Romania
Romania performs in the mid-range in all categories of the Global State of Democracy (GSoD) framework, except for Representation, in which it performs in the high range. Romania performs in the top 25 per cent globally in factors of Representation including Inclusive Suffrage and Elected Government, as well as in Freedom of Movement and Freedom of Expression. Between 2018-2023, Romania has significantly advanced in Freedom of Expression and Rule of Law. However, the country has suffered notable declines in Economic Equality. While Romania is overall converging gradually towards Western European income levels, regional differences have become more pronounced since the early 2000s. While Romania historically relied heavily on agriculture, industry, and natural resource extraction, the modern Romanian economy has diversified to include vibrant IT and tourism sectors.
The unification of the principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia in 1862 and the declaration of independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1877 paved the way for the establishment of the state of Romania. After a violent revolution deposed the Communist regime in 1989, the country underwent a difficult transition to democracy, and for years continued to be governed by former Communist officials. Since the fall of Communism, the defining political issue in Romania has been corruption, which has involved high-ranking politicians, weakened the delivery of public services (including in the care sector) and triggered protests. Corruption has eroded trust in institutions, and International IDEA's Perceptions of Democracy Survey found that only 9 per cent of Romanian respondents expressed any degree of satisfaction with the performance of the national government.
Given the country’s large rural population, one of the central cleavages in modern politics concerns the urban-rural divide. Also shaping politics in Romania are high emigration and low birth rates that fuel the ongoing brain drain and an ageing population. The out-migration of medical professionals has left the country with serious healthcare challenges. Romania is an ethnically, linguistically, and religiously diverse nation. National minorities comprise just over eleven per cent of the population, including large Hungarian and Roma minorities. Parties representing Hungarian interests have considerable influence in government. Over the years, various nationalist political figures have promoted an exclusionary understanding of Romanian identity that heavily emphasizes Romanians’ predominantly Orthodox religious beliefs. The Roma people face institutional and societal discrimination and hate speech, including at the political level.
Although Romania has consistently performed in the mid-range in Gender Equality, a lack of equal opportunities and equal rights for women remains concerning. Resource inequality, including integration in the labour market and in wages, continue to impact women’s income and financial freedom. Gender equality is also challenged by the unequal distribution of childcare, enduring domestic violence, and weak political participation of women. Additionally, a recent report ranked Romania in the bottom ten countries in Europe for human rights protections of LGBTQIA+ communities. Romania has also struggled with poor treatment of vulnerable groups in social services and underfunding of the social care system for people with disabilities.
Looking ahead, it will be important to watch the government’s performance in the fight against corruption due to a renewed recent focus on this issue, especially proposed legislation criminalising the bribery of foreign public officials. Attention should be paid to Social Group Equality in view of recent revelations of severe abuses at care homes affecting the elderly and people with disabilities. Also significant for Social Group Equality will be Romania’s response to the 2023 ruling of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) that Romania is violating same-sex couples’ rights over lack of legal recognition of their relationships. Finally, it will be important to pay attention to recent amendments to the criminal code tightening sexual consent laws for impacts on Gender Equality.
Last updated: August 2024
https://www.idea.int/democracytracker/
November 2024
Constitutional Court annuls presidential election
On 6 December, the Constitutional Court annulled the first round of the presidential election, held on 24 November, in an unprecedented decision, citing “multiple irregularities,” including violations of campaign finance regulations and lack of equal opportunities for candidates. On 2 December, the Constitutional Court confirmed the results of the election following a recount in view of legal challenges brought by Presidential candidate Cristian Vasile Terheș. However, the Court then reversed the decision, announcing the annulment amid ongoing voting in the run-off in the diaspora, and following statements by the Supreme Council for National Defense (CSAT) that cited evidence of cyberattacks and Russian efforts to influence Romanian social cohesion. CSAT also criticized TikTok for promoting campaign content without proper labelling, violating electoral law. On 29 November, the European Commission ordered TikTok to report on its management of information manipulation risks under the EU’s Digital Services Act. As a next step, the government will establish a timeline for a new presidential election, expected in spring 2025.
