Romania - Articoli

Timişoara, 1989: the days of the revolution

03/11/2009 -  Francesco MartinoDavide Sighele Timişoara

Ioan Savu used to work in a detergent factory in Timişoara. On the 16th of December of 1989 he took the streets with thousands of fellow citizens. Four days later he was in front of a disbelieving Romanian Prime Minister to demand free elections and Ceauşescu's resignation. A life and a revolution.


Romania, between booms and busts

02/11/2009 -  Cornel Ban

Between 2000 and 2009 Romania experienced one of Europe's highest growth rates. Yet even before the economic crisis hit Bucharest hard, it became clear that the wealth of the economic boom was built with dramatic social costs, paid mostly by children, unemployed, pensioners, and Roma


Ceausescu who? The unknown past of Romanian '89

26/10/2009 -  Francesco MartinoDavide Sighele Bucharest

The Romanian generation born in 1989, what they do not know about their past, and what they want from the future. A reportage from Bucharest on the memory of Ceasescu in nowadays' Romania, where the events of 1989 continue to divide society and generations


Will Romania and the next EC get along?

08/10/2009 -  Nikolai Yotov Bucharest

Radu Carp is a Public Law and Political Science professor, vice-dean of the University of Bucharest's Political Science Department, a respected lecturer, and the author of several important studies. Osservatorio spoke with him about Romania's relations with the European Commission


Tests of sustainable development

29/09/2009 -  Claudia Iatan

At a time when the Saxon villages of Transylvania are undergoing a dramatic transformation, one of these villages is hosting an Italian experiment to preserve cultural heritage and promote sustainable tourism development


The Saxons' fragile treasure

22/09/2009 -  Cornel Ban

Part of a fragile and precious heritage, the Saxon villages of Transylvania are undergoing a dramatic transformation; the product of Romanian emigrant remittances and lack of official regulation. But with this transformation comes the risk of destroying an irreplaceable source of touristic and cultural potential


Corporate environmental responsibility?

28/07/2009 -  Claudia Iatan

A further take on corporations, responsibility, and the market in Romania. The strong focus on environment, funding mechanisms, and fashion in an interview with Dragos Bucurenci, founder of a specialised NGO


Responsibility or marketing?

15/07/2009 -  Claudia Iatan Bucharest

Sensitivity on corporate social responsibility is embryonic in Romania as well as elsewhere. Trade unions are absent, institutions are fragile, and NGOs draw on the business sector for their fund-raising activity


De - Ideologisation

11/06/2009 -  Nikolai Yotov Bucharest

Osservatorio met Cristian Tudor Popescu, a well-known Romanian journalist and political analyst, to talk about the media, freedom of expression and the forthcoming presidential elections


Oblivion and doubts

28/05/2009 -  Francesco Martino Bucharest

"We have not managed to deal with the legacy of communism in a clear way and this is not only a source of confusion, but also of frustration". The events of 1989, an ambiguous revolution, the Romanians and Europe. An interview with Mircea Vasilescu


Founding myths

22/05/2009 -  Francesco Martino Bucharest

A "moment of glory and great courage" but also "too many black holes and no shared interpretation of the events". Twenty years later, says professor Mirela Murgescu, the Romanian revolution of December 1989, which could have become the "founding myth" of the new Romanian democracy, still remains extremely controversial. An interview


A pass to paradise

08/05/2009 -  Iulian Lungu Chişinău

Following the post-electoral violence in Moldova, Romanian authorities approved an urgent act which simplifies the procedures to obtain Romanian citizenship. Despite the tough reactions of Chişinău's authorities, thousands of Moldovans rushed to apply for a Romanian passport


At risk of extinction

06/05/2009 -  Claudia Iatan Bucharest

Romanian NGOs are facing a debate that is not unknown to Italian ones. Budget cuts risk to jeopardise cooperation programs as well as the country's recent participation in international development policies


Tense spirits on the last hundred meters

03/04/2009 -  Iulia Postica Chişinău

The electoral campaign in Moldova ends with serious infringements of citizenship rights. Fifty Moldovan students studying in Romania were denied entering their own country, while three hundred Romanian citizens were stopped at the border and prevented to participate in cultural and political events organised by electoral candidates


Balkan Reflections

22/01/2009 -  Tomas Miglierina Bruxelles

On 8 February 2009, Switzerland will decide by referendum whether or not to approve an agreement with the European Union which would extend to Bulgaria and Romania the right of free movement of persons through its territory. For the two Balkan countries, the vote, especially if negative, will test the strength of European solidarity


'Grosse Koalition' the Romanian Way

23/12/2008 -  Mihaela Iordache

Romania has a new government based on an agreement between the social democrats and the liberal democrats, and led by the latter's president, Emil Boc. Despite the new government's large majority, it has already been exposed to a storm of media criticism as it considers hard choices in confronting the economic crisis


Capital Sins

23/06/2008 -  Mihaela Iordache

The second round of local elections in Bucharest brought victory to the independent candidate Sorin Oprescu. The mayor-elect will have to come to grips with the serious problems of an overpopulated city, which has less green space, more illegal construction, and traffic at the verge of collapse