1.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Romania)
–
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Romania is one of the fifteen ministries of the Government of Romania. The current Foreign Minister is Lazăr Comănescu, Romania used the Julian calendar until 1919, but all dates are given in the Gregorian calendar. The following party abbreviations are used, Additionally, the stance of prime ministers prior to the development of a modern party system is given by C, MC, RL. Interim officeholders are denoted by italics, for those who held office multiple times, their rank of service is given by a Roman numeral
2.
Victor Ponta
–
Victor-Viorel Ponta is a Romanian jurist and politician, who served as Prime Minister of Romania between his appointment by President Traian Băsescu in May 2012 and his resignation in November 2015. A member of the Social Democratic Party and its leader from 2010 to 2015, he was joint leader of the then-governing Social Liberal Union. Ponta has been a member of the Romanian Chamber of Deputies for Gorj County since 2004, in the Emil Boc cabinet, he was Minister-Delegate for Relations with Parliament from 2008 to 2009. Meanwhile, Ponta was the subject of controversy due to allegations of plagiarism in his doctoral thesis, seven months after gaining office, Ponta helped lead the USL to a decisive victory in parliamentary elections, prompting his appointment to a full four-year term as premier. A little over a year later, the USL fell apart, a finalist in the November 2014 presidential election, Ponta lost to PNL candidate Klaus Iohannis. The following month, the UDMR quit government, prompting Ponta to form a cabinet, with the Conservative Party. The cabinet was in office for less than a year. Meanwhile, he has also claimed ancestry in the Albanian village of Moscopole, Victor Ponta was born in Bucharest, completing secondary studies in 1991 at the citys Ion Neculce High School. In 1995, he graduated from the University of Bucharests Law faculty and he has written several books in his field, including one on the International Criminal Court, the subject of his doctoral thesis. Between 1996 and 1998, and since 2002, he has taught Criminal Law at the Romanian-American University, from 1995 to 1998, Ponta worked as a prosecutor handling cases at the Sector 1 courthouse. From 1998 to 2001, he was a prosecutor at the Supreme Court of Justice in the division, in particular dealing with economic. From 2000 to 2001, he coordinated the Bureau for Combating Money Laundering, in April 2002, Cristian Panait, a prosecutor involved in cases connected to then-Prime Minister Adrian Năstase, fell from the third-floor window of his home. He died the day, and the incident was ruled a suicide a day later. The following January, his aunt filed suit to contest the fact that no charges were filed, the complained also mentioned Panaits fellow prosecutor Ponta, claiming the former had told her, that dog Victor Ponta did me in. She also said the two had been friends until Panait accused Ponta of influence peddling due to what he saw as the involvement with underworld figures. Prior to the 2012 legislative election, opposition campaigner Adriean Videanu charged that Pontas blackmail, from 2001 to 2004, Ponta held the rank of Secretary of State as head of the governments Control Department. Additionally, he helped uncover cases of fraudulent use of Phare funds, in March 2004, he became Minister-Delegate for Control of International Grant Programmes Implementation and for Monitoring the Application of the Acquis Communautaire. A PSD member by 2002, he was from July to November of that year head of the Interim National Council of the Social Democratic Youth
3.
Medgidia
–
Medgidia is a city in Constanța County, Dobruja, south-eastern Romania. Archaeological findings show that Dobruja was inhabited since the Neolithic period, starting with 46 BC the region was administered by the Roman Empire. A castrum was built in the Carasu Valley, becoming the cradle of the settlement, in 1417, the Turks invaded Dobruja. From the 15th century onwards the region started to be colonized with Muslim population, the settlement named Karasu was mentioned on the map of Iehuda ben Zara in 1497, in the notes of Paolo Giorgio and Evliya Çelebi. Modern Medgidia was built by the Ottoman administration on the place of the old Karasu beginning with 1856 and it was built as a planned city to accommodate refugees from the Crimean War and to serve as an economic hub for the central zone of Dobruja. The town was named in honour of the sultan Abdülmecid I, after the Russo-Turkish War, Northern Dobruja became part of Romania. Medgidia is located between the Danube and the Black Sea, just 39 kilometres away from Constanța, the general aspect of the relief is that of a low plateau with a limestone structure, covered with thick deposits of loess. The natural resources in the area consist of deposits and kaolin sand. The limestone structure of the earth permits a natural filtering of the groundwater, the climate is temperate-continental, with short and cold winters and very hot summers. Medgidia became a municipality in 1994, Medgidia also houses a 500-bed hospital. Out of 1,200 registered enterprises, only 30 are state-owned and 15 are joint ventures, beside the agricultural activities, the main industry deals in cement and building materials, agricultural machinery and forging equipment, wood processing and furniture factories. Medgidia lies in the center of an area of several tens of millions hectares, with a fertile soil. The town is a road and rail node and a port to the Danube-Black Sea Canal. The Danube-Black Sea Canal crosses the town for about 6 km of its length, the canal has a capacity of 11.2 million tons/year and can admit ships of 5,000 tonnes deadweight. Provided with road and rail links, the harbor offers storage facilities and cranes able to lift up to 16-ton weights, beside a SNCFR marshaling yard, along the Canal there is a Free Trade Area in course of being finalized. A planned highway from Bucharest to Constanţa, partially financed by the EU, will bypass the town, also, the Medgidia railway station links trains to a few, but very important towns and cities, including Constanţa, Tulcea, and Bucureşti Nord. It was opened in 1964 with exhibitions of Romanian contemporary painting, sculpture, the permanent exhibition takes in classic and modern artworks but also works of contemporary art classics, Lucian Grigorescu, Nicolae Tonitza, Francisc Șirato, Ștefan Dumitrescu, Iosif Iser. The museum also displays a collection of ceramic artworks, in 1991 the museum was named after Lucian Grigorescu, a town native, who was deemed as the most Latin among the Romanian painters
4.
Socialist Republic of Romania
–
The Socialist Republic of Romania refers to Romania under Marxist-Leninist one-party Communist rule that existed officially from 1947 to 1989. From 1947 to 1965, the state was known as the Romanian Peoples Republic, the country was a Soviet-aligned Eastern Bloc state with a dominant role for the Romanian Communist Party enshrined in its constitutions. As World War II ended, Romania, a former Axis member, was occupied by the Soviet Union, gradually, more members of the Communist Party and communist-aligned parties gained control of the administration and pre-war political leaders were steadily eliminated from political life. In December 1947, King Michael was induced to abdicate and the Peoples Republic of Romania was declared, at first, Romanias scarce post-war resources were drained by the SovRoms, new tax-exempt Soviet-Romanian companies that allowed the Soviet Union to control Romanias major sources of income. Another drain was the war reparations paid to the Soviet Union, in the 1950s, however, Romanias communist government began to assert more independence, inducing, for example, the withdrawal of all Soviet troops from Romania by 1958. In the 1960s and 1970s, Nicolae Ceaușescu became General Secretary of the Communist Party, Chairman of the State Council, Ceaușescus denunciation of the 1968 Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia and a brief relaxation in internal repression helped give him a positive image both at home and in the West. However, rapid growth fueled by foreign credits gradually gave way to an austerity. A large number of people were executed or died in custody during communist Romanias existence, while judicial executions between 1945 and 1964 numbered 137, deaths in custody are estimated in the tens or hundreds of thousands. Many more were imprisoned for political, economical or other reasons and suffered abuse, geographically, it bordered the Black Sea to the east, the Soviet Union to the north and east, Hungary to the north, Yugoslavia to the west and Bulgaria to the south. Romanian forces fought under Soviet command, driving through Northern Transylvania into Hungary proper and this changed in March 1945, when Dr. Petru Groza of the Ploughmens Front, a party closely associated with the Communists, became prime minister. His government was broad-based on paper, including members of most major parties except the Iron Guard. However, the Communists held the key ministries, and most of the ministers nominally representing non-Communist parties were, like Groza himself, despite the Kings disapproval, the first Groza government brought land reform and womens suffrage. However, it brought the beginnings of Soviet domination of Romania. In the elections of 19 November 1946, the Communist-led Bloc of Democratic Parties claimed 84% of the votes, a show trial of their leadership was then arranged, and they were put in jail. Other parties were forced to merge with the Communists, in 1946 and 1947, hundreds of participants in the pro-Axis government were executed as war criminals, primarily for their involvement in the Holocaust and for attacking the Soviet Union. Antonescu himself was executed 1 June 1946, by 1947, Romania remained the only monarchy in the Eastern Bloc. On 30 December that year, Michael was at his palace in Sinaia when Groza and they presented him with a pretyped instrument of abdication and demanded that he sign it. With pro-Communist troops surrounding his palace and his lines cut
5.
