IN December 1989, Romania’s communist dictator Nicolai Ceausescu, who had ordered the gunning down of anti-regime protestors in Timisoara, was delivering a speech from the balcony of the Bucharest communist party headquarters.
The packed square before him held up pro-regime slogans and portraits of the dictator. Then in a televised moment that has become iconic, the crowd suddenly starts to yell insults at the Romanian leader. The look of incredulity on his face as he falters in his speech and stares at this manifestation of disloyalty is unforgettable. Within a few minutes he and his wife Elena would flee by helicopter only to be captured, tried and executed after a one-hour trial just six days later.
Even though communist regimes had been collapsing elsewhere in Eastern Europe, the crowd’s outburst against the man who had ruled their country with an iron fist for 15 years was entirely unexpected. And now 27 years later huge crowds are back on the streets of Bucharest protesting against the government, but in this case their presence should not have been the least bit unexpected.
In an extraordinary move, Social Democrat Prime Minister Sorin Grindeanu issued a decree that decriminalized any abuse of power that involved a sum of less than $47,500. Romania, along with neighbor Bulgaria joined the European Union 10 years ago. In Brussels, one high official said off the record that “the mind boggles at such an inept and stupid idea”.
What Grindeanu’s Decree Number 13 would have done was nothing less than legalize theft by politicians, officials and functionaries. Grindeanu argued that his decree was necessary to reduce the prison population. He might just as well have made murder, armed robbery, burglary, rape and kidnapping legal which would have reduced the prison population even further, if not indeed emptied the jails entirely. He also said that the decree would align “certain laws with the constitution”.
Even though he has since withdrawn his amazing decree in the face of the massive street demonstrations, the Constitutional Court is shortly due to rule on its legality. It would be astonishing if it backs the premier. Grindeanu has now said that he will introduce legislation which his opponents suspect will contain the substance of Decree 13.
Even if the Constitutional Court or parliament backs this decriminalization of official theft, the measure is sure to be struck down in the European Court. There is no way that such a blatantly wrong policy can be entertained in an EU which insists it is based on the rule of law.
Grindeanu’s Social Democrats kept power in last December’s general election, but the party has been mired in allegations of corruption. It is hard to see Decree 13 as anything other than an attempt to let thieving party supporters off the hook and moreover institutionalize the ability of these people to steal from the state, providing they do not steal too much.
Grindeanu’s evident surprise at the reaction of his people mirrors the astonishment of the dictator Ceausescu back on that balcony in 1989. Even if his government now backs away completely from these pernicious proposals, the confidence of Romanians in their leadership has already been thoroughly shaken. Grindeanu has begun his government’s four-year term of office with a stunning controversy. Party leaders might now be thinking of replacing him.
