Publications

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?

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.

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.

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.

Willst Du ein Trackie werden?

Mai multe informații despre programul " Fast Track for Future Community Leaders "

Die Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung arbeitet in Rumänien besonders gerne mit jungen Menschen zusammen. Auf folgenden Wegen ist eine Beteiligung an unserer Arbeit und unseren Aktivitäten möglich:

Războiul spionilor / The war of spies

Acțiunile Secrete ale Exilului Românesc la Începutul Comunismului / Secret Actions of the Romanian Exile at the Beginning of Communism

Lucian Vasile's book provides a comprehensive history of the Romanian spy structure in exile known as the Romanian Military Intelligence in Exile (SIMRE), offering insights into the history of Romanian exile and anti-communist resistance. Using archival documents and literature, the author describes the different types of people involved in SIMRE and Securitate operations. The text, written in a narrative manner, focuses on the fates of individuals.

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.

Ultimul Cuvânt / The Last Word

Retrăind Fenomenul Pitești / Retracing the Pitesti Phenomenon

The book gathers 17 dialogues about personal and collective destinies related to the Pitesti phenomenon from the point of view of the one who reveals his trauma. Since none of the interviewees are with us today, these are also the last words of these unfortunate figures of history. The volume is a project of the Contemporary History Research Centre (CSIC), published with the support of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation. The editor is Alin Mureșan.

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.

jlf/wikipedia

Florin Citu neuer Premierminister einer Koalition aus PNL, USR-PLUS und UDMR

Regierungsbildung in Rumänien

Mit einer klaren Mehrheit von 260 zu 186 Stimmen hat das am 6.12. neu gewählte Parlament am Abend des 23.12. Florin Citu von der Nationalliberalen Partei (PNL) zum neuen Premierminister gewählt. Citu führt damit eine Koalitionsregierung, der neben der PNL auch die Allianz USR-PLUS und der Demokratische Verband der Ungarn in Rumänien angehören (UDMR). Die Koalitionsparteien verfügen über 244 von 466 Abgeordneten und Senatoren, wobei über Regierungen in gemeinsamen Sitzungen beider Kammern entschieden wird. Daneben stimmten für die Regierung Citu auch Vertreter der nationalen Minderheiten. Unmittelbar nach der Parlamentswahl hatte der bisherige Premierminister Ludovic Orban seinen Rücktritt als Regierungschef angekündigt, nachdem seine Partei entgegen den Erwartungen hinter die oppositionelle Sozialdemokratische Partei (PSD) zurückgefallen war. Orban bleibt allerdings Vorsitzender der PNL und wurde am 22.12. zum Präsidenten des Abgeordnetenhauses gewählt.