Social Democratic Party (Romania)
–
The Social Democratic Party is the major social-democratic political party in Romania. PSD traces its origins to the Democratic National Salvation Front, a group established in 1992 from the post-communist National Salvation Front. In 1993 this merged with three parties to become the Party of Social Democracy in Romania. The present name was adopted after a merger with the smaller Romanian Social Democratic Party in 2001, since its formation, it has always been one of the two dominant parties of the country. The PDSR governed Romania from 1992 to 1996, while the PSDR was a coalition partner between 1996 and 2000. The party left government after Prime Minister Victor Ponta resigned in November 2015, the founder of the party, Ion Iliescu, became President of the Republic, in office from the end of Communism in 1989 to 1996, and again from 2000 to 2004. On 22 April 2016, Liviu Dragnea was found guilty for vote rigging in the 2012 referendum, dragneas electoral rights and party membership were not suspended, thus he refused to step down as President of the PSD, having the support of almost the entire party. FDSN won the 1992 elections and went on to govern Romania until 1996, on 10 July 1993 it took the name of Party of Social Democracy in Romania upon merger with the Socialist Democratic Party of Romania, the Republican Party and the Cooperative Party. From 1994 to 1996 the PDSR ruled in coalition with the right-wing Romanian National Unity Party and Greater Romania Party, PUNR had ministers in the cabinet chaired by Nicolae Văcăroiu from March 1994 to September 1996. PRM was not present at the Cabinet, but was given some posts in the State administration, the PDSR went into opposition after the 1996 election, which was won by the right-wing coalition Romanian Democratic Convention. PSDR merged with PDSR on 16 June 2001, and the party took its present name. Mircea Geoană was elected president of the party in April 2005 by delegates at a PSD Party Congress held in Bucharest and his victory represented a surprise defeat for former President Ion Iliescu, who was expected to defeat Geoană handily. On 17 April 2008, the Social Democratic Party and the Conservative Party announced they would form an alliance for the 2008 local elections. In February 2010, the Congress elected Victor Ponta as president, on 5 February 2011, the PSD formed a political alliance known as the Social Liberal Union with the Conservative Party and National Liberal Party. The USL was disbanded on 25 February 2014 with exit of the National Liberal Party which immediately entered opposition, a number of its current or former senior members have also been accused of corruption, interfering in the judiciary and using their political positions for personal enrichment. Alleged text transcripts of PSD meetings surfaced on an anonymous Web site just before the 2004 Romanian presidential election, Năstase and his ministers are shown talking about political involvement in corruption trials of the governments members, or involvement in suppressing disobedient media. Năstase stated that the transcripts were fake, but several party members, including former PSD president, adrian Năstase temporarily self-suspended himself from the position on 16 January 2006 pending investigation of a scandal provoked by his wealth declaration, where he was accused of corruption. Politicians of the party have occasionally employed utilitarian anti-Semitism and this means that politicians who may usually not be anti-Semites played off certain anti-Semitic prejudices, in order to serve their political necessities
6.
Alma mater
–
Alma mater is an allegorical Latin phrase for a university or college. In modern usage, it is a school or university which an individual has attended, the phrase is variously translated as nourishing mother, nursing mother, or fostering mother, suggesting that a school provides intellectual nourishment to its students. Before its modern usage, Alma mater was a title in Latin for various mother goddesses, especially Ceres or Cybele. The source of its current use is the motto, Alma Mater Studiorum, of the oldest university in continuous operation in the Western world and it is related to the term alumnus, denoting a university graduate, which literally means a nursling or one who is nourished. The phrase can also denote a song or hymn associated with a school, although alma was a common epithet for Ceres, Cybele, Venus, and other mother goddesses, it was not frequently used in conjunction with mater in classical Latin. Alma Redemptoris Mater is a well-known 11th century antiphon devoted to Mary, the earliest documented English use of the term to refer to a university is in 1600, when University of Cambridge printer John Legate began using an emblem for the universitys press. In English etymological reference works, the first university-related usage is often cited in 1710, many historic European universities have adopted Alma Mater as part of the Latin translation of their official name. The University of Bologna Latin name, Alma Mater Studiorum, refers to its status as the oldest continuously operating university in the world. At least one, the Alma Mater Europaea in Salzburg, Austria, the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, has been called the Alma Mater of the Nation because of its ties to the founding of the United States. At Queens University in Kingston, Ontario, and the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, British Columbia, the ancient Roman world had many statues of the Alma Mater, some still extant. Modern sculptures are found in prominent locations on several American university campuses, outside the United States, there is an Alma Mater sculpture on the steps of the monumental entrance to the Universidad de La Habana, in Havana, Cuba. Media related to Alma mater at Wikimedia Commons The dictionary definition of alma mater at Wiktionary Alma Mater Europaea website
7.
University of Bucharest
–
The University of Bucharest offers study programmes in Romanian and English and is classified as an advanced research and education university by the Ministry of Education. In the 2012 QS World University Rankings, it was included in the top 700 universities of the world, in 1694 Constantin Brâncoveanu, ruler of Wallachia, had founded the Princely Academy of Saint Sava in Bucharest with lectures delivered in Greek. In 1776, Alexander Ypsilantis, ruler of Wallachia, reformed the curriculum of the Saint Sava Academy, in 1859, the Faculty of Law was created. In 1857, Carol Davila created the Carol Davila University of Medicine, in 1857, the foundation stone of the University Palace in Bucharest was laid. On July 4/161864 Prince Alexander John Cuza created the University of Bucharest, bringing together the Faculties of Law, Sciences, in 1956, student leaders, mainly from this university, planned a peaceful protest against Romanias Communist regime but were forcibly prevented from carrying it out. For a while, it was called the C. I, during the months of April–June 1990, the University of Bucharest was the centre of anti-communist protests. In 1996, Emil Constantinescu, the rector of the University of Bucharest, was elected President of Romania. It has partnership agreements with over 50 universities in 40 countries and it is an accredited Cisco Academy, has Microsoft curriculum, and is accredited by Red Hat for its academic programme. The University of Bucharest has been awarded the 2000 National Academic Excellence Diploma, all of the degrees and diplomas awarded by the university are internationally recognised. The University of Bucharest has a number of buildings throughout Bucharest, the Kogălniceanu Building, near the Opera House, housing the Administrative section and the Faculty of Law. The Faculty of Physics, in the town of Măgurele. The Faculty of Political Science, on Sfântu Ştefan Street, the Faculty of Orthodox Theology, in the Unirii Square The Faculty of Medicine Carol Davila in Eroilor Sanitari The University prints a yearly guide for freshmen. List of modern universities in Europe Official site
8.
