Tag: Politics of Romania

Aa Aa On Saturday evening, supporters of Romania's governing party, all dressed in white, gathered in Bucharest to protests against the so-called “parallel state” and alleged abuses by anti-corruption prosecutors who have targeted several top politicians. Buses were hired to bring the demonstrators from across the country with media reports putting the crowd at almost 150,000 people. They complained that corruption rules were being used to subvert democracy. Once the mass of people had dispursed, a battle began over the aftermath. Bucharest's Victory Square was left littered with hundreds of placards, empty water bottles and food waste. Photos of the mess quickly went viral on social media. The pictures were accompanied by captions expressing anger and frustration: “Romania, this is what you are” “I’m being reassured this is Romania” Members of the #rezist anti-corruption opposition movement, took the opportunity to step in, posting videos on Facebook showing themselves helping the city’s sanitation department clean the square right after the pro-government supporters left. Over the last year and a half, Victory Square which houses the Romanian government has become a landmark for demonstrations organised by #rezist, who made a point of arranging a cleanup afterwards. The Bucharest City Hall, run by a member of the ruling Social-Democratic (PSD) party who had been present at the white rally, issued a press release suggesting that the help was unnecessary and that “immediately after the manifestation ended sanitation personnel employed by organisers swiftly intervened to clean up the area.” The organizing ruling party has yet to issue an official statement but social-democratic chief, Liviu Dragnea replied to questions from the #rezist movement by saying that “200 sanitation employees are taking care of the area.” The rally was organized by the government coalition as a response to the several anti-government street protests held against PSD attempts to modify the Penal Code and decriminalize several corruption offences. Party boss, Liviu Dragnea together with other leading politicians, some under criminal investigation, spoke at the rally accusing prosecutors of using their powers for political persecution.

The first of these broke last summer when an audio recording emerged in which Kovesi could be heard instructing her subordinates to pursue investigations against the Prime Minister and his cabinet colleagues in order to “put pressure” on the government in retaliation for their efforts to limit her authority. According to the witness – another former MP – prosecutors threatened to target his family unless he co-operated and claimed that they were acting with the approval of their superiors, including Kovesi. Among other things, this has revealed the existence of 65 secret protocols linking the Romanian Intelligence Service (SRI) with the DNA and a wide range of other law enforcement, judicial and administrative agencies. There is, for example, a very obvious conflict of interests in the fact that one of these protocols is with the Superior Council of Magistracy (CSM), the body responsible for regulating the activities of judges and prosecutors. According to SRI whistle-blower, Daniel Dragomir, the DNA has a confidential agreement with the ANCPI, the public land registry and real estate agency, giving prosecutors direct access to its database. Most troubling of all for a country that experienced the brutality of the Securitate, the communist era secret police, are revelations detailing the close and secretive relationship between the DNA and the SRI, and the role they jointly play in manipulating the criminal justice system through covert and extra-constitutional means. Under the Romanian constitution, the involvement of intelligence officers in such activity is categorically unlawful. Longstanding calls by the Romanian Union of Judges for an investigation into allegations that the SRI has maintained the old Securitate practice of planting penetration agents in the judiciary have been repeatedly ignored. The reforms needed to address these problems in a way that strengthens rather than weakens the fight against corruption are unlikely to be agreed in the current atmosphere of partisanship and mistrust. Nor can Romania expect much in the way of wise counsel from its international partners.