensure that every Finnish household has a minimum 1 megabit-per-second Internet connection." We believe that "in a modern society, you simply have to have the Internet. It is as essential as access to banking services, or water or electricity," says a Finnish civil servant. This is what 2009 looks like in other countries in Europe — light years away from the day-to-day grind in Romania. Are we living in another galaxy? If they came here, we could teach them how to live without water, or electricity or heat!

Some people believe that our national saviour is at hand in the shape of the German Klaus Johannis, mayor of Sibiu (the former European capital of culture), and possible future prime minister in a social-democrat, liberal and Hungarian Union (UDMR) coalition. Well, you can take it from me, they are wrong. You cannot have spring with just one flower, and you cannot change a country with just one German. You could make progress if you had a few hundred thousand Germans to replace all of our civil servants. But even that might not work. The only sure method would be to import 22 million Germans to replace the entire population.

CONTEXT

Battle of the prime ministers

On 13 October, the Romanian parliament passed a no confidence motion, which marked the official collapse of Emil Boc's government. The mayor of the city of Sibiu, Klaus Johannis, is the candidate for prime minister favoured by a majority of MPs, but President Traian Basescu has ignored the wishes of parliament and delegated the task of forming a new government to the independent economist, Lucian Croitoru. "The new government will be announced on 23 October, but the likelihood is that it will not be approved by parliament," warns Romania Libera.

This situation will probably aggravate the economic crisis in the country, because in the absence of a clearly appointed and responsible cabinet, the International Monetary Fund has given notice that it will postpone a bank transfer of 3.5 billion euros, which was scheduled to take place later this month. In all likelihood, the power struggle between Johannis and the president will continue until after the presidential election, which is slated for 22 November.

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