Romania
–
Romania is a sovereign state located in Southeastern Europe. It borders the Black Sea, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Hungary, Serbia and it has an area of 238,391 square kilometres and a temperate-continental climate. With over 19 million inhabitants, the country is the member state of the European Union. Its capital and largest city, Bucharest, is the sixth-largest city in the EU, the River Danube, Europes second-longest river, rises in Germany and flows in a general southeast direction for 2,857 km, coursing through ten countries before emptying into Romanias Danube Delta. The Carpathian Mountains, which cross Romania from the north to the southwest are marked by one of their tallest peaks, Moldoveanu, modern Romania was formed in 1859 through a personal union of the Danubian Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia. The new state, officially named Romania since 1866, gained independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1877, at the end of World War I, Transylvania, Bukovina and Bessarabia united with the sovereign Kingdom of Romania. Romania lost several territories, of which Northern Transylvania was regained after the war, following the war, Romania became a socialist republic and member of the Warsaw Pact. After the 1989 Revolution, Romania began a transition back towards democracy and it has been a member of NATO since 2004, and part of the European Union since 2007. A strong majority of the population identify themselves as Eastern Orthodox Christians and are speakers of Romanian. The cultural history of Romania is often referred to when dealing with artists, musicians, inventors. For similar reasons, Romania has been the subject of notable tourist attractions, Romania derives from the Latin romanus, meaning citizen of Rome. The first known use of the appellation was attested in the 16th century by Italian humanists travelling in Transylvania, Moldavia, after the abolition of serfdom in 1746, the word rumân gradually fell out of use and the spelling stabilised to the form român. Tudor Vladimirescu, a leader of the early 19th century. The use of the name Romania to refer to the homeland of all Romanians—its modern-day meaning—was first documented in the early 19th century. The name has been officially in use since 11 December 1861, in English, the name of the country was formerly spelt Rumania or Roumania. Romania became the predominant spelling around 1975, Romania is also the official English-language spelling used by the Romanian government. The Neolithic-Age Cucuteni area in northeastern Romania was the region of the earliest European civilization. Evidence from this and other sites indicates that the Cucuteni-Trypillian culture extracted salt from salt-laden spring water through the process of briquetage
9.
Party of European Socialists
–
The Party of European Socialists is a social-democratic European political party. The PES comprises national-level political parties primarily from states of the European Union. The PES member parties are mostly members of the Progressive Alliance or Socialist International. The political group in the European Parliament of the PES is the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats, the PES also operates in the Committee of the Regions and the European Council. The PES is currently led by Sergei Stanishev, former Prime Minister of Bulgaria, the partys English name is Party of European Socialists. The Socialists 1962 congress pushed for greater democratisation and powers for Parliament though it was only in 1969 that this possibility was examined by the member states, in 1973, Denmark, Ireland and the United Kingdom joined the European Community bringing in new parties from these countries. The enlarged Socialist Congress met in Bonn and inaugurated the Confederation of the Socialist Parties of the European Community, the Congress also passed a resolution on social policy, including the right to decent work, social security, democracy and equality in the European economy. In 1978, the Confederation of Socialist Parties approved the first common European election Manifesto, the Luxembourg Congress approved the first Statue of the Confederation of Socialist Parties in 1980. The accession of Greece in 1981, followed by Spain and Portugal in 1986 brought in more parties, in 1984 another common Socialist election manifesto was approved at a congress in Luxembourg. In 2004 Poul Nyrup Rasmussen defeated Giuliano Amato to be elected President of the PES and he was re-elected for a further 2.5 years at the PES Congress in Porto on 8 December 2006 and for another 2.5 years at the Prague Congress in 2009. In 2010, the Foundation for European Progressive Studies was founded as the foundation of the PES. The Party of European Socialists held its latest Congress in Brussels on 28–29 September 2012 and these congresses are organized every two and a half years, once during the year of the elections for the European Parliament, and once at mid-term. The same Congress elected Achim Post as new Secretary General, the congress also adopted a process presented by the PES as more democratic and transparent for the selection of their candidate for the Presidency of the European Commission in 2014. Presidents of the Party of European Socialists and its predecessors, there are thirty-three full member parties from all the twenty-eight member states and Norway. There are a further thirteen associate and twelve observer parties, PES is an associated organisation of the Socialist International. Young European Socialists is the organisation of PES and PES Women is the partys womens organisation. The parties meet at the party Congress twice every five years to decide on political orientation, every year that the Congress does not meet, the Council shapes PES policy. The Congress also elects the partys President, Vice Presidents and the Presidency and they may also be joined by the President of the European Parliament, a PES European Commissioner and a representative from associate parties and organisations
10.
Chamber of Deputies (Romania)
–
The Chamber of Deputies is the lower house in Romanias bicameral parliament. It has 329 seats to which deputies are elected by popular vote in single-member electoral districts using mixed member proportional representation to serve four-year terms. Additionally, the organisation of national minority is entitled to a seat in the Chamber. The is the body elected by the deputies that rules the Chamber and its President is the President of the Chamber, and he/she is elected for a whole legislature. All the other members are elected at the beginning of each parliamentary session, there is one President, and four of each, Vicepresidents, Quaestors and Secretaries. The current composition is listed below, standing committees and current leadership are listed below. In Romanias 2004 legislative election, held on 28 November, no party won an outright majority, the Conservative Party withdrew in December 2006, meaning that the government lost the majority in the Chamber of Deputies. After the 2004 elections, several deputies from the PSD switched to other parties or became independents, the number of Justice and Truth Alliance deputies also increased from 112 to 118, making it the largest formation in parliament as of October 2006. This changed again in December 2006, leaving the PSD with 107 seats, since April 2007 the Justice and Truth Alliance has split leaving the two former members with 51 respectively 50 members. Deputies elected to the European Parliament in the 2007 election resigned, a new election was held in 2008. The table below gives the state of play before the 2008 election and that coalition was tacitly supported by the PSD. Elections to the Chamber of Deputies were held on 26 November 2000, the governing majority was formed from the PSD and the Democratic Union of Hungarians in Romania, which, with 182 members, made up 54. 8% of seats. The president of the Chamber of Deputies during this period was Valer Dorneanu, the distribution of seats was as follows, Official website
11.
