The Romanian Revolution: Part III

Today's Romania is a life of contrasts, or as I like to say, there are two time periods living side-by-side. Romania's cities are busy, bustling centers, growing rapidly and modernizing almost overnight. That is juxtaposed with rural life in Romania, where life is defined by working out in the field,. horse-drawn wagons, water wells, shepherds, and wood chopping to heat the home. Romania's highways are a great example. You can pass a Mercedes (and many people say they have never seen so many Mercedes and BMW's as they have in Romania...myself included) and then have to hit the brakes as cars share the road with wagons and tractors. There may be a field with a combine, next to a field where people are still working with horse and plow. In the cities, people are consumed with EU expansion, exchange rates, foreign investment, and the latest shopping centers from the West. In the Romanian countryside, some may not even know that Romania is even in the EU. Again, a life of contrasts.

New shopping centers are opening almost weekly, including such shops as Starbucks, Burger King, IkEA, etc. Has life gotten better, or easier? That depends on who you ask. Since the fall of communism at the end of 1989, millions of Romanians have left to work abroad, in pursuit of higher wages and a higher standard of living. Romanians make up the largest minority group in countries like Italy, Spain, Ireland, and Austria. Many say that you are more likely to hear Romanian spoken in Italy than you are Italian, and that is NOT a joke. Sure, wages are higher abroad, but is life any easier. From my experience, many Romanian friends who are working abroad work long hours, have exhausting jobs (that often the locals refuse to do), and miss being amongst their own people. Those who have stayed in Romania, wouldn't say life is easier either. The average monthly salary is around 300 euros, light years behind wages in Western Europe. But since Romania has entered the EU, the economy is growing, but the living standard is not easy on anyone. For instance:

• Food prices are often double, if not triple the price that they are in the States
  
• Romanians, and Europeans in general, cannot understand why Americans complain about the rising gas prices. Romanians would LOVE to pay American prices. In the States, gas is about $4 a gallon average. And in Romania? A whopping $7.60 a gallon!


• Prices for clothing, shoes usually run about $20 or more here as opposed to in the States


• Rent is skyrocketing. Since housing is in such demand, and pretty much the only option is to stay in communist era bloc apartments, the market hike up the prices, and there is little people can do about it. The bloc apartments are not architectural beauties by any means. That said, rent in Bucureşti for an apartment with one bedroom is at least 300 Euros a month. In the center of the city, these apartments are going for 1500 Euros or more a month


• Pensions have remained at about $250 to $300 a month...do the math, life is not easy.
  
• Nothing is free. In Romania you pay by the hour to use a tennis court, a soccer field, or even an outdoor basketball court--as much as $20 an hour--ouch

Economic Growth

Privatization of industry was pursued with the transfer in 1992 of 30% of the shares of some 6,000 state-owned enterprises to five private ownership funds, in which each adult citizen received certificates of ownership. The remaining 70% ownership of the enterprises was transferred to a state ownership fund, with a mandate to sell off its shares at the rate of at least 10% per year. The privatization law also called for direct sale of some 30 specially selected enterprises and the sale of "assets" (i.e., commercially viable component units) of larger enterprises.
Nowadays, the inflation rate is around 8% annually. Also, since 2001, the economy has grown steadily at around 6-8%. Therefore, the PPP per capita GDP of Romania is $12,285. Financial and technical assistance continued to flow in from the U.S., European Union, other industrial nations, and international financial institutions facilitating Romania's reintegration into the world economy. The International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank (IBRD), the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), and the US Agency for International Development(USAID) all had programs and resident representatives in Romania. Romania also attracted foreign direct investment, which in 1997 rose to $2.5 billion.
Romania was the largest U.S. trading partner in Central-Eastern Europe until Ceauşescu's 1988 renunciation of Most Favored Nation (non-discriminatory) trading status resulted in high U.S. tariffs on Romanian products. Congress approved restoration of MFN status effective 8 November 1993 as part of a new bilateral trade agreement. Tariffs on most Romanian products dropped to zero in February 1994 with the inclusion of Romania in the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP). Major Romanian exports to the U.S. included shoes and clothing, steel, and chemicals. Romania signed an Association Agreement with the EU in 1992 and a free trade agreement with the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) in 1993, codifying Romania's access to European markets and creating the basic framework for further economic integration. At its Helsinki Summit in December 1999, the European Union invited Romania to formally begin accession negotiations. In 2002, the target date of 2007 was set for Romania, along with Bulgaria, for its accession efforts. This was confirmed in 2003 at the Thessaloniki Summit and then in early 2005 Romania and Bulgaria signed the adherence treaty to EU. They formally joined the EU on January 1, 2007.
During the latter part of the Ceauşescu period, Romania earned significant credits from several Arab countries, notably Iraq, for work related to the oil industry. In August 2005, Romania agreed to forgive 43% of the US$1.7 billion debt owed by Iraq, making Romania the first country outside of the Paris Club of wealthy creditor nations to forgive Iraqi debts.

