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IMAGO / Xinhua

Romania has voted

Cementing the status quo

2024 is also a super election year in Romania. The European and local elections kicked off on June 9, 2024. These showed: the status quo got cemented with the elections. Despite a very high level of political frustration in the country, the major parties in the Romanian ruling coalition managed to secure a clear majority of almost 50% for their joint electoral list in the European elections. The coalition parties also clearly win the local elections. However, it is also clear that the decisive position of power in the country will not be at stake until the presidential elections in September.

Katja Christina Plate
June 12, 2024
Country reports
Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung e. V.

Digital Solutions for better Inclusion in Romania

Inclusion worldwide – current status from Romania

In 2010, Romania ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The purpose of the Convention is to promote, protect and ensure the full and equal enjoyment of all human rights and fundamental freedoms by all persons with disabilities and to promote respect for their inherent dignity. Unfortunately, inclusion of persons with disabilities is not yet a reality in Romania. Accessibility in everyday life, participation of children with disabilities in school, integration of disabled people in the labour market, efficient medical, nursing and care support, etc.: Wherever you look, there are serious deficits in Romania. But there are also people who are taking action and looking for solutions. Also digital solutions.

Katja Christina Plate
July 24, 2023
Country reports with a difference
Guvernul României

Changing of the guard in Romania

Ciucă leaves, Ciolacu comes

On 12 June 2023, the Romanian Prime Minister Nicolae Ciucă (PNL) resigned. Already on 15 June 2023, Marcel Ciolacu (PSD) was sworn in as the new Romanian Prime Minister with his new cabinet. The changing of the guard at the top of the government had been long agreed and could actually have proceeded smoothly, but was delayed by several weeks by massive teacher strikes and a very difficult collective bargaining process. The new government programme already gives an indication of how the governing parties are positioning themselves for the Romanian super-election year of 2024.

Katja Christina Plate
June 16, 2023
Country reports
Centrul FILIA

On 8 March: Women's Day in Romania

There is still a long way to go for equal opportunities and equal rights

Women's Day is traditionally celebrated in Romania on 8 March. The lack of equal opportunities and equal rights for women in Romanian society is a topic discussed on this day. In addition, this day is also celebrated as Mother's Day. Children paint, do handicrafts and sing for their mothers. There are flowers, chocolates and recognition from family, friends and colleagues. In our report, we focus on the socio-political aspects of Women's Day. Unfortunately, the situation of women in Romania is not rosy.

Katja Christina Plate
March 9, 2023
Country reports
Reuters / Gleb Garanich

Romania: Political and Social Impact One Year After the Start of Russia's War of Aggression against Ukraine

From crisis reaction to long-distance running

The Romanian population was - and still is - appalled by the recent Russian attack on Ukraine on 24th of February 2022, which is strongly condemned in its entirety by all Romanian representatives and the vast majority of MPs as well as the population. There are historically rooted strong anti-Russian resentments in Romania, which are currently reflected in the explicit support for Ukraine. The Romanian Orthodox Church (BOR) also strongly and unequivocally condemned the Russian attack from the beginning. But what are the political and social effects of the Ukrainian war on Romania one year after the war began?

Katja Christina Plate, Mihai Marc
February 28, 2023
Country reports
Freepik / rawpixel.com

Romania: A "hidden champion" of digitalisation?

What does ChatGPT know and what do we know? A conversation with Artificial Intelligence about digitalisation in Romania.

Romania is a "hidden champion" when it comes to digitalisation, at least that's what we often hear. In a dialogue with the artificial intelligence-based chat bot "ChatGPT" from Open AI, we go through some factors that help to assess the degree of digitalisation in Romania. In doing so, we compare what ChatGPT knows on the topic with what we know in the Romania foreign office. Let's see if we can still keep up.

Katja Christina Plate, Mihai Marc
February 7, 2023
Country reports
Reuters / Inquam Photos

Romania is getting well through the winter. But what else is going on in the energy policy?

