Romania
Country in SE Europe, bounded N and E by Ukraine, E by Moldova, SE
by the Black Sea, S by Bulgaria, SW by Yugoslavia, and NW by Hungary.
Government
Under the 1991 constitution, Romania has a limited presidential political
system. There is a two- chamber legislature, comprising a 341-member
chamber of deputies (lower chamber), in which additional seats
are set aside for minorities, and a 143-member senate (upper chamber).
Both are elected for four- year terms by means of proportional
representation in multiparty contests. An executive president
is directly elected for a four-year term in a two- round majority
contest. The president appoints the prime minister, who in turn
appoints a cabinet, or council of ministers.
History
The earliest known inhabitants merged with invaders from Thrace. Ancient
Rome made it the province of Dacia; the poet Ovid was one of the
settlers, and the people and language were Romanized. After the
withdrawal of the Romans AD 275, Romania was occupied by Goths,
and during the 6th-12th centuries was overrun by Huns, Bulgars,
Slavs, and other invaders.
The principalities of Wallachia in the south, and Moldavia in
the east, dating from the 14th century, fell to the Ottoman Empire
in the 15th and 16th centuries.
Turkish rule was exchanged for Russian protection 1829-56. In
1859 Moldavia and Wallachia elected Prince Alexander Cuza, under
whom they were united as Romania from 1861. He was deposed 1866
and Prince Charles of Hohenzollern- Sigmaringen elected. After
the Russo -Turkish war 1877-78, in which Romania sided with Russia,
the great powers recognized Romania's independence, and in 1881
Prince Charles became King Carol I.
After independence Romania fought against Bulgaria in the Second
Balkan War 1913 and annexed S Dobruja. It entered World War I
on the Allied side 1916, was occupied by the Germans 1917-18,
but received Bessarabia from Russia and Bukovina and Transylvania
from the dismembered Habsburg empire under the 1918 peace settlement,
thus emerging as the largest state in the Balkans. During the
late 1930s, to counter the growing popularity of the fascist Iron
Guard movement, Carol II abolished the democratic constitution
of 1923 and established his own dictatorship.
World War II
In 1940 he was forced to surrender Bessarabia and N Bukovina to the
USSR, N Transylvania to Hungary, and S Dobruja to Bulgaria, and
abdicated when Romania was occupied by Germany in Aug. Power was
assumed by Ion Antonescu (1882-1946, ruling in the name of Carol's
son King Michael), who signed the Axis Pact Nov 1940 and declared
war on the USSR June 1941. In Aug 1944, with the Red Army on Romania's
borders, King Michael supported the ousting of the Antonescu government
by a coalition of left and centre parties, including the Communists.
Romania subsequently joined the war against Germany and in the
Paris peace treaties 1947 recovered Transylvania but lost Bessarabia
and N Bukovina to the USSR (they were included in Moldavia and
the Ukraine) and S Dobruja to Bulgaria.
Republic
In the elections 1946 a Communist- led coalition achieved a majority
and proceeded to force King Michael to abdicate. The new Romanian
People's Republic was proclaimed Dec 1947 and dominated by the
Romanian Communist Party, then termed the Romanian Workers' Party
(RWP). Soviet-style constitutions were adopted 1948 and 1952;
Romania joined Comecon 1949 and co-signed the Warsaw Pact 1955;
and a programme of nationalization and agricultural collectivization
was launched. After a rapid purge of opposition leaders, the RWP
became firmly established in power, enabling Soviet occupation
forces to leave the country 1958.
Ceausescu era
The dominant political personality 1945-65 was RWP leader and state
president Gheorghe Gheorgiu-Dej. He was succeeded by Nicolae Ceau
sescu, who placed greater emphasis on national autonomy and proclaimed
Romania a socialist republic. Under Ceausescu, Romania adopted
a foreign-policy line independent of the USSR, condemned the 1968
invasion of Czechoslovakia, and refused to participate directly
in Warsaw Pact manoeuvres or allow Russian troops to enter the
country. Ceausescu called for multilateral nuclear disarmament
and the creation of a Balkan nuclear-weapons-free zone, and maintained
warm relations with China. He was created president 1974.
Austerity programme
At home, the secret police (Securitate) maintained a tight Stalinist
rein on dissident activities, while a Ceausescu personality cult
was propagated, with almost 40 members of the president's extended
family, including his wife Elena and son Nicu, occupying senior
party and state positions. Economic difficulties mounted as Ceausescu,
pledging himself to repay the country's accumulated foreign debt
(achieved 1989), embarked on an austerity programme. This led
to food shortages and widespread power cuts in the winters from
1985 onwards; the army occupied power plants and brutally crushed
workers' demonstrations in Brasov 1987.
Relations with neighbours
From 1985 Ceausescu refused to follow the path of political and economic
reform laid by Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, even calling in
the spring of 1989 for Warsaw Pact nations to intervene to prevent
the opposition Solidarity movement from assuming power in Poland.
Romania's relations with Hungary also reached crisis point 1988-89
as a result of a Ceausescu ` systematization plan´ to demolish
7,000 villages and replace them with 500 agro-industrial complexes,
in the process forcibly resettling and assimilating Transylvania-based
ethnic Hungarians.
Overthrow of Ceausescu
The unexpected overthrow of the Ceausescu regime began Dec 1989. It
was sparked off by the government's plans to exile a dissident
Protestant pastor, László T ökes (1952- ), to a remote village.