Romanian general election, 2004
–
Băsescu was elected President by a narrow majority of just 51. 2%. Following 2003 amendments to the constitution which lengthened the term to five years. The opposition alleged fraudulent use by the PSD of supplementary lists, traditionally, Romanians voted with a cardboard identity card, which was stamped when they voted. Most Romanians now have laminated plastic IDs, to which a stamp is affixed when a person votes. However, the stamps can be easily removed, the opposition claimed that there were organized electoral excursions of PSD supporters who were bussed to various towns to vote several times. This was corroborated by several teams of journalists, who followed the buses, the Romanian opposition announced on 30 November that they were demanding a re-run of the election, because some of the void votes were allegedly awarded to the PSD. The opposition announced that it had started a parallel count, which showed a PSD-DA difference of only 2% between, the government attacked the opposition by arguing that rumours of fraud affect Romanias economy and its external credibility. In January 2005, the IMAS institute of statistics released an analysis of the results in the 16,824 precincts. The same trend was true in the precincts with most void votes. On 13 December, the PUR president Dan Voiculescu hinted that they have more in common with the DA and that they break from the PSD. It has been suggested by the press that this could be result of a blackmail about his communist past, by 25 December both UDMR and PUR signed a protocol of alliance with DA, with the designated prime minister being Călin Popescu-Tăriceanu. Thus, the PSD was left in opposition while Justice and Truth, the Democratic Union of Hungarians in Romania, central Electoral Bureau Fraud worries in Romanian poll BBC News
12.
Member of the European Parliament
–
A Member of the European Parliament is a person who has been elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament was first established, MEPs were directly appointed by the governments of states from among those already sitting in their own national parliaments. Since 1979, however, MEPs have been elected by universal suffrage. Each member state establishes its own method for electing MEPs – and in some states this has changed over time –, in some member states the MEPs are elected to represent a single national constituency, in others they are elected from sub-national regions. For a list of current MEPs, see Members of the European Parliament 2014–2019, from 1 January 2007, when Romania and Bulgaria joined the EU, there were 785 MEPs, but their number was reduced to 736 at the elections in 2009. With effect from the elections held in May 2014 the number has risen again and now stands at 751, with member state having at least six. Elections are held every five years, on the basis of universal adult suffrage. The electoral area may be subdivided if this will not generally affect the nature of the voting system. Any election threshold on the level must not exceed five percent. As the number of MEPs granted to each state has arisen from treaty negotiations. No change in this configuration can occur without the consent of all national governments. The most recent elections to the European Parliament were the European elections of 2014 and they were the largest simultaneous transnational elections ever held anywhere in the world, since nearly 500 million citizens were eligible to vote. The European Parliament has a turnover of members compared to some national parliaments. For instance, after the 2004 elections, the majority of elected members had not been members in the parliamentary session. Only one has served continuously since the first elections in 1979, MEPs are organised into seven different cross-nationality political groups, except the 15 non-attached members known as non-inscrits. The two largest groups are the European Peoples Party and the Socialists & Democrats and these two groups have dominated the Parliament for much of its life, continuously holding between 50 and 70 percent of the seats together. No single group has held a majority in Parliament. Although, the European groups, between 2004 and 2009, were more cohesive than their US counterparts
13.
2007 enlargement of the European Union
–
The 2007 enlargement of the European Union saw Bulgaria and Romania join the European Union on 1 January 2007. Together with the 2004 enlargement of the European Union, it is considered part of the wave of enlargement of the European Union. Romania was the first country of post-communist Europe to have relations with the European Community. In 1974, a treaty included Romania in the Communitys Generalized System of Preferences, since the Romanian Revolution of 1989, European Union membership has been the main goal of every Romanian Government and practically every political party in Romania. Along with its official EU application, Romania submitted the “Snagov Declaration”, the objective of joining the EU has also influenced Romanias regional relations. As a result, Romania has imposed visa regimes on a number of states, including Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Serbia, Montenegro, Turkey and Moldova. Within the framework of integration meetings held between the EU member states and Bulgaria, an Association Committee was held on 22 June 2004, there was also, according to the report, limited progress regarding the integration of the Roma community. The findings were reflected in the 2004 Regular Report, the Brussels European Council of December 172004 confirmed the conclusion of accession negotiations with Bulgaria. With this accession, Cyrillic became the official alphabet of the EU, after the Latin. Cyrillic will also be featured on the banknotes and the national side of the Bulgarian euro coins. For details, see Linguistic issues concerning the euro, the issue was decisively resolved in favour of Bulgaria at the 2007 EU Summit in Lisbon, allowing Bulgaria to use the Cyrillic spelling евро on all official EU documents. The date of accession,1 January 2007, was set at the Thessaloniki Summit in 2003, Bulgaria, Romania and the EU-25 signed the Treaty of Accession on 25 April 2005 at Luxembourgs Neumuenster Abbey. The 26 September 2006 monitoring report of the European Commission confirmed the date as 1 January 2007. The last instrument of ratification of the Treaty of Accession was deposited with the Italian government on 20 December 2006 thereby ensuring it came into force on 1 January 2007. Some member states of the EU required Bulgarians and Romanians to acquire a permit to work, in the Treaty of Accession 2005, there is a clause about a transition period so each old EU member state can impose such 2+3+2 transitional periods. Restrictions were planned to remain in place until 1 January 2014 –7 years after their accession, while both countries were admitted, concerns about corruption and organised crime were still high. As a result, although they joined, they were subject to monitoring from the Commission through a Mechanism for Cooperation and Verification, the accession treaty granted Bulgaria and Romania a seat, like every other state, on the Commission. Bulgaria nominated Meglena Kuneva, from NDSV who was given the post of Commissioner for Consumer Protection in the Barroso Commission and she was nominated in 2006 by the then current Bulgarian Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev
14.
Romanian legislative election, 2008
–
Legislative elections were held in Romania on 30 November 2008. The Democratic Liberal Party won most seats in both the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate, although the alliance headed by the Social Democratic Party won a higher vote share. President Traian Băsescu had wanted to introduce a single-winner two-round electoral system before this election, a new electoral system was introduced as a compromise. A candidate wins in any college in which they obtain more than 50% of the vote. Seats where no candidate wins a majority are then allocated using the DHondt method. If necessary, the number of seats for each chamber is raised, an electoral threshold was applied of 5% for each chamber, or winning at least six colleges for the Chamber of Deputies and three colleges for the Senate by more than 50%. There was an adjustment for the Chamber of Deputies around the national minorities candidates. Compared to the 2004 election, the Social Democratic Party-led alliance fell back a few percent in the vote share. The Democratic Liberal Party and National Liberal Party had competed in the last election together as the Justice and Truth Alliance, the Democratic Liberal Party made significant gains in 2008 to become the largest party in both houses, while the National Liberal Party made smaller gains. Support for the Democratic Union of Hungarians in Romania was largely unchanged, the Greater Romania Party obtained 13% of the national vote for the Chamber in 2004, but failed to make the 5% threshold for representation this year. Another nationalist party, the New Generation Party, again failed to cross the 5% threshold for representation, the law limits the right to run in any by-election for either of the houses of Parliament to those candidates that are members of the parties with parliamentary groups. That is that for the 2008 -2012 legislature only the PD-L, PSD+PC, PNL, UDMR, the election will take place on 17 January 2010. Only two persons were allowed to run, Radu Stroe, representing the National Liberal Party and Honorius Prigoană, the Social Democratic Party decided not to propose a candidate and to sustain the PNL candidate. Daniela Popa resigned from the Chamber of Deputies as she is about to take office as President of the Insurance Supervising Committee and she is also stepping down from the office of president of the Conservative Party. The PNL decided not to have its own candidate, but to sustain the PSD+PC candidate, PSD proposed PC member and former Romanian Lottery director Liliana Mincă, and PD-L proposed former TV show host Teo Trandafir. Following the death of Ioan Timiş in the Chamber of Deputies constituency no,22, electoral college no.3 are held partial elections on 28 November 2010. All the parties candidates, and the winner is former Minister of Labour, Mariana Câmpeanu. Starting with 2011 all parties are allowed to propose candidates in partial elections, up to this date, the law stated that only parties that already have parliamentary representation may propose candidates
15.