Nevertheless, it is expected that the Romanian economy will continue fast growing based on a bigger strength of the industry, the growth of the global economy and the biggest trade with Russia, Latin America and Asia. Growth in 2000-07 was supported by exports to the EU, primarily to Italy and Germany, and a strong recovery of foreign and domestic investment. Domestic demand is playing an ever more important role in underpinning growth as interest rates drop and the availability of credit cards and mortgages increases. Current account deficits of around 2% of GDP are beginning to decline as demand for Romanian products in the European Union increases. Inflation is under control. Recent accession to the EU gives further impetus and direction to structural reform. In early 2004, the government passed increases in the Value Added Tax (VAT) and tightened eligibility for social benefits with the intention to bring the public finance gap down to 4% of GDP by 2006, but more difficult pension and health care reforms will have to wait until after the next elections. Privatization of the state-owned bank BCR took place in 2005. Intensified restructuring among large enterprises, improvements in the financial sector, and effective use of available EU funds should strengthen output growth.

European Union

On 1 January 2007 Romania entered the European Union. This led to some immediate international trade liberalization, but there was no shock to the economy. The government is running annual surpluses of above 2%.
This is to be contrasted with enormous current account deficits. Low interest rates guarantee availability of funds for investment and consumption. For example, a boom in the real estate market started around 2000 and has not subsided yet. At the same time annual inflation in the economy is variable and during the last five years (2003-2007) has seen a low of 2.3% and high of 6.3%.
Most importantly, this poses a threat to the country's accession to the Eurozone. The Romanian government plans for the euro to replace the leu in 2010. However, experts predict that this might happen as late as in 2012. From a political point of view, there is a trade-off between Romania's economic growth and the stability required for early accession to the monetary union. Romania's per-capita PPP GDP is still only about a 60% of the EU25 average, while the country's nominal GDP per capita is about 53% of the EU25 average.
In the winter of 2004 the political leadership of the current government introduced a flat tax of 16% that was introduced on January 1, 2005. This is done in hope for higher GDP growth and greater tax collection rates. The reform, which some called a "revolution" in taxation, was met with mild discussions and some protests by affected working classes.
The accession of Romania into the European Union has brought about new geographical dimensions as the EU has opened up to the Black Sea.

Major industries in Romania are precision machinery, motor vehicles, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, electric goods (especially home appliances), food, fashion and clothing.

Transportation

Due to its location, Romania is a major crossroad for international economic exchange in Europe. However, because of insufficient investment, maintenance and repair, the transport infrastructure does not meet the current needs of a market economy and lags behind Western Europe. Nevertheless, these conditions are being improved. As of February 2008, only 280 km of motorways are in use. Nevertheless, the extensive upgrade motorway network is among the top priorities for the government. There are plans to build another 1,000km of motorways in a first stage which by optimistic forecasts will be ready by 2013.

World Bank estimates that the railway network in Romania comprised in 2004 22,298 km of track, of which 36% electrified and 27% double track, which would make it the fourth largest railroad network in Europe. According to europaworld.com, in 2004, the railways carried 8.64 billion passenger-km in 99 million passenger journeys. In addition it carried 73 million metric tones, or 17 billion ton-km of freight. The combined total transportation by rail constituted around 45% of all passenger and freight movement in the country. In terms of size and scale of operations, railways are comparable with larger EU railways.

