The joy of an electoral win has overwhelmed the Opposition, an important part of the media and some good share of the civil society. Everybody trusts an extraordinary victory of the Opposition, both now, and, more especially, this autumn, when the battle over the Victoria and Palaces- no longer seems a lost case – and thus a signal is conveyed that the Opposition could break through the apparently... 

The Social Democrat Party is set to lose the general elections this autumn, after the mediocre performance in the local elections. The results of these elections are not revealing enough to prove to what extent this performance was poor.In assessing the final result, one must take into account a series of variables. On election date, PSD was controlling most of the power levers, at a central and local... 

The PNL – PD Alliance, known as the Justice and Truth Alliance (acronym D.A. – Yes) won the local elections held in June in Romania. The surprising victory of the Alliance this summer announces the one that could occur in the Parliamentary and Presidential elections in November – December 2004. The great looser is the Social Democrat Party (PSD), the ruling party, whose propaganda... 

Romania still pays the penalty of the isolationist attitude it built in the past few decades, which is obvious at all levels of our foreign relations, starting from the work style of our diplomats and going to the way we have seen fit to play the game on the European chessboard so far. Consequently, a reform in approaching the European arena is critical for Romania. We talked in our previous issue... 

In Romania, signs of the physical impossibility of the country’s integration are becoming increasingly evident and dramatic. Would anyone cast a glance sine ira et studio on the Romanian political and social scene, one would notice with no effort the extent of our incompatibility as regards the EU accession. True reforms in key structures of the State have not been made, or even, according to... 

An old story says that, if you put two equally full buckets of water on front of a donkey, he would thirst to death as he wouldn’t know which one to drink from. PSD is currently facing a similar dilemma. On the one hand, European integration could help at a political level, yet on the other hand, the most affected would be its own people, either members or simple voters. PSD – between... 

The stake of the June 6 elections is the highest of all local ballots in the past 14 years due to the current political circumstances. The existence of a State-party, the ruling Social Democrat Party (PSD), which cannot refrain from daily breaking the law, and weakness of public institutions, unable to sanction any type of law violation when it comes to PSD, can once more question the country’s... 

There are nations that plan on the long-term and develop strategies with this stated purpose. The Chinese plan their future for 50 years; the Japanese do the same for 40 years, and the Americans for 25 years. Nevertheless, there are also nations that go only to short-term plans. Romanians fall under this heading, since they can only make their planning for 5 years tops (like in the communist period).... 

PSD has obtained, at the local elections in 2000, 35,5 % of the mayor mandates, meaning – in absolute figures – 1050 mayors. At the end of year 2003, after an aggressive recruitment campaign, using more or less constraining arguments, the social-democrat dowry counted 1947 mayors, which meant a 30% artificial increase, compared to the reality expressed by the vote in 2000. The strategists... 

The government was not happy at all when it read in the Country Report that Romania does not have a functioning economy market. The Party and the State propaganda took action and transformed it into a functional one through a “sensitive translation”. The fact that it had no effect was proved by the recent discussions about “reorientation” of negotiations (another heartless translation),...