At first glance, Romania is a model student in terms of energy policy compared with other EU countries, but there are also shortcomings.

Low dependence on Russian gas, full natural gas storage facilities, balanced energy mix in production. At first glance, Romania is a model pupil in terms of energy policy compared to the EU and can easily bridge this difficult winter in terms of energy. But there are also deficits. Above all, there is a strong need to expand the electricity supply. If new investments are not made or progress is too slow, the situation in Romania can quickly deteriorate.

Mihai Marc, Katja Christina Plate
January 27, 2023
Country reports
Wikimedia Commons / Raimund Spekking

Der Skiurlaub fällt aus!

Rumänien reagiert auf Österreichs Schengen-Veto

Am 8. Dezember 2022 legte Österreich im Rat für Justiz und Inneres sein Veto gegen den Beitritt von Rumänien und Bulgarien zum Schengen Raum ein. Und ganz Rumänien ist empört. Österreichs Alleingang gegen den in den letzten Wochen mühsam frei gemachten Weg für den Schengen-Beitritt Rumäniens, beeinträchtigt die rumänisch-österreichischen Beziehungen stark. Die rumänische Politik und Diplomatie wurde düpiert, rumänischen Unternehmern entgehen handfeste wirtschaftliche Vorteile und viele Rumäninnen und Rumänen fühlen sich wieder einmal als EU-Bürger zweiter Klasse behandelt.

Katja Christina Plate, Mihai Marc
December 16, 2022
Country reports
Cédric Puisney / flickr / CC BY 2.0 / creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

ECJ ruling on Romania. Failed „Judicial Reform“ of the PSD led former Governments

European Court of Justice rules: there is a significant need to improve the Romanian judicial laws amended between 2017-2019 by governments of the PSD

On May 18, 2021, in a long-awaited judgment, the ECJ ruled on the legal nature of the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism (also referred to as the "Mechanism for the cooperation and verification of Romania's progress" - henceforth: CVM) and the EU Commission's progress reports, and their binding effect for the Romanian courts. In addition, the ECJ commented on various legal changes concerning the institutional design of the judiciary in Romania, introduced by the judicial reform in 2017-2019 and heavily criticized by the public. However, a clear distinction must be made here between the phase of PSD-led governments, during which these "reforms" were decided, and that of the governments led by the EPP member party PNL. The PNL has been in government since October 2019 and rejects the PSD "reforms", currently reversing them in the parliamentary process.

Hartmut Rank, Stanislav Splavnic, Svenja Gutsche
June 1, 2021
Country reports
Cédric Puisney / flickr / CC BY 2.0 / creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

Romania's judiciary before the ECJ

An investigation into the so-called “judicial laws”, the legality of the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism (CVM), and rulings of the Romanian Constitutional Court

Since joining the European Union, Romania has been in the process of evolving towards harmonization with the fundamental principles for which the EU stands. The European Commission has been supporting this process through the Cooperation and Control Mechanism (CVM) from the moment of the accession in 2007. As part of the monitoring, which was originally planned to be short-term but now lasted for almost a decade and a half, the European Commission reports annually on the progress of the member states Bulgaria and Romania with regard to the situation of the rule of law: At the moment, several cases dealing with central aspects of the Romanian judicial system are pending before the Court of Justice of the European Union (ECJ). In addition to an assessment of the controversial judicial reforms in Romania in 2017-2019, the question of the extent to which the CVM recommendations of the EU Commission are binding is another subject of decisions to be expected shortly. The analysis of the cases pending before the Court of Justice in Luxembourg and the applications of the Advocate General already allows for a number of conclusions to be drawn.

Hartmut Rank, Christoph Popa
March 23, 2021
Country reports
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The Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung is a political foundation. Our offices abroad are in charge of over 200 projects in more than 120 countries. The country reports offer current analyses, exclusive evaluations, background information and forecasts - provided by our international staff.

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