Bucharest is the only city in Romania which as of 2007 has an underground railway system, comprising both the Bucharest Metro and the light rail system Regia Autonomă de Transport Bucureşti. Although construction was planned to begin in 1941, due to geo-political factors, the Bucharest Metro was only opened in 1979. Now is one of the most accessed systems of the Bucharest public transport network with an average ridership of 800,000 passengers during each workday. In total, the network is 63 km long and has 45 stations. It is fast, efficient, and quite modern. There are new lines in construction, and hopes to connect the Metro to the city's two main international airports.

Industry

Romania has been very successful in developing dynamic telecommunications, industrial robots, aerospace, and weapons sectors. Industry and construction accounted for 32% of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2003, a comparatively large share even without taking into account related services. The sector employed 26.4% of the workforce. Romania excels in the production of automobiles, machine tools, and chemicals. With the manufacture of 0.5 million vehicles in 2003, Romania was the Europe's third largest producer of automobiles. In 2004 Romania enjoyed one of the largest world market share in machine tools (5.3%). Romanian-based multinationals such as Dacia Logan, Igero bus, Petrom, Rompetrol, Bitdefender are brand names throughout the world. What is less well known is the vital role of small- to medium-sized manufacturing firms, which specialize in niche products and often are owned by management. These firms employ two-thirds of the Romanian workforce.

The growth of the industrial sector was the principal stimulus to economic development. In 2007 manufacturing industries accounted for approximately 35 percent of the gross domestic product and 29 percent of the work force. Benefiting from strong domestic encouragement and foreign aid, Bucharest's industrialists introduced modern technologies into outmoded or newly built facilities at a rapid pace, increased the production of commodities--especially those for sale in foreign markets--and plowed the proceeds back into further industrial expansion. As a result, industry altered the country's landscape, drawing millions of laborers to urban manufacturing centers.

Construction activity (about 10% of GDP) has increased due to recent tax incentives. Romania is becoming an increasingly popular choice for British property investors, according to recent research from Currencies Direct. The latest Global Emerging Markets Index from the foreign exchange company shows that Romania has made the top ten for the first time, reaching number nine. The monthly index is based on the number of foreign exchange transfers undertaken by the firm to emerging market regions for property purchases. According to Currencies Direct, Romania has seen significant increases in house prices in recent years and its interest rate has dropped from a level of 154 per cent in 1997 to 8.9 per cent in 2005.

Tourism

Tourism is a significant contributor to the Romania Economy. In the 1990s the government heavily promoted the development of skiing in the Romanian Carpathians. Domestic and international tourism generates about 6% of gross domestic product (GDP) and 0.8 million jobs. Following commerce, tourism is the second largest component of the services sector. In 2006 Romania registered 20 million overnight stays by international tourists, 4% higher than in the previous year and an all-time record. Two-thirds of all major trade fairs from Central Europe are held in Romania, and each year they attract 2 to 3 million business travelers, about 20% of whom are foreigners. The four most important trade fairs take place in Bucharest, Cluj-Napoca, Iaşi, Timişoara.
In the year 2007, 18,345,667 tourists vacationed in Romania. The total revenue was $4.2 billion and with an average expenditure of $679 per tourist. Over the years, Romania has emerged as a popular tourist destination for many Europeans, often competing with Greece, Italy and Spain. Romania destinations such as Constanta and Mamaia (sometimes called the Romanian Riviera) have become very popular among European tourists.
Romania has a highly developed tourism infrastructure, making it a good market for tourism-related equipment and services.

Where are we now?

The main dissatisfaction Romanians have is linked to their material situation - 71% say they are discontent or very discontent with the money they have. On the other side there are friends and family, which give reasons for satisfaction to over three quarters of the respondents. When asked to evaluate their own household income, a third (35%) say it is not enough to cover the minimum costs of living, another third (34%) say it covers just the minimum costs, a fifth(20%) say they can live decently, 7% state they can afford some more costly expenses and only 1% say they can afford anything they want.

Corruption still remains a major concern, as well as jobs that pay livable wages. Much is needed in terms of infrastructure: roads, schools, more modern facilities, etc.

Romania is currently under much pressure to upgrade its schools to that of Western European standards. To put it bluntly, the Romanian education system is a mess. Facilities are needed, qualified teachers are at a premium, and student discipline is a new concept.

