Romania - Articoli

Ilinca Călugăreanu: the story of Chuck Norris vs. Communism

24/03/2016 -  Nicola Falcinella

Pirate tapes of the most popular American movies circulated in Romania throughout the Eighties, challenging the communist regime. Now, a film tells this story. OBC interviewed the director


Romania: from traditional to social media

31/12/2015 -  Luka Zanoni

Traditional media no longer have the monopoly of information, social media are advancing. An interview with Ioana Avadani, director of the Center for Independent Journalism in Romania


Romania: tug of war with Enel

06/10/2014 -  Daniela Mogavero

Italian company Enel wants to sell its assets in six Romanian energy distribution companies, but Bucharest announces battle


The once beautiful, blue Danube

05/09/2014 -  Francesco Martino

The mysterious sturgeon, an indicator of the river's health, is at risk. Bulgaria, Romania and the WWF strive to protect it


Teens left behind

25/07/2014 -  Cristina Bezzi

In her documentary "Aici... adica acolo", the journalist and director Laura Capatana addresses the issue of children left behind in Romania leading us through the daily lives of two teenagers


Romania: Social Capital

30/04/2014 -  Daniela Mogavero

The youth of Romania took to the streets in order to defend the environment against multinational corporations and local politicians. A new generation is the protagonist of Romania’s first social movement since the collapse of communism. An interview with the scholar, Chiara Milan


Romania, European elections copy-paste

29/04/2014 -  Mihaela Iordache

Many of the 32 European Parliament seats available for Romania will be re-occupied, in all probability, by the very outgoing MEPs. There is poor political turnover in a country which is looking to Europe with an eye on November's presidential elections


Romania, the EU orphans

11/04/2014 -  Daniela Mogavero

The marginalization of vulnerable categories of citizens, namely minors, in Romania, must stop, says Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe, Nils Muižnieks


Romania: journalism on the ridge

21/03/2014 -  Daniela Mogavero

Are freedom of information and journalism in danger in Romania? An interview with Ioana Avadani, the Director of the Center for Independent Romanian Journalism


Romania: the stigma on migrant mothers

18/02/2014 -  Cristina Bezzi

Romanian women having to look for work abroad are often accused in their country of abandoning their children. The picture, however, is more complex


Romania, the importance of the after-school programs

03/10/2013 -  Giorgio Comai Bucharest, Drăxeni

Despite the declarations of Prime Minister Victor Ponta, the after-school service in Romania still lacks adequate support from the State. Our report


Romania: the children's emergency

26/06/2013 -  Cristina Bezzi

The migratory flow from Romania to other European countries has left behind hundreds of thousands of children, who are experiencing a “transnational childhood”. The phenomenon is particularly intense in the Romanian Moldova


Moldovan citizens to travel freely in the EU by 2014?

09/01/2013 -  Natalia Ghilaşcu Chişinău

In 2012, José Barroso and Angela Merkel visited Moldova. These high-level visits raised hopes that Moldovan citizens will be granted visa-free travel in the EU by 2014. Still, a Russian proposal to include Moldova in its own customs union keeps public opinion divided in the country


Romania: creative uprising and return to the political scene

29/02/2012 -  Cristina Bezzi

Weeks of street demonstrations in Romania, where citizens have rarely protested against the “power”. We have discussed it with Vintila Mihailescu, an anthropologist amongst the most lucid intellectuals in Romania


Moldova, twenty years of independence

31/08/2011 -  Natalia Ghilaşcu Chişinău

The Republic of Moldova's 20th Birthday. The celebrations, organized by the Government of Chişinău, involved a military parade and a get together of the five Presidents elected in these last twenty years. The current picture is not the most positive: the country remains bogged down in the Transnistria territorial dispute and its European perspectives are still fragile


Romania: spooky tourism

31/05/2011 -  Mihaela Iordache

Inspired, not by the nightmare investigator Dylan Dog, though it could seem so, but by schemes already running in cities like Paris and London, the administrators of the Romanian capital Bucharest have decided to look to their cemeteries to revive tourism in the city


Schengen, prisoners of a fragile Europe

12/05/2011 -  Francesco Martino

Although Bulgaria and Romania have met the technical requirements, Bucharest and Sofia will indefinitely remain outside of the Schengen area. A long list of unresolved issues with the two Balkan countries provides substantial reasons for exclusion, but the main problem seems to lie in the increasing fragility of the European political project