Romanian legislative election, 2012
–
Legislative elections were held in Romania on 9 December 2012. The Social Liberal Union of Prime Minister Victor Ponta won a majority in both the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate. Despite the severe weather in parts of the country, the turnout was at 41. 7%, higher than the last legislative elections held in 2008 which saw a presence of 39. 20%. The Social Liberal Union obtained a majority in both the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate, with 60. 07% and 58. 61% of the votes respectively and in MP mandates. Far behind, the Right Romania Alliance came in place with only 16. 72% and 16. 52% of the votes and 80 seats. The Right Romania alliance officially dissolved after the election, peoples Party – Dan Diaconescu and Hungarian Democratic Union of Romania were the only other political groups that won seats in the Senate. Several parties for ethnic minorities also received seats in the Chamber of Deputies. The opposition, represented by Social Liberal Union leaders Victor Ponta and Crin Antonescu, the former Foreign Intelligence Service Director Mihai Răzvan Ungureanu was appointed interim prime minister on 9 February as a result. The government announced the intention to hold legislative and local elections at the same time, initially, the government proposed an election date in November 2012, but as the mayoral mandates expire in June 2012, this was ruled unconstitutional. The local elections were held on 10 June, with an unexpected runoff. President Traian Basescu nominated Opposition leader and president of the Social Democratic Party, however, after PDL, fearing poor results in the elections ahead because of it, appealed the Constitutional Court of Romania who invalidated the law on 27 June 2012 and reinstated the old one. In late 2010 the PSD+PC Alliance broke up without affecting the MEP seat held by the PC, in January 2011 the National Liberal Party – PNL and the Conservative Party – PC formed the Centre Right Alliance – ACD. In February 2011 ACD together with the Social Democratic Party – PSD formed the Social Liberal Union – USL, following the local election, PSD and the National Union for the Progress of Romania – UNPR formed the Centre Left Alliance, thus UNPR joining USL in mid-2012. For the 2012 local election PDL formed various county-level alliances with a range of parties. Eventually Ungureanu joined a party, Civic Force Party, and was elected its president. The alliance registered at the Central Electoral Bureau was called Right Romania Alliance – ARD formed by PDL, PNȚCD, the PDL centred ARD alliance was formed late after the Romanian presidential impeachment referendum,2012. As a result, some opinion polls do not include the ARD, opinion polls that show PDL do not show ARD. UNPR joined USL in August–September 2012, in a sceptical environment, as a result, some opinion polls show both political entities
16.
Senate of Romania
–
The Senate is the upper house in the bicameral Parliament of Romania. It has 176 seats, to which members are elected by popular vote, using mixed member proportional representation in 43 electoral districts. The parliamentary history of Romania is seen as beginning in May 1831 in Wallachia, in January 1832 it came into force in Moldavia also. This laid the foundations for the institution in the two Romanian principalities. Moldavia and Wallachia, while remaining under the suzerainty of the Ottomans, were recognized as quasi-independent self-governing principalities under the protection of the other European Powers. The Paris Convention of 19 August 1858 promulgated Statutul Dezvoltător, to introduce a bicameral parliament and this was later renamed the Senat. A formal Union of the two came in 1859. On the initiative of Alexandru Ioan Cuza, a plebiscite in 1864 enlarged the principle of national representation, the 1866 Constitution of Romania proclaimed constitutional monarchy as Romanias form of government, on the basis of national sovereignty and the separation of powers. Legislative power was to be exercised by the new Prince and a parliament, with an Assembly of Deputies. On 9 May 1877, the Declaration of Romanias independence was read under the dome of the Romanian Parliament, the 1923 Constitution, approved by both houses of parliament in May 1923, again entrusted legislative power to the Senate, the Assembly of Deputies, and the King. In February 1938, amid the crisis which soon led to the Second World War. Under the Constitution of 1938, Parliament lost some of its main powers, the Senate was to be composed of members appointed by the King, members by right, and members elected in single-member electoral areas, in the same manner as Assembly members. The proportion of appointed and elected members was to be equal, in September 1940, after the abdication of King Carol, the National Legionary State suspended parliament but itself lasted less than five months. It was succeeded by Ion Antonescus military dictatorship and parliament remained suspended, on 23 August 1944, under pressure from the Soviet Union and other communist forces, parliament was re-organized as a single legislative body called the Chamber of Deputies of Romania. Under the 1948 constitution this became the Great National Assembly, a relatively impotent body subordinate to the power of the Romanian Communist Party, the Romanian Revolution of 1989 opened the way to restoring pluralistic electoral democracy. Under the countrys new post-communist Constitution of 1991, approved by a referendum in 1991, Romania returned to a bicameral parliamentary system. The electors approved by a percentage of 77. 78% the adoption of a unicameral Parliament, after the Romanian Revolution of 1989, the Senate was housed in the Palace of the Senate, located in Revolution Square. That U-shaped structure was built from 1938 to 1941 under engineer Emil Pragers coordination and it housed the Council of Ministers and from 1958 to 1989 it was the headquarters of the Central Committee of the Romanian Communist Party
17.
Bucharest
–
Bucharest is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, at 44°25′57″N 26°06′14″E, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than 60 km north of the Danube River, Bucharest was first mentioned in documents in 1459. It became the capital of Romania in 1862 and is the centre of Romanian media, culture and its architecture is a mix of historical, interbellum, communist-era and modern. In the period between the two World Wars, the citys elegant architecture and the sophistication of its elite earned Bucharest the nickname of Little Paris. Although buildings and districts in the city centre were heavily damaged or destroyed by war, earthquakes. In recent years, the city has been experiencing an economic, in 2016, the historical city centre was listed as endangered by the World Monuments Watch. According to the 2011 census,1,883,425 inhabitants live within the city limits, the urban area extends beyond the limits of Bucharest proper and has a population of about 1.9 million people. Adding the satellite towns around the area, the proposed metropolitan area of Bucharest would have a population of 2.27 million people. According to Eurostat, Bucharest has an urban zone of 2,183,091 residents. According to unofficial data, the population is more than 3 million, Bucharest is the sixth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits, after London, Berlin, Madrid, Rome, and Paris. Economically, Bucharest is the most prosperous city in Romania and is one of the industrial centres. The city has big convention facilities, educational institutes, cultural venues, traditional shopping arcades, the Romanian name București has an uncertain origin. Tradition connects the founding of Bucharest with the name of Bucur, who was a prince, an outlaw, a fisherman, in Romanian, the word stem bucurie means joy, and it is believed to be of Dacian origin. Other etymologies are given by scholars, including the one of an Ottoman traveler, Evliya Çelebi. A native or resident of Bucharest is called a Bucharester, Bucharests history alternated periods of development and decline from the early settlements in antiquity until its consolidation as the national capital of Romania late in the 19th century. First mentioned as the Citadel of București in 1459, it became the residence of the famous Wallachian prince Vlad III the Impaler, the Ottomans appointed Greek administrators to run the town from the 18th century. A short-lived revolt initiated by Tudor Vladimirescu in 1821 led to the end of the rule of Constantinople Greeks in Bucharest, the Old Princely Court was erected by Mircea Ciobanul in the mid-16th century. Under subsequent rulers, Bucharest was established as the residence of the royal court
18.