Since 1989, much has changed in Romania. It is by no means a third-world country. Romania is a nation in transition, dynamic, growing, and vibrant.

Check back for updates on the religious revolution of Romania.

Romanian Friend Singing on TV

Many of you send me requests to post more songs in Romanian. This is one of a friend of mine, Andrei, who is a very talented musician. He plays several instruments and comes from a family of musical composers. He and I have sang duets at my church together and have gone Christmas caroling together. Enjoy!

Follow-up events to BucurestiFest

This photo is of Varvara Batte who was asked to come to the ladies Next Steps breakfast this Saturday morning by her Grandmother Madalina Velea. Mrs Velea had been invited to the Women's Dinner 27th May by friend Angela Parcin. I believe that she there accepted Christ and told her grand0daughter about the breakfast. Vavara very happily came to the breakfast, where there was teaching and, because there were a number of Ladies who had not been to the original dinner, a Gospel presentation. According to organiser Lidia Mihailescu another 20 accepted Christ this morning, including Vavara.

Here's Bible League Director Timotiei Mitrofan along with children's evangelist (and friend) Toni Berbece giving out Childrens Bibles to thos who came to the Next Steps meeting this morning for children
This photo is of red-headed lady on left Geda, Adriana Rusu (Table host),and Vali Constantinescu & Lidia Ionescu. Geda brought three guest to the Women's Dinner, two of them, Vali & Lidia, accepted Christ and came with her to the Next-Steps meeting

More Pics from BucureştiFest

BucureştiFest

Thank you to the many of you who prayed for the Andrew Palau Festival this weekend in Bucureşti. The festival featured activities for kids, classical concerts, extreme sport demonstrations, concerts, and the presentation of the Gospel at each event. A Romanian group "Proconsul" sang, along with Hillsong Church from London, and several local Romanian Bands. Over 7000 turned out the first night of the festival and many made the first step in establishing a relationship with Christ. Throughout the week, Andrew Palau and some of the musicians and extreme sports guys spoke in schools, to the government, business officials, etc. about Christ. In the month of June, there will be several follow-up meetings with participants to talk one-on-one about what it means to come to Christ and to live for HIM. I was happy to see the unity displayed at the event and am proud to see how so many churches came together (over 50) to make the event run smoothly--that is a HUGE accomplishment in and of itself. I am more pleased, however, to see the commitment the churches are making to do effective and thorough follow-up. Please continue to pray that people will continue to make the commitment to follow Christ and that the Next-Steps meetings will go well.

Leadership Conference on Mentoring the Heart

This week I had the privilege of attending a leadership seminary about "mentoring the heart" led by Bill Lawrence, a Dallas Seminary Professor, and an OC International Board member. The conference was excellent and I must say that God really spoke to me. I also enjoyed interacting with 57 pastors from various areas of Romania. From what I gathered, they learned a lot as well. Mentorship is a new concept in Romania, so I'm sure many of the pastors were quite challenged. Some of the things we learned:

• Call your followers to Christ: challenge them to follow Christ in all areas of their life (from families, jobs, to there own finances)
• Model what God wants your followers to become
• Face your heart so you can help your followers face their hearts
• Take your folloers into the action of ministry with you
• Establish heart relationships (be willing to open up)
• Be men of prayer
• Understand the struggles of the heart (independence, self-reliance, indentity struggles, pride)
• Call your followers from the interests of men to the interests of God
• Call your followers to take up the cross

Casa Elim: tucked away in the beautiful Transylvanian mountains

Me with Bill Lawrence, the conference leader and OC Board member

On The Lighter Side

Even the police need a little shove once in a while :)
Hey, it works :)

How many policemen does it take to monitor an intersection in Bucureşti????

That's one strong horse to pull the car

This is Romania :)

Kairos Missions Course in Constanta, RO

I am in the Black Sea port city of Constanta this week with my colleagues, teaching a course on missions called Kairos to a group of students studying at a school for cross-cultural studies. The missions course helps to give students a perspective of God's plan for the world and looks closely at the Abrahamic covenant in Genesis 12 as a continuing theme throuhout the Bible. It has been fun interacting with this group that has a lot of passion and motivation for missions.