Ethnic Hungarians and Romanians joined forces in the city of Timisoara
to form an anti-Ceausescu protest movement. Hundreds of demonstrators
were killed in the state's subsequent crackdown on 17 Dec. Four
days later, an officially sponsored rally in Bucharest backfired
when the crowd chanted anti-Ceausescu slogans. Divisions between
the military and Securitate rapidly emerged and on 22 Dec the
army Chief of Staff, General Stefan Gusa, turned against the president
and called on his soldiers to `defend the uprising´. Ceausescu
attempted to flee, but was caught and he and his wife were summarily
tried and executed on Christmas Day.
National Salvation Front
Battles between Ceausescu-loyal Securitate members and the army ensued
in Bucharest, with several thousand being killed, but the army
seizing the upper hand. A National Salvation Front was established,
embracing former dissident intellectuals, reform communists, and
military leaders. At its head was Ion Iliescu (1930- ), a Moscow-trained
communist; Petre Roman (1947- ), an engineer without political
experience, was appointed prime minister. The Front's council
proceeded to relegalize the formation of alternative political
parties and draft a new constitution. Faced with grave economic
problems, it initiated a ban on the export of foodstuffs, the
abandonment of the `systematization programme´, the dissolution
of the Securitate (a new intelligence service, accountable to
parliament, was set up in its place), the abolition of the RCP's
leading role, and the relegalization of small-plot farming and
abortion (all contraception had been banned by Ceausescu). It
legalized the Orthodox Church, and the Vatican re-established
diplomatic relations.
Market economy
In May 1990 Ion Iliescu won the country's first free elections since
World War II. Moving towards a legal market economy, the government
cut subsidies, the leu was devalued, and prices were allowed to
float. Industrial exports slumped and strikes and protests increased
until the government agreed to postpone its price-liberalization
programme. Refugees continued to leave the country and there were
demonstrations against the government during Dec 1990 and Jan
1991, especially in Timisoara and Bucharest.
The second stage of price liberalization commenced April 1991,
despite trade-union protests against the sharply rising cost of
living and level of unemployment (over 1 million). At the same
time the leu was devalued by 72% to meet the loan conditions set
by the International Monetary Fund. President Iliescu signed a
law in Aug to allow for the privatization of all state enterprises
except utilities. In Nov 1991 the leu was made internally convertible.
Prices rose 400% during 1991 and hundreds of thousands were on
short -time work. GNP fell during 1991 to 12%. However, the annual
inflation rate, which stood at 300% in 1993, was reduced to 28%
by 1996 when the growth of the economy was reported to be 7% per
annum.
In late Sept 1991 prime minister Petre Roman resigned after
three days of riots in Bucharest by thousands of striking miners,
protesting against soaring prices and a fall in living standards.
Theodor Stolojan, the finance minister and a proponent of accelerated
price liberalization, was appointed prime minister. He formed
a new, cross- party coalition government Oct 1991.
New constitution
A national referendum Dec 1991 overwhelmingly endorsed a new constitution
which guaranteed pluralism, human rights, and a free market. Ethnic
Hungarians, however, opposed the new constitution on the grounds
that it failed to grant minority or language rights. Iliescu was
re- elected in the Sept-Oct 1992 presidential election on a second
ballot, promising more gradual market reforms; concurrent legislative
elections resulted in a no majority parliament. A minority administration,
formed under Nicolai Vacaroiu, only narrowly survived a series
of no- confidence motions by the more reformist-minded opposition,
and in March 1994 two far-right nationalist parties, Romania Mare
and the Romanian National Unity Party, were brought into the coalition
in an attempt to strengthen its position. In Jan 1995 a governing
pact was signed with the anti-Semitic Romania Mare and the ex-communist
Socialist Labour Party. These moves increased concern among ethnic
Hungarians and raised doubts in the West over the future development
of democracy in Romania.
Romania was formally invited to apply for European Community
(now European Union) membership 1993. In 1994 a pact was signed
with Bulgaria agreeing to joint military activities.
In local elections held June 1996 support for Vacaroiu's government
slumped with former communists making advances. Former tennis
star Ile Nastase failed in his bid to be elected as PSD mayor
of Bucharest.
New regime
The former communists who had held power since the overthrow of Ceausescu
in 1989 were defeated in the Nov 1996 elections. Emil Constantinescu,
leader of the centre- right Democratic Convention (CDR) won the
presidential election against Iliescu, heralding the advent of
a new era of genuine democracy. The CDR also won parliamentary
elections held in the same month. Former trade unionist Victor
Ciorbea was appointed prime minister.
The new government was dominated by the CDR but also included
representatives from the Social Democratic Union and the Hungarian
Democratic Union of Romania. In Feb 1997 the government announced
a radical `economic shock therapy´ reform programme, which included
accelerated privatization and spending cuts, which would reduce
average incomes in the short term, and reiterated the country's
aim to enter NATO and the European Union.
As part of the economic reform programme, the currency was freed
and price controls ended, leading to a sharp increase in the inflation
rate to an annualized 700%. In addition, a drive against official
corruption was launched, with a quarter of county police chiefs
being sacked and investigations launched into public- private
mafias.
In Feb 1997 the former king, Michael, aged 75, returned to the
country from exile in Switzerland, 50 years after having been
forced to abdicate by the Communists. He promised to abide by
the 1991 republican constitution and set about lobbying for the
country's entry into NATO.
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