Paris
–
Paris is the capital and most populous city of France. It has an area of 105 square kilometres and a population of 2,229,621 in 2013 within its administrative limits, the agglomeration has grown well beyond the citys administrative limits. By the 17th century, Paris was one of Europes major centres of finance, commerce, fashion, science, and the arts, and it retains that position still today. The aire urbaine de Paris, a measure of area, spans most of the Île-de-France region and has a population of 12,405,426. It is therefore the second largest metropolitan area in the European Union after London, the Metropole of Grand Paris was created in 2016, combining the commune and its nearest suburbs into a single area for economic and environmental co-operation. Grand Paris covers 814 square kilometres and has a population of 7 million persons, the Paris Region had a GDP of €624 billion in 2012, accounting for 30.0 percent of the GDP of France and ranking it as one of the wealthiest regions in Europe. The city is also a rail, highway, and air-transport hub served by two international airports, Paris-Charles de Gaulle and Paris-Orly. Opened in 1900, the subway system, the Paris Métro. It is the second busiest metro system in Europe after Moscow Metro, notably, Paris Gare du Nord is the busiest railway station in the world outside of Japan, with 262 millions passengers in 2015. In 2015, Paris received 22.2 million visitors, making it one of the top tourist destinations. The association football club Paris Saint-Germain and the rugby union club Stade Français are based in Paris, the 80, 000-seat Stade de France, built for the 1998 FIFA World Cup, is located just north of Paris in the neighbouring commune of Saint-Denis. Paris hosts the annual French Open Grand Slam tennis tournament on the red clay of Roland Garros, Paris hosted the 1900 and 1924 Summer Olympics and is bidding to host the 2024 Summer Olympics. The name Paris is derived from its inhabitants, the Celtic Parisii tribe. Thus, though written the same, the name is not related to the Paris of Greek mythology. In the 1860s, the boulevards and streets of Paris were illuminated by 56,000 gas lamps, since the late 19th century, Paris has also been known as Panam in French slang. Inhabitants are known in English as Parisians and in French as Parisiens and they are also pejoratively called Parigots. The Parisii, a sub-tribe of the Celtic Senones, inhabited the Paris area from around the middle of the 3rd century BC. One of the areas major north-south trade routes crossed the Seine on the île de la Cité, this place of land and water trade routes gradually became a town
19.
Romanian presidential election, 2014
–
A presidential election took place in Romania in 2014, and was held in two rounds, on November 2 and 16. In the first round, out of fourteen runners the top two candidates qualified in a run-off. Victor Ponta, Prime Minister and leader of the Social Democratic Party won around 40% of the vote, however, his government faced some indirect international criticism, with U. S. The electoral campaign ran between 3 October and 1 November and was overshadowed by corruption scandals involving key figures of PSD. Traian Băsescu won the last presidential election in 2009 and was sworn in for his term on 21 December 2009. Judge Veronica Năstasie is elected president of the Central Electoral Bureau,23 September, last day for submitting candidacies and the electoral insignia of the candidates. 24 September, the Central Electoral Bureau validated all the 14 submitted candidacies. 2 November,7 a. m. –9 p. m. first round of the presidential election,6 November, validation and publication of the election results in the Official Monitor. 7–15 November, electoral campaign for second round,16 November 7 a. m. –9 p. m. second round of the presidential election. 21 November, validation and publication of the results in the Official Gazette. The left-wing parties designated a candidate, Victor Ponta, the current Prime Minister. He was rated with the best chance of winning the election by main opinion polls, on the other hand, the main right-wing parties, strengthened under the Christian Liberal Alliance, have designated Klaus Iohannis, the second favorite of the opinion polls. This was a number of candidates since 1996, since in 2000,2004 and 2009. Likewise, this was the first time women candidates ran for the position of president of the country, because Corneliu Vadim Tudor appeared as the leader of the party in the Register of Political Parties kept at the Bucharest Tribunal, Gheorghe Funar is ran as an independent. Victor Ponta launched his campaign on his birthday, in a rally on the National Arena. Over 70,000 people from across the country attended the rally, one of the stadium lawns was covered with four large panels inscribed with the slogan Proud to be Romanians and depicting Romanian folk motifs. Likewise, he was criticized by PMP candidate Elena Udrea for the cost of organizing such an event which, Klaus Iohannis launched his campaign in front of the Government, in the presence of up to 30,000 people. The special guest of the event was the Secretary General of the EPP, Antonio López-Istúriz White, the vast majority of Romanians are Christian Orthodox like Ponta, while Iohannis is Protestant
20.
Order of the Star of Romania
–
The Order of the Star of Romania is Romanias highest civil Order and second highest State decoration after the defunct Order of Michael the Brave. It is awarded by the President of Romania and it has five ranks, from lowest to the highest, Officer, Commander, Grand Officer, Grand Cross, and Grand Cross with Collar. Krétly presented a model, which was accepted by the domnitor. It was decided that the order would have five ranks, Knight, Officer, Comandor, Grand Officer, the domnitor decided that the name of the honour would be The Order of the Union. Because of this, the motto of the new order would fit the event, the obverse of the insignia would bear the numbers 5 and 24, the days of January when he was elected in both Moldova and Wallachia. Most of the insignia produced for him remained stored in the Royal Palaces dungeons, in April 1877, when Romania gained independence from the Ottoman Empire, the debate regarding the institution of Romanian decorations was revived. Mihail Kogălniceanu, Minister of Foreign Affairs in the Ion Brătianu cabinet, because of the already earlier supplied Order of The Union, it was decided that the shape of the decoration would be the same, modifying only the domnitors seal. The motto was changed, because the old one was not appropriate to the moment. Regarding the name, Kogălniceanu insisted on Steaua Dunării, the name Steaua României appeared on May 10,1887, when the law was voted in the Parliament, as the first law of the Sovereign Romania. By Royal Decree, King Carol II changed the order of precedence in the Romanian honours system, as a result, in 1932, The Star of Romania dropped in precedence from second place to fourth place. In 1937, it dropped to seventh place, in 1938, the order was given a superior rank, called Clasa I, between the Grand Officer rank and the Grand Cross rank, with a maximum of 50 civilians and 15 military personnel. The statutes established by King Carol II were changed by General Ion Antonescu, generally, the rules were the ones used during World War I. The order The Star of Romania became the second in the national hierarchy, after 1948, all the existing decorations were outlawed, and their wearing was forbidden. Just by keeping the insignia, one was considered a delinquent in the first years of communism, cumming List of military decorations National Decorations System Ordinul național Steaua României, Presidency of Romania website Recipients of the order, Presidency of Romania website
21.
Order pro Merito Melitensi
–
The Order pro Merito Melitensi is the order of merit of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, established in 1920. It is awarded to recipients who have brought honour to the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, promoted Christian values and charity as defined by the Roman Catholic Church. Unlike Knights or Dames of the Order of Malta, those decorated with the Order pro Merito Melitensi are not invested in a religious ceremony and it may therefore be bestowed upon non-Catholics. Conferees include prominent statesmen, such as Presidents Ronald Reagan, who received it while still in office, in addition to membership of the order, a medal is awarded in three classes, gold, silver and bronze. Pro Merito Melitensi Collar – Military Class Pro Merito Melitensi Collar – Civilian Class Single grade, the Collar is only awarded to Heads of State. B, these decorations are with Swords for serving military and without Swords for civilians. When awarded to ecclesiastics, it has the cross as awarded to civilians. Nevertheless, this ribbon is black crossed with two red lines and comprises only two grades, Grand Cross pro piis meritis pro Merito Melitensi, Cross pro piis meritis pro Merito Melitensi. This class has three grades, Gold, Silver and Bronze, there are only three different types of ribbons for both the medal and the crosses. Sovereign Military Order of Malta Orders of Knighthood, Awards and the Holy See, by H. E
22.