The school is in the process of finishing up their construction. The facility is a nice-modern one

Praise and worship

And this is me swimming in the Sea---I LOVE the water

The Romanian Revolution: Part II

The Revolution brought Romania vast attention from the outside world. Initially, much of the world's sympathy inevitably went to the National Salvation Front government under Ion Iliescu, a former member of the Communist Party leadership and a Ceauşescu ally prior to falling into the dictator's disgrace in the early 1980s. The National Salvation Front, composed mainly of former members of the second echelon of the Communist Party, immediately assumed control over the state institutions, including the main media outlets, such as the national radio and television networks. They used their control of the media in order to launch virulent propaganda-style attacks against their new political opponents, the traditional democratic parties, which re-emerged after more than 50 years of underground activity.

Controversy:

To this day, there is some controversy about what may have been going on behind the scenes. At what point did which leaders of the army and police abandon Ceauşescu? Had they merely decided that Ceauşescu had become a liability, or did they genuinely want deeper change? How long before taking power on December 22, 1989, did the National Salvation Front (FSN — Frontul Salvării Naţionale), composed entirely of figures from the old regime, begin organizing itself and to what degree? Some conjecture that the formation may date back as far as 1982.
The identity of the terrorists remains a mystery to this day. No person has ever been officially charged with committing acts of terrorism, and this fact has raised many suspicions concerning the relationship between the terrorists and the new government.
It is likely that there was an ongoing conspiracy by members of a second echelon of the Communist Party, supported by Moscow possibly since 1982. These conspirators took advantage of the events in Timisoara to begin their drive to power. The claimed "terrorist" activity of those days were likely diversions organised by the same communist party conspirators to scare the population into seeking a "savior" and therefore embrace the "Salvation Front" without looking for new, uncompromised leaders. The Front appeared very well organised and suddenly replaced most revolutionaries pushed forward by the people from the street. Another interesting coincidence is the fall of the communist regimes in all Eastern Europe at about the same time, even if most of the citizens of these countries were very isolated from one each other. The lack of drive for democratic change in 1989 Romania was and is poorly understood in the West. The large majority of the population only wanted a better life and not necessarily democracy or regime change. This explains why Iliescu, a member of the communist party since his youth and who always repeated his socialist ideals has been in power for almost all 1990s decade. The events in 1989 Romania were not a revolution, just a coup d'etat.
There are several conflicting views on the events in Bucharest that led to the fall of Ceauşescu in 1989. One view is that a portion of the Romanian Communist Party CPEx (Political Executive Council) tried and failed to bring about a scenario similar to that in the rest of the Eastern bloc Communist countries, where the Communist leadership would resign en masse, allowing a new government to emerge peacefully. Another view is that a group of military officers successfully staged a conspiracy against Ceauşescu. Several officers have claimed that they had been part of a conspiracy directed against Ceauşescu, but evidence beyond their own claims is scant, at best. The latter view is buttressed by a series of interviews given 2003–04 by former Securitate Lieutenant Colonel Dumitru Burlan Ceauşescu’s long-time bodyguard. The two theories are not necessarily mutually exclusive. [Romanian Revolution memorial right]
In November 1989, Ceauşescu had visited Mikhail Gorbachev who asked him to resign: Ceauşescu flatly refused. The question of a possible resignation arose again on December 17. 1989 when Ceauşescu assembled the CPEx (Political Executive Council) to decide upon the necessary measures to crush the Timişoara uprising. Although meeting minutes were taken, and were presented at the trial of several CPEx members, the surviving stenograma (minutes) at the time of the trial were frustratingly incomplete: pages were missing, including the discussion of a possible resignation.
According to the testimony of CPEx members Paul Niculescu-Mizil and Ion Dincă during their trial, at this meeting, just like in Bulgaria and East Germany, two of the members of CPEx disagreed with the use of force to suppress the uprising. In response, Ceauşescu offered his resignation and asked the members of CPEx to elect another leader. However, other members of CPEx, including Gheorghe Oprea and Constantin Dăscălescu asked Ceauşescu not to resign, but to sack those two who opposed his decisions instead. Later that day, Ceauşescu left Romania to visit Iran leaving the task of resolving the uprising in Timişoara to his wife and other acolytes. According to one of the recent insider memoirs, following the Timişoara uprising, a group of conspiring Securitate generals took advantage of this opportunity to launch a coup in Bucharest. The coup, allegedly in preparation since 1982, was originally planned for New Year’s Eve, but it had to be redesigned on-the-move, so as to take advantage of the favourable developments. The lead-conspirator, General Stănculescu, was part of Ceauşescu’s inner circle, and he is said to have convinced the dictator to hold the mass rally in front of the Central Committee building, in a plaza that had already been prepared with remote-controlled automatic guns. During Ceauşescu's address, the remote-controlled automatic guns were set to fire randomly over the crowd while agitators would use bullhorns to instigate the crowd with anti-Ceauşescu slogans.
At one point, there was a battle over Otopeni Airport near Bucharest where each side apparently thought the other was fighting on behalf of Ceauşescu. This led to the question of who was shooting at whom, and which side did they think they were serving?
For several months after the events of December 1989, it was widely argued that Iliescu and the FSN had merely taken advantage of the chaos to stage a coup. While, ultimately, a great deal did change in Romania, it is still very contentious among Romanians and other observers as to whether this was their intent from the outset, or merely pragmatic playing of the cards they were dealt. What is clear is that by December 1989 Ceauşescu's harsh and counterproductive economic and political policies had cost him the support of many government officials and even the most loyal Communist Party cadres, most of whom joined forces with the popular revolution or simply refused to support him. This loss of support from regime officials ultimately set the stage for Ceauşescu's demise.
There are also many conspiracy theories about the roles of organizations such as the CIA and the KGB and their alleged involvement in the revolution.

