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Romania through international eyes

People
People in the News

March 2005

During the second official visit of his presidency, Traian Basescu told Russian President Vladimir Putin that he hoped to become “one of your European friends who can call you at any time, and whom you can call at any time.” The pair discussed ways to boost economic ties, particularly ways in which Romania’s gas pipeline could be expanded, cooperation against arms smuggling and other Black Sea security issues. An officially appointed auditor concluded that the Nastase government had misused 20 trillion lei (about $785 million) that it had collected in employment taxes meant for health insurance. Monica Macovei, the Minister for Justice, ordered an investigation into two prosecutors involved in the trial on cocaine charges of Ion Ion Tiriac, the son of the tennis coach and businessman.Senate leader Nicolae Vacaroiu said that he would sue the Coalition for a Clean Parliament for naming him as being involved in trafficking gasoline and oil to Yugoslavia during the UN embargo while he was prime minister between 1992 and 1996. The Foreign Ministry published a list of 22 ambassadorial appointments made by the Nastase government that will be recalled before the summer. Ahead of this month’s $4.5 billion acquisition of the US-based steel producer ISG, Mittal Steel said that it would cut 45,000 jobs over the next five years. Mittal Steel owns Sidex which employs 18,000, but also own foundries in 13 other countries.The leu continued its appreciation; since November 2004 it has strengthened 11 per cent against the euro and 16 per cent against the dollar. Exporting companies lobbied the central bank to slow the rate of leu appreciation, and to delay the renumeration of the leu - in which Romania’s currency will be expressed with four less zeros - due to take place on 1st July; the Foreign Investors Council, in its White Paper, also suggested that the introduction of the “heavy leu” be postponed. Nevertheless, the first stage of renumeration, in which banks and companies express prices in both old and new terms, began to take place. Steaua Bucharest beat Valencia in a UEFA Cup qualifier. Romania’s rugby team beat Russia 33-10 in a European Cup match in Constanta. Romania beat Belarus in a Davis Cup qualifying round in Brasov. A man in Galati was arrested for robbing the same flat by the same policeman hours after his release from prison. Cars were banned from Bucharest’s old quarter, known to many as the Lipscani area. Alex Ulmanu, Vivid’s media writer, married Monica Peana, Vivid’s website designer. After his purchase of Comtim, Romania’s largest pork slaughterhouse, and Agroalim, a meat distributor, Joseph W Luter III of Smithfield Foods described Romania and Poland as “the breadbasket, the Iowa of Europe.”

Prime Minister Calin Popescu-Tariceanu with EU Expansion Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn, who said that Romania still needed to implement reforms in competition, the environment and justice. (Picture Rompres).

Tension rose on another Middle Eastern front when the Lebanese government resigned and a caretaker prime minister was named by the president ahead of elections in May. The decision was prompted by a huge car bomb attack in west Beirut that killed Rafik Hariri, the former prime minister, and 14 others. The assassination was widely thought to be masterminded by Syrians, and pressure mounted on Syria to pull its 14,000 troops out of Lebanon. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad condemned the attack as a “terrible criminal act,” and Lebanon’s former colonial power France, whose leader, Jacques Chirac, had close ties with Mr Hariri, called for an international enquiry. George Bush’s tour of Europe took in Brussels, Mainz, in Germany, and Bratislava, Slovakia’s capital. Besides visiting the European Union and Nato headquarters, he dined with France’s Jacques Chirac, breakfasted with Britain’s Tony Blair, and held meetings with Germany’s Gerhard Schroder and Russia’s Vladimir Putin. Most Europeans were pleased by his renewed emphasis on the value and importance of the transatlantic relationship.Pope John Paul II was admitted to hospital for the second time in less than a month, experiencing breathing difficulties. Dr Ibrahim al-Jaafari, Iraq’s interim deputy prime minister, looked set to lead the new, Islamic-leaning Iraqi government after elections were held. Violence continued all across Iraq however – amongst the worst incidents was a car bomb that killed more than 105 people in Hilla, about 60 kilometres south of Baghdad. Socialists convincingly won general elections in Portugal, where Jose Socrates is to be the next prime minister. Envoys from 23 nations, including the US Foreign Secretary Condoleeza Rica and the UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, met in London to show international support for the Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. A general strike took place in Lome, Togo, in protest against the installation of Faure Gnassingbe as president in succession to his father, Gnassingbe Eyadema, who ruled for 38 years until his death on 5 February. Mr Gnassingbe later resigned. More than 500 people were killed in an earthquake in Zarand, in southeastern Iran. About 230 people were killed in a series of avalanches in Kashmir. Thieves stole jewellery valued at 74 million euros from a cargo van at Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport.The French government launched a 50-year bond, which was three times oversubscribed.HSBC Bank recorded a pre-tax profit of $18.3 billion, the highest ever by a British bank. An editorial appeared in the influential Los Angeles Times calling for Bobo to be made head of the World Bank when its president, James Wolfhenson retires this year. Sister Lucia, the last of the three children who saw an apparition of the Virgin Mary at Fatima, Portugal, in 1917, died, aged 97. Arthur Miller, one of the giants of twentieth century drama, died, aged 89. Hunter S Thompson, the self-styled “Mad Doctor of Gonzo Journalism”, shot himself dead, aged 67. Fox hunting with dogs became illegal in England and Wales.Million Dollar Baby was the most successful film at the Academy Awards, winning four major prizes. Police using wheel clamps to enforce parking rules at Dublin International Airport have promised not to clamp any more ambulances after one was disabled while trying to ferry a seriously injured passenger to hospital. Three women are suing the San Fancisco-based Gorilla Foundation on the grounds that they were asked to bare their breasts to Koko, a 33-year-old Western gorilla who is said to utilise a vocabulary of more than a thousand different gestures to communicate with humans.