Wayback Machine
–
The Internet Archive launched the Wayback Machine in October 2001. It was set up by Brewster Kahle and Bruce Gilliat, and is maintained with content from Alexa Internet, the service enables users to see archived versions of web pages across time, which the archive calls a three dimensional index. Since 1996, the Wayback Machine has been archiving cached pages of websites onto its large cluster of Linux nodes and it revisits sites every few weeks or months and archives a new version. Sites can also be captured on the fly by visitors who enter the sites URL into a search box, the intent is to capture and archive content that otherwise would be lost whenever a site is changed or closed down. The overall vision of the machines creators is to archive the entire Internet, the name Wayback Machine was chosen as a reference to the WABAC machine, a time-traveling device used by the characters Mr. Peabody and Sherman in The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show, an animated cartoon. These crawlers also respect the robots exclusion standard for websites whose owners opt for them not to appear in search results or be cached, to overcome inconsistencies in partially cached websites, Archive-It. Information had been kept on digital tape for five years, with Kahle occasionally allowing researchers, when the archive reached its fifth anniversary, it was unveiled and opened to the public in a ceremony at the University of California, Berkeley. Snapshots usually become more than six months after they are archived or, in some cases, even later. The frequency of snapshots is variable, so not all tracked website updates are recorded, Sometimes there are intervals of several weeks or years between snapshots. After August 2008 sites had to be listed on the Open Directory in order to be included. As of 2009, the Wayback Machine contained approximately three petabytes of data and was growing at a rate of 100 terabytes each month, the growth rate reported in 2003 was 12 terabytes/month, the data is stored on PetaBox rack systems manufactured by Capricorn Technologies. In 2009, the Internet Archive migrated its customized storage architecture to Sun Open Storage, in 2011 a new, improved version of the Wayback Machine, with an updated interface and fresher index of archived content, was made available for public testing. The index driving the classic Wayback Machine only has a bit of material past 2008. In January 2013, the company announced a ground-breaking milestone of 240 billion URLs, in October 2013, the company announced the Save a Page feature which allows any Internet user to archive the contents of a URL. This became a threat of abuse by the service for hosting malicious binaries, as of December 2014, the Wayback Machine contained almost nine petabytes of data and was growing at a rate of about 20 terabytes each week. Between October 2013 and March 2015 the websites global Alexa rank changed from 162 to 208, in a 2009 case, Netbula, LLC v. Chordiant Software Inc. defendant Chordiant filed a motion to compel Netbula to disable the robots. Netbula objected to the motion on the ground that defendants were asking to alter Netbulas website, in an October 2004 case, Telewizja Polska USA, Inc. v. Echostar Satellite, No.02 C3293,65 Fed. 673, a litigant attempted to use the Wayback Machine archives as a source of admissible evidence, Telewizja Polska is the provider of TVP Polonia and EchoStar operates the Dish Network
23.
United Principalities
–
On 24 January 1862, the Principality of Moldavia and the Principality of Wallachia formally united to create the Romanian United Principalities, the core of the Romanian nation state. In 1866 a new constitution came into effect, giving the country the name of Romania, Transylvania was added after the First World War. It was subsequently used by Romanian historians as an alternative to the older term Romanian Lands. English use of Romanian Principalities is documented from the half of the 19th century. In the period between the late 18th century and the 1860s, Danubian Principalities was used, a term that sometimes included Serbia, in contrast, use of Romanian Principalities sometimes included Transylvania but never Serbia. Though internationally formally recognized only after the period of Cuzas reign, following the 1877-8 war of independence, Romania shook off formal Ottoman rule, but eventually clashed with its Russian ally over its demand for the Budjak region. Ultimately, Romania was awarded Northern Dobruja in exchange for southern Bessarabia, the Kingdom of Romania subsequently emerged in 1881 with Prince Carol being crowned as King Carol I of Romania. Alexandru Ioan Cuza took steps to unify the administrations of the two Romanian Principalities and gain recognition for the Union. Opposition from the large-land-owners dominated parliament to Cuza resulted in a coup against him in 1864 and he subsequently instituted authoritarian rule but his popular support, strong at the time of the coup, gradually waned as the land reform failed to bring prosperity to the peasant majority. Cuza was forced to abdicate in 1866 by the two political groups, the Conservatives and the Liberals, who represented the interests of former large-land-owners. Although the event sparked some anti-unionist turmoil in Cuzas native province of Moldavia, the new governing coalition appointed Carol of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen as the new Ruling Prince of Romania in a move initially rejected by the European powers but later on accepted. In the first year of Carols reign Romania adopted its first constitution and this instrument provided for a hereditary constitutional monarchy, with a Parliament being elected through censitary suffrage although the country remained under Ottoman suzerainty. Carol was not unanimously accepted, and a rise in republican sentiment culminated with an uprising in Ploieşti in 1870 and a revolt in Bucharest in 1871, both of which were quelled by the army. In April 1877, in the wake of a new Russo-Turkish war, on May 9, the Romanian parliament declared the independence of the principality, and joined the war on the Russian side. After several Romanian victories south of the Danube and the victory of the Russian-led side in the war. Nevertheless, Romania was made to exchange Southern Bessarabia for Northern Dobruja, in 1881, the countrys parliament proclaimed Romania a kingdom. Danubian Principalities Romanian Old Kingdom Keith M. Hitchins, The Romanians, 1774–1866 online
24.
Kingdom of Romania
–
The Kingdom of Romania was a constitutional monarchy which existed between 13 March 1881 and 30 December 1947, specified by the first three Constitutions of Romania. As such, it is distinct from the Romanian Old Kingdom. From 1859 to 1877, Romania evolved from a union of two vassal principalities under a single prince to a full-fledged independent kingdom with a Hohenzollern monarchy. During 1918-20, at the end of World War I, Transylvania, Eastern Moldavia, in 1947 King Michael was compelled to abdicate and a socialist republic ruled by the Romanian Communist Party replaced the monarchy. The 1859 ascendancy of Alexandru Ioan Cuza as prince of both Moldavia and Wallachia under the suzerainty of the Ottoman Empire united an identifiably Romanian nation under a single ruler. On 5 February 1862 the two principalities were united to form the Principality of Romania, with Bucharest as its capital. On 23 February 1866 a so-called Monstrous coalition, composed of Conservatives and radical Liberals, the German prince Charles of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen was appointed as Prince of Romania, in a move to assure German backing to unity and future independence. He immediately adopted the Romanian spelling of his name, Carol, on 15 March 1881, as an assertion of full sovereignty, the Romanian parliament raised the country to the status of a kingdom, and Carol was crowned as king on 10 May. Abstaining from the Initial Balkan War against the Ottoman Empire, the Kingdom of Romania entered the Second Balkan War in June 1913 against the Tsardom of Bulgaria,330,000 Romanian troops moved across the Danube and into Bulgaria. One army occupied Southern Dobrudja and another moved into northern Bulgaria to threaten Sofia, Romania thus acquired the ethnically-mixed territory of Southern Dobrudja, which it had desired for years. In 1916 Romania entered World War I on the Entente side, the term came into use after World War I, when the Old Kingdom was opposed to Greater Romania, which included Transylvania, Banat, Bessarabia, and Bukovina. Nowadays, the term mainly has a historical relevance, and is used as a common term for all regions in Romania included in both the Old Kingdom and present-day borders. Romania delayed in entering World War I, but ultimately declared war on the Central Powers in 1916, War with the Hungarian Soviet Republic in 1919 resulted in the occupation of Budapest by Romanian troops and the end of Béla Kuns Bolshevik regime. At the Paris Peace Conference, Romania received territories of Transylvania, part of Banat, Bessarabia, thus, Romania in 1920 was more than twice the size it had been in 1914. Although the country was satisfied and had no territorial claims, it aroused the enmity of Bulgaria, and especially Hungary. Greater Romania now encompassed a significant minority population, especially of Hungarians, by contrast, the prewar Romanian state had only one real minority, Jews, but nonetheless anti-Semitism was widespread. Transylvania had significant Hungarian and German population, and with a contemptuous attitude towards Romanians. Both groups were excluded from politics as the postwar Romanian regime passed an edict stating that all personnel employed by the state had to speak Romanian
25.