The Rise of Ioan Iliescu:

In May 1990, partly due to the National Salvation Front's use of the media and of the partly preserved Communist Party infrastructure to silence the democratic opposition, Iliescu became Romania's first elected president after the revolution, with a majority of 85%. These elections have been condemned as undemocratic by both Romanian traditional parties and by the Western media. Iliescu, himself a former communist opperative (head of propoganda for years), could hardly have been seen as someone from the "outside" bringing change.

Nonetheless, Iliescu proposed multi-party elections and an "original democracy". This is widely held to have meant the adoption of Perestroika-style reforms rather than the complete removal of existing institutions; it can be linked to the warm reception the new regime was given in Mikhail Gorbachev and the rest of the Soviet leadership, and the fact that the first post-revolutionary international agreement signed by Romania was with that country.
Iliescu did not renounce the communist ideology and the program he initially presented during the revolution included restructuring the agriculture and the reorganization of trade, but not a switch to capitalism. These views were held by other members of the FSN, such as Silviu Brucan, who claimed in early 1990 that the revolution was against Ceauşescu, not against communism. Iliescu later evoked the possibility of trying a "Swedish model" of socialism.

Under the pressure of the events that led to the Mineriads, his political stance has veered with time: from a proponent of the Perestroika, Iliescu became a neophyte social democrat, aligning himself with the Western European political spectrum. The main debate around the subject of his commitment to such ideals is linked to the special conditions in Romania, and especially to the strong nationalist and autarkic attitude visible within the Ceauşescu regime. Most critics have pointed out that, unlike most communist-to-social democrat changes in the Eastern bloc, Romania's tended to retain various cornerstones (sometimes expressed with scandalous traits - to the Mineriads themselves can be added the slogan of Iliescu supporters in the early 1990s, Noi nu ne vindem ţara! - "We will not sell off our country!").

The new Constitution was adopted in 1991, and in 1992 he won a second term when he received 61% of the vote. According to Romanian political analysts, his election was based almost exclusively on the rural population and disoriented lower class industrial workers, controlled through manipulation from the state-controlled media (Televiziunea Română, the state television, was the only wide-scale TV channel until 1993). He ran for a third time in 1996 but, stripped of media monopoly, that of virtually all urban citizens and even of some traditional votes, he lost to Emil Constantinescu. Over 1,000,000 votes were cancelled, leading to accusations of wide-spread fraud.