Sources: European Commission, Digi24, Foreign Policy, Constitutional Court, Supreme Council for National Defense (CSAT), RFERL, The Conversation
October 2024
EU court delivers landmark ruling on legal gender recognition
On 4 October, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled that Romania violated the rights of a British-Romanian citizen, particularly the principles of non-discrimination and freedom of movement, as it failed to recognize a change to their legal gender effected in the United Kingdom in 2020. Romanian authorities refused to issue new identity documents reflecting this change, instead referring the citizen to a Bucharest Court to initiate a new legal process. The ECJ determined that requiring a new procedure in another EU member state to change the gender identity was unjustified. This ruling establishes an important precedent for the mutual recognition of legal gender recognition across the EU, and it highlights the importance of legal gender recognition to transgender individuals’ ability to travel, work, or vote freely across the EU.
Sources: Euronews, ILGA-Europe, InfoCuria, RFE/RL, Court of Justice of the European Union
July 2023
Care home abuse scandal leads to resignations
Revelations of severe abuses at care homes for the elderly and disabled have led to resignations in Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu’s one-month old government, including Minister of Labour and Social Protection, Marius Budai, and Minister for Family Affairs, Gabriela Firea. Prosecutors have indicted 26 suspects for human trafficking, fraud and organized crime in a scheme to illegally collect the benefits of the elderly and infirm, pocketing the funds instead of using them for their care. Acting on reports from NGOs and neighbours who had seen residents begging for food, authorities raided three nursing homes near Bucharest, uncovering inhumane treatment, physical abuse, and deprivation of food and medical care. Subsequent nationwide controls of over 1,000 care homes led to the closure of 13 homes, and the suspension of a further 43. Investigative journalists have shown that the government and state agencies had long been warned about the mistreatment and delayed action.
Sources: DW, RFERL (1), RFERL (2), Euractiv (1), Euractiv (2), Reuters, DIGI24
EU court overturns Constitutional Court rulings dismissing corruption cases
The Court of Justice of the EU (ECJ) found that decisions by the Romanian Constitutional Court which led to the closure of thousands of corruption cases in 2022 violate EU law by creating a “systemic risk of impunity” for fraud. In 2018, the Constitutional Court removed the legal grounds for “interrupting” the statute of limitations, and legislators were slow to pass amendments to fill the gap. As a result, the more lenient interpretation of the law (which allowed the statute of limitations on fraud cases to expire) was applied retroactively for the period 2018-2022. This led to the termination of criminal proceedings pending before Romanian prosecutors and criminal courts, considering that defendants were no longer criminally liable, including for high-level corruption cases. The ECJ decision finds that Romanian national courts should “disapply” the decision to use the more lenient interpretation for this 4-year period of legal ambiguity.
Sources: Reuters, Romania Insider, Mondaq, Digi24 (1), Digi24 (2), Digi24 (3), Romania Journal, Court of Justice of the EU
Parliament votes to tighten sexual consent laws
Parliament approved amendments to the criminal code, pertaining to Article 221 on sexual corruption of minors, which increases the age at which minors can give sexual consent from 14 to 16. The amendments separately criminalise the rape of a minor, punishable by imprisonment of between 7 to 12 years, and expand the scope of sexual crimes against minors, including messaging underage children with the intent to engage in sexual acts. The amendments take into account the vulnerability of the victim, according to economic or social situation. The changes were introduced further to calls from human rights and anti-human trafficking NGOs to raise the sexual consent age limit. In March, 35 domestic and international NGOs called for the European Commission to activate an infringement procedure against Romania for violations of the protection of minors.
Sources: Council of Europe, Romania Insider (1), Romania Insider (2), Euractiv, Digi24 (1), Digi24 (2)
June 2023
Marcel Ciolacu becomes Prime Minister amid long-awaited reshuffle
Prime Minister Nicolae Ciucă (National Liberal Party, PNL) resigned along with his cabinet as part of a power-sharing deal within the ruling coalition, originally slated for 25 May but delayed by teacher strikes. Marcel Ciolacu, leader of the Social Democratic party (PSD), was appointed the new Prime Minister following a vote in Parliament. The coalition agreement reached in 2021 between the centre-right PNL, the centre-left PSD and the ethnic Hungarian Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania (UDMR) group included a rotation system, which provided for Ciucă to switch places with a PSD nominee. Following negotiations this month, UDMR refused to approve the new government and resolved to leave the coalition. PSD holds ten ministerial positions in the new government, while PNL has nine ministers. The cabinet retains several key ministerial positions (including the Defence Minister, Education Minister, Minister of Health, and Minister of Transport) while replacing others.
Sources: Politico, Romania-Insider, Euractiv, Financial Times, Adevarul
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