Romania, emigrants don't go home

25/03/2011 -  Cornel Ban

In the past years, for many Romanians (mainly from rural areas) emigration represented an opportunity for economic and social redemption. Today, the world economic crisis has changed people's perspectives, but going back to Romania does not look like a likely choice and the future is full of uncertainties


Romania, good news from a lost decade

19/01/2011 -  Cornel Ban

In the last decade, Romania has been a reliable source for seekers of bad news for the international media. Nevertheless, through the thicket of bad news, the country has also seen some brighter developments in the economy, in politics and in human development


Pârvulescu: Romanian President Băsescu is a ‘turbulence factor’ in times of crisis

07/12/2010 -  Nikolai Yotov Bucharest

According to the well known analyst Christian Pârvulescu, the political scene in Romania is increasingly controlled by the President Traian Băsescu. A problematic situation that seems to reinforce the symptoms of the economic and social crisis tormenting Romania today. Our interview


Travelling in Romania, 'Turisti non a caso'

11/10/2010 -  Amanda McAllister Wilson Bucarest

A group of students setting out to discover Italy first and then Romania: Timisoara, Baile Herculane, Orsova, Bucarest: a journey to overcome prejudice through curiosity and learning. Our collaborator Amanda Wilson's travel book


Israel trains in Romania, thinking about Teheran

11/08/2010 -  Mihaela Iordache

The military helicopter that crashed in Brasov is an incident that highlights the advanced status of Bucharest’s strategic relations with NATO, USA and Israel. After the crisis with Ankara, Tel Aviv seems to be looking for new stages for its aviation’s exercises. Experts believe the Carpathians can offer areas with characteristics similar to those of some regions in Iran


Leonard Orban: Deconstructing Europe

29/07/2010 -  Nikolai Yotov Bucarest

Between 2007 and 2010, Leonard Orban was Romania’s first European commissioner for multilingualism. OBC met him to discuss the present state of the European project and the challenges ahead: migrations, prejudices, enlargement and identity


White Orphans, the enlargement's children

07/07/2010 -  Cristina Bezzi

Romania’s 350,000 “white orphans” have been left behind by one or both parents, who emigrated to search for jobs and resources to grant their children a better future. During the “Left Behind” conference in May 2010 in Milan, Italy the “Albero della Vita” association presented the results of their study of the problem


Crunch Time in Romania’s Austerity Plans

28/05/2010 -  Cornel Ban

The Romanian government wants to impose Europe’s most severe, IMF-approved austerity program. Next Monday, trade unions have called for the first general strike since Ceausescu's rule. This will test not only budget austerity plans but, most importantly, state-society relations in Romania’s version of liberal-democracy


Romania: will the 'mamaliga' explode?

06/05/2010 -  Nikolai Yotov Bucharest

Romania continues to be one of the poorest countries in the EU. The international crisis causes a rapid worsening of conditions. The Romanian political elite concentrate, above all, on more centralisation of power. A weak civil society desperately struggles to be heard


Romania: Economic Woes Deepen

19/03/2010 -  Cornel Ban

The Romanian economy probably will remain in recession for most of 2010. A 20-billion-dollar rescue package from the IMF, World Bank and the EU will only try to serve as a macroeconomic stabiliser instead of as a stimulus package that could help Romania stop its economic tailspin


A bridge apart?

23/02/2010 -  Nikolai Yotov Bucharest

Despite their joint access to the EU in 2007, Bulgarians and Romanians continue to live with outdated stereotypes. Political, economic, social, informational exchange between Bucharest and Sofia remains not simply unsatisfactory, but practically absent


Romania: elections, crisis, democracy. About to get worse?

16/11/2009 -  Nikolai Yotov Bucharest

Romania's economic crisis and the upcoming presidential elections. We discuss these major themes in an interview with Mircea Kivu, one of Romania's most prominent expert on political and social issues


East of '89

10/11/2009 -  Andrea Rossini

The memory of the communist era in Romania, questions about the revolution and the end of the Ceauşescu regime. An interview with Corneliu Porumboiu, screenwriter and director of the critically-acclaimed film "12:08 East of Bucharest"