The Week in Review May 7-13 2022

Colectiv epilogue

Almost seven years later, the justice system has concluded proceedings related to the Colectiv case, the biggest civilian catastrophe in post-communist Romania. On November 30, 2015, a conflagration erupted accidentally during a rock concert at the Colectiv club in Bucharest, which had been improvised in a deserted factory. It left 64 dead, mostly young people, and 186 injured, one of them committing suicide later on. Politically, the fallout came only a few days later, when Social Democratic PM Victor Ponta resigned, pressed by the street protests held under the slogan 'Corruption kills'. Legally, however, the saga lasted until this last Thursday, May 12, when the three owners of the club were sentenced to prison terms between 6 and 11 years. The two pyrotechnics technicians that arranged the fireworks that set the fire got 6 years and 10 months each, their boss to two years and a half, and the two firefighters who had to oversee fire regulation compliance in Colectiv got 8 years and 8 months. Also going behind bars for abuse of office is the then mayor of Bucharest sector 4, Cristian Popescu-Piedone, who was in charge of the system that issued the operating license for the club. The former bar owner, a colorful character who graduated high school at 32, and college at 40, who is about to turn 60, also resigned back in 2015, soon after Ponta. In 2020, however, he ran and won in the campaign for mayor of sector 5, which, as the press remarks, is stupefying both in terms of domestic political morays, and the mentality of the voters.

Law on fossil fuels in the Black Sea

The bill to change the offshore fossil fuel exploitation law, which aims to encourage investments in extractions in the Black Sea shelf, passed the Senate in Bucharest as the first voting chamber. The initiators of the bill, the government coalition between the Social Democrats, the Liberals, and the Hungarian Union, claim that this bill would carry Romania forward towards energy independence. The bill sets the shares of the profit, 40% going to investors and 60% towards the Romanian state, which would have primacy for purchases of natural gas. The parties in the government coalition underlined the need for this law in the present economic context, as, during winter, Romania imports from Russia about 30% of its gas. The bill was supported by the opposition USR party, even if their proposed amendments did not pass muster. However, the nationalist AUR party categorically rejected the bill, which it believes is anti-national, because it would lead to sales of strategic resources to foreign companies. The final vote lies with the Chamber of Deputies.

Offensive language against Romania

Over 900,000 Ukrainian citizens took refuge in Romania after the February 24 invasion of their country by Russian troops, as indicated by statistics issued by the General Inspectorate of Border Police. Against this background, the ambassador of the Russian Federation to Romania, Valeryi Kuzmin, was called to the Foreign Ministry in Bucharest by minister Bogdan Aurescu. The Russian diplomat was told in no unclear terms that it was unacceptable for Russia to use inappropriate, offensive, and provocative language towards Romania and NATO, and alliance which the country has joined by democratic decision. The convocation was caused by the publication on the Russian embassy's website of an article called 'About the NATO barking at Russia's borders and the main source of disinformation in the world'. Last month, the Foreign Ministry announced that the Romania authorities have issued persona non grata declarations against 10 persons working at the Russian Federation embassy in Bucharest, in view of the fact that their activities and actions run contrary to the Vienna convention on diplomatic relations.

Romanian journalists detained by Transnistria security forces

Two Romanian journalists, working for the Digi 24 channel, have been released after diplomatic action from Bucharest, after being detained by the security forces of the pro-Russian separatist region of Transnistria, in the east of the Republic of Moldova. The two were in the region for professional purposes, and by Tuesday they fell out of touch with their central office. According to the Foreign Ministry, the Romanian embassy in Chisinau urgently tapped multiple channels of communication, and managed to have them released within hours. They were safely accompanied to Chisinau. In 1992, the Republic of Moldova effectively lost control of the region of Transnistria after an armed conflict that left hundreds dead, settled by the intervention of Russian troops siding with the rebels. Those events occurred less than one year after Chisinau had proclaimed its independence from the USSR. Former Russian president Boris Yeltsin committed to withdrawing the Russian troops from Transnistria while attending the 1999 OSCE summit in Istanbul. It is thought that about 1,500 Russian troops with significant amounts of materiel are still in the province.

The domestic football season nears end

Sepsi OSK Sf. Gheorghe and FC Voluntari this week qualified to the finals of the Romanian football cup, which is scheduled for May 19. Also close to conclusion is the Romanian domestic championship, disputed by multiple champions CFR Cluj, the current trophy holder, and FCSB from Bucharest. Once the domestic season comes to an end, Romania's national soccer team will start competing in early June in a new edition of the League of Nations, where it will run against the national teams of Montenegro, Bosnia, and Finland.