Allegations against Iliescu:

He, along with other figures in the leading FSN, was allegedly responsible for calling the Jiu Valley miners to Bucharest on 28 January and June 14, 1990 to end the protests of the citizens (mainly students) gathered in University Square, protests aimed against the ex-communist leaders of Romania. The miners descended on the capital, armed with wooden clubs and bats and attacked the protesters. They trashed the University of Bucharest, various museums, and the headquarters of opposition parties, claiming that they were havens of decadence and immorality - drugs, firearms and munitions, "an automatic typewriter", and fake currency the miners had claimed as evidence later proved to be either non-existent, or (according to case) black and white copiers, or compressed air rifles used for target practice. The miners' violence led to an official figure of at least 6 dead (some sources estimate figures between 200 and 300 dead), with at least 5,000 injured. Miners shouted slogans such as Moarte intelectualilor! ("Death to intellectuals") or Noi muncim, nu gândim ("We work, don't think!" - implying legitimacy).

The official motives gathered from press reports stated that the crowd gathered in University Square held not only an unauthorised demonstration, which was still allowed to go on for days, but that these demonstrators were wielding un-democratic ideals and anarchist slogans, as well as being a danger to public health. At least this last part is verifiable, University Square being brought to unsanitary condition by the long and protracted demonstration that lasted for almost two months.

Iliescu later thanked the miners:
I thank you [miners] for all you've done these past few days, in general for your attitude of high civic conscience.
He expanded on this, declaring a right-wing liberal neo-fascist international conspiracy to have attempted the usurping of legitimate power and the destruction of the progressive left within Romania.
According to his lawyer and the military prosecutor Dan Voinea. Ion Iliescu has been recently placed under criminal law investigation (the official term for prosecution) with regard to the events that occurred in June 1990 in Bucharest. If convicted on all charges (that include crimes against humanity, accessory to murder and revolt, censorship), he faces life imprisonment.

Constitution Violations

Iliescu is accused by his opponents of having held three terms in office (four, counting the one between December 1989 and June 1990), although the Constitution, adopted in 1991, during his first mandate (1990-1992), was not to allow it. Before his unsuccessful campaign of 1996, the Constitutional Court of Romania ruled in favor of his third candidature and henceforth of his third presidency, begun in 2000. In view of this, the accusation can be described as biased, since it ignores the illegitimacy of ex post facto legislation within the framework of Romanian constitutionalism.

KGB connections

In 1995, the Ziua newspaper published an interview with an ex-KGB officer who declared that Ion Iliescu was a KGB inductee. Iliescu denied any involvement, and Ziua journalists began to investigate the topic in detail. However, only a few days later, Ziua alleged that its employees were being placed under the surveillance of the Romanian Intelligence Service – the official explanation was that the secret service was in fact watching a spy that lived nearby.

The scandal on his alleged connections continued in 2003, when Russian dissident Vladimir Bukovsky who had been granted access to Soviet archives, declared that Iliescu and most of the Salvation Front members were KGB agents, that Iliescu had been in close connection with Mikhail Gorbachev ever since they had allegedly met during Iliescu's stay in Moscow, and that the Romanian Revolution of 1989 was a plot organized by the KGB - in order to regain control of the country's policies (gradually lost under Ceauşescu's rule).

Four years of leadership under Emil Constantinescu

After winning a November 17 runoff against Ion Iliescu, Constantinescu was sworn in as president on November 29 and appointed Victor Ciorbea, the mayor of Bucharest, as Prime Minister of Romania.

