Governing a dysfunctional state: Romania

by Martin Banks

 

On September 1, Romania’s minister of interior Petre Toba resigned pending a criminal investigation against him over allegations of shielding= suspects in a case involving suspected embezzlement and abuse of power. Two days earlier, six senior interior ministry officials were indicted on suspicion of embezzlement and making false statements.

The new developments came in the wake of a damning report late last year by the European Court of Auditors which said Romania had not fulfilled public procurement conditions demanded by EU law. Auditors analysed the disbursement of €349bn to 12 EU members, including Romania, over 2007-2013.

A significant part of EU cohesion policy cash is spent through public procurement. The ECA called on the European Commission to suspend payments and imposed financial corrections on Romania and those member states which failed to properly follow public procurement rules.

There are also concerns that, despite the supposedly non-partisan stance of the government of Prime Minister Dacian Ciolos, politics may be affecting investigative and prosecutorial decision-making. Just this week, on the same day, three senior opposition figures, including a former prime minister, were hauled into court or prosecutor’s offices to face corruption-related accusations, with predictably heavy coverage in the local media. 

In fact, for a non-partisan leader, Ciolos appears notably interested in his personal reputation. Last week there was much media coverage of his insistence on flying coach class, instead of business, for meetings in Germany. There are growing suspicions that he’s hoping to remain in power following the December election. The prime minister is appointed by the Romanian president.

The current president, Klaus Iohannis, is a former leader of the National Liberal party, main adversary of the Social Democratic party which formed the government until a scandal last year led to its ouster. Appointment of the Ciolos government was put forward as a solution to Romania’s many problems. But the problems just keep on surfacing. For instance, only recently, the Magistrates Association in Romania (AMR) asked the prime minister to dismiss the minister of Justice, Raluca Pruna.

The call came after she proposed a controversial Government ordinance that was criticized by NGOs for restricting the liberties of citizens. The association says Pruna “has proved that she does not understand the place and the role of the justice system in society, as the evidence of her proposals from the ministerial agenda that are against the democratic principles show”. Romania’s judicial system is just one of several sectors currently under the spotlight.

At the beginning of September, the biggest health union, SANITAS, announced new protests amid failed negotiations about wages for medical personnel. A spokesman said, “We are disappointed to see the complete lack of honesty and good faith of the representatives of the Government and their lack of respect towards the employees of the institutions in the health sector.” The country is mired in a crumbling health system, with almost daily new cases of hospital infections, with more and more spontaneous doctors’ protests.

The most recent one, at the end of August, was at one of the biggest hospitals in Bucharest, where half of the paramedics resigned after disputes over lack of necessary medical utilities and the problem of unpaid shifts.

There are also troubles in the transport sector with, over recent months, weekly protests by truck and taxi drivers in Bucharest and other big cities. Drivers associations are complaining about increases in taxation and in insurance. Agriculture is yet another sector currently beset by industrial strife with thousands of farmers complaining about unpaid subventions. Some even resorted to hunger strikes. Ciolos, a former  EU agriculture commissioner who heads a cabinet of supposed unaffiliated technocrats, has been criticised for inaction.

Romanians get a chance in parliamentary elections on 11 December to vent their anger, the first national vote since protests brought down Victor Ponta’s government late last year.

Neither Ponta’s exit nor a crackdown by the DNA anti-graft agency that led to indictments against 1,250 public officials – including a prime minister – last year, have put an end to the problem. Indeed there are some worries that the anti-corruption program itself is being politicized.

With Romania due to receive €30m in EU funds between 2014 and 2020, calls are growing for Brussels to put pressure on Bucharest to get a grip on its problems. The country has often been cited as an example of the consequences of an over hasty EU enlargement. Romania joined the EU in 2007, despite widespread views that its legal and political institutions were unprepared for the rigors of membership.

European funds play a big role in the investments Romania needs in agriculture, health, infrastructure and education. However, the Ciolos Government – the first entirely technocrat administration in Romanian history - admitted in a controversial memorandum in July that it will be able to attract close to 0% in European funds in 2016, for the 2014-2020 spending period.