It’s been 5 months since my last post… In spite of the utter disgust that prevented me from writing anything here, this period scored some points on the plus side: I finalized a little monitoring project on the transparency of institutions that manage EU funds in Romania, and contributed to the launch of a new project regarding the effective utilization of transparency legislation for interest-representation in decision-making. I also focused a sizable chunk of my time to the internal affairs of TI-Romania, as well as volunteering my knowledge to the development of other organizations, both in Romania and Moldova. I also gave a couple of lectures on good governance to students from the University of Applied Sciences in St. Gallen, and the American University in Blagoevgrad.
On the other hand, here’s a little account of events that kept me aloof: I was simply disgusted by the parliamentary hearings regarding the allegations of corruption and maladministration against the minister of tourism. Later on, political bickering culminated with the Social-Democrats pulling out their ministers, and the first ever successful no-confidence vote against the Democrat-Liberal Cabinet of Emil Boc–a disgusting and unprecedented political crisis, revolving around the presidential elections 🙁 The electoral campaign proved tedious, unnerving and futile, (re)confirming a set of conclusions about Romanian politics:
a) the Constitution and the electoral system are incompatible with the aspirations, character and behavior of our politicians;
b) the Liberals still lack organization and stamina, in spite of their visible (and convoluted) progress;
c) the Social-Democrats are declining and lack either one (or a combination) of vision, strategy and/or charismatic leaders;
d) the Democrat-Liberals found and played very well their short-term niche, just as any other opportunistic raptor/scavenger.
During this time, a plethora of senseless and endless discussions touched upon the IMF loan, the budget, unified pensions and salary grids in the public sector, the teachers’ and the civil servants’ strikes, the judiciary with the magistrates’ and clerks’ protests, the nomination of the new commissioner for agriculture, the electoral fraud and bribes, the referendum on reducing the size of Parliament, the nepotism and cronyism that mar public officials, the new taxes on fast-food and extra-marital sex, the swine flu and the violet flame of energy or energetic attacks… Nonsense, through and through! Disgusting, I tell you!!!
picture brought to my attention via Turambar
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