The year 1997 in Romania began with great expectations. Initially, support for the new government was high, and a large segment of the population favored change. In February 1997, the Ciorbea government initiated its "shock therapy" programme, however the reform proved difficult: given the slow pace of privatisation and the stagnation during the previous government, the government's attempt to restructure the state industries was fitful, and the pace of privatisation was slowed. Blaming the old bureaucratic structures, Ciorbea launched a drive to streamline the various departments from the top down. These changes were promptly attacked as "political purges" by the opposition parties.
The reason for the delaying reforms can be explained by the lack of homogeneity and consensus of the coalition formed of three political alliances.Widespread disagreement and tension surfaced within each of the three groupings, as well as between them, and nearly every political formation was plagued by infighting and rifts.
This perpetual friction slowed down the lawmaking process, producing constant delays in adopting laws by Parliament, and forced the Cabinet to resort to "emergency ordinances" to speed it up. This made many Romanians feel that the normal democratic process was circumvented. Coalition solidarity manifested, however, when the government rejected the flurry of no-confidence and nonbinding motions initiated by the opposition, such as the one introduced in mid-December that would have held the government responsible for the plummeting living standards.
By August, the government had admitted that living standards were still falling, and announced the closing of 14 loss-making state enterprises. A government reshuffle was attempted, but was only completed on 2 December, and it succeeded in only plunging the coalition into a severe crisis once two key PD ministers resigned from the cabinet. One-third of the ministerial posts, including finance, reform, and industry and commerce, were affected. A privatization ministry was created to replace several institutions with overlapping responsibilities. Only days later, however, the Cabinet was again plunged into crisis when the two UDMR ministers boycotted meetings to protest the coalition's failure to permit education of the country's large Magyar minority in the Hungarian language in all subjects. Foreign Minister Adrian Severin of the Democratic Party (PD, the leading force in the USD) resigned on December 23 after he claimed that some party leaders and media directors were working for foreign secret services. The crisis ended only when Ciorbea resigned in 1998, both as Prime Minister of Romania and Mayor of Bucharest.
By this time, dissatisfaction with government policies was rising. This led to a wave of protests by workers, students, and others that peaked in October.

Economic Difficulties

With an eye to EU requirements, Romania had met a $2 billion debt service due in mid-1999 but at a cost of depleting its foreign exchange reserves. The privatization agency earned praise abroad in 1999 for quickening the pace of sell-offs in a country where 80% of the economy was still in state hands. It was assailed, however, along with other reformers, by private television stations whose influence had soared as the reputation of politicians slumped.
Eventually, Romania had only a few months to draw up an economic strategy for the period 2000–06 in order to prepare Romania for accession to the European Union (EU). Isarescu won praise for persuading the Social Democratic Party of Romania (PDSR), the main opposition party, to endorse a policy committing Romania to a steady shift toward a market economy. Enjoying a runaway lead in the opinion polls, the PDSR was committed to an economic strategy drawn up in conjunction with officials from the EU, World Bank, and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
A modest recovery at the beginning of 2000 suffered a setback by a severe drought, and a subsequent bad harvest, requiring costly imports of grain and foodstuffs.

Foreign Policy

The government's foreign policy was seen as a strong point. It adopted a pro-Western stance, and early in its mandate launched a diplomatic offensive to improve the image of Romania abroad. President Constantinescu received senior foreign officials, including French President Jacques Chirac (February 1997) and U.S. President Bill Clinton (July 1997). Joining NATO and the European Union were proclaimed Romania's top foreign policy priorities. With these objectives in mind, Romania sought to improve relations with its neighbours and signed a basic treaty with Ukraine in June. The country was nonetheless passed over in the first wave of expansion by both NATO and the EU.
In March 1998 Constantinescu attended the London conference of European Union member states and candidates, and in July he took advantage of a nine-day visit in the U.S. to argue before a joint session of Congress that his country played a key role in Balkan stability and should therefore be admitted to NATO. In October Romania agreed to allow limited access to its air space in the event of NATO military intervention in the Serbian province of Kosovo.

Aftermath of his presidency

The CDR government's results were disastrous. Romanians exhibited strong disillusionment with the major parties and politicians. Many now viewed them as a separate caste whose primary aim was to protect special corporate interests rather than the common good. A disenchanted Emil Constantinescu, who lost popularity and had failed to fulfill his reformist agenda announced that he would not run for a second term. He temporarily withdrew from political life at the end of his term in November 2000.
However, the former President returned to the political scene in 2002 as head of the Acţiunea populară (People's Action) party. On the international level, he committed himself to the eventual integration of Romania into the European Union (2007) and NATO (2004) structures; to the strengthening of bilateral links with other countries as well as to the implementation of trilateral political and economic agreements among states.

Iliescu Returns:

Following Constantinescu's refusal to seek re-election, Iliescu again rose to power from 2000-2004, raising the question of whether Romania was ever to totally distance itself from its past communist ties. Throughout this period, however, Romania literally began changing rapidly (some would say overnight). Romania ascended to the EU, welcomed numerous foreign investors, and Romanians began to become acclimated to some of the luxuries of the West that had long aluded them (shopping malls, hiper-markets, modern-day factories, etc.). Romania began to finally turn the corner towards modernization....the revolution was only just beginning.