Apostol Arsache
–
Apostol Arsache or Apostolos Arsakis was a Greek-Romanian politician and philanthropist. He was one of the benefactors of 19th century Greece. Arsache was born in the village of Hotovë, Përmet District, southern Albania, in 1800 Arsache moved together with his family to Vienna, there he was educated in a school of the local Greek diaspora. Among his teachers was Neophytos Doukas, prominent figure of the modern Greek Enlightenment, at 1807 Doukas published an epigram composed by Arsache about the work, Breviarium historiae Romanae, of historian Eutropius. He then went to the University of Halle and studied Medicine, Arsache composed a treatise under the title Έκθεσις συνοπτική της Ιατρικής ιστορίας in Ancient Greek, which was published at the Greek periodical Hermes o Logios, in Vienna. At 1807 he published his thesis De Piscium Celebro et Medulla Spinali in Latin, in 1814 he moved to Bucharest, Romania. In the Cabinet of Barbu Catargiu, he served as Minister of Foreign Affairs and following Catargius assassination on 20 June and he became one of the major benefactors of the newly established Greek state. In 1850 he offered large sums of money for the establishment of an educational institutions in the Greek capital, Athens. Arsache donated a total of 600,000 golden drachmas for this purpose and this institution bore the name Arsakeio after him. Because of his initiative the Greek Parliament gave him honorary Greek citizenship and he also managed to build a school in his home town in 1870
26.
Ion Ghica
–
Ion Ghica was a Romanian revolutionary, mathematician, diplomat and politician, who was Prime Minister of Romania five times. He was a member of the Romanian Academy and its president many times. He was the brother and associate of Pantazi Ghica, a prolific writer. He was born in Bucharest, Wallachia, to the prominent Ghica boyar family, Ion Ghica was educated in Bucharest and in Western Europe, studying engineering and mathematics in France from 1837 to 1840. Ion Ghica became a lecturer on mathematics at the Academy which was founded by the same Prince Sturdza in Iași, while in Istanbul, he was appointed Prince of Samos, where he proved his leadership skills by extirpating local piracy. After completing the task, Ghica was awarded the title of Prince of Samos by Sultan Abd-ul-Mejid I in 1856. In 1859, after the union of Moldavia and Walachia had been effected, later, despite being trusted by Prince Cuza, Ghica took active part in the secret grouping that secured Cuzas overthrow. He was the first prime minister under Prince of Romania Carol of Hohenzollern, Ghica is also noted as one of the first major Liberal figures in the Kingdom of Romania, and one of the leaders of the incipient Liberal Party. The matter of the Liberals loyalty was ultimately settled 1876, with the exceptionally long Liberal Ministry of Ion Brătianu, in 1881, Ghica was appointed Romanian Minister in London, an office he retained until 1889, he died in Ghergani, Dâmbovița County. Beside his political distinction, Ion Ghica earned a reputation by writing his Letters, addressed to Vasile Alecsandri. Conceived and written during his residency in London, the letters depict the stage of Romanian society. He was also the author of Amintiri din pribegie, in 1848 and he was the first to advocate the favoring of local initiatives over foreign investments in industry and commerce - to a certain extent, this took the form of protectionism
27.
Nicolae Golescu
–
Nicolae Golescu was a Wallachian Romanian politician who served as the Prime Minister of Romania in 1860 and May–November 1868. A member of the Golescu family of boyars, Nicolae was born in Câmpulung as the son of Dinicu Golescu, Nicolae and his brother Ștefan returned in 1830 to join the Wallachian Army, where Nicolae became a major in 1834. In the same year he joined the Philarmonic Society, a similar to the Freemasonry. In 1840 he was a prosecutor in the trial of the participants in the Mitică Filipescu plot, in the meantime, he began taking part in gatherings of various revolutionary societies. He joined the liberals, being part of the 1848 revolutionary committee, together with Ion Ghica, Nicolae Bălcescu, Ion Heliade Rădulescu. Afterwards, on 11 June 1848, when the Wallachian revolution started in Bucharest, the following week, he and Ana Ipătescu took initiative in rallying civilians in defense of the revolutionary power, as it was threatened by conservative plot. In 1866, after joining the alliance of Liberals and Conservatives against Cuzas unsanctioned personal regime and he was then Foreign Minister and a member of Ion C. Brătianus Liberal Party, formed during the rule of Carol I
28.
Alexandru G. Golescu
–
Alexandru G. Golescu was a Romanian politician who served as a Prime Minister of Romania in 1870. Alexandru G. Golescu studied at the Saint Sava Academy and then in Paris, at the École dArts et Métiers, and returned to be an engineer in Wallachia. Together with Nicolae Bălcescu, Ion Ghica and Christian Tell, Golescu was a member of the Frăția. He returned to Paris in 1845 to be a member of a society of the Romanian students. He took part in the Wallachian revolution of 1848, and were members of the Revolutionary Committee formed around Frăția and he was a secretary of the Provisional Government, and served as its representative in France after 14 July 1848. Golescu was also active in negotiating an agreement between the Hungarian government of Lajos Kossuth and the Transylvanian Romanian forces of Avram Iancu, and he later served several times as minister and once, for only half a year, as Prime Minister under Prince Carol. He died at his estate in Rusănești, Olt County, golescu-Negru, by James Chastain,19 October 2004, at the Encyclopedia of 1848 Revolutions
29.
Petre P. Carp
–
Carp was a Moldavian, later Romanian statesman, political scientist and culture critic, one of the major representatives of Romanian liberal conservatism, and twice the countrys Prime Minister. His youth was intertwined with the activity of Junimea club, which he co-founded with critic Titu Maiorescu as a literary society and he was a contributor to the Junimea platform Convorbiri Literare, and founder of the newspapers Térra and Moldova. Widely seen as unyielding and trenchant in his stance, and respected as an orator. Carp stood against the majority current in political debates. His entire discourse was an alternative to the protectionist, antisemitic, welcoming Westernization and free trade, his vision of development nonetheless rested on gradualism and criticized modern experiments in governance. The two Carp administrations are remembered for their reforms, their encouragement of foreign investments. A Germanophile and a Russophobe, Carp gathered consensus for steering the Kingdom of Romania into the Triple Alliance, during that time, he was the only prominent public figure to demand a declaration of war against the Entente Powers. He came out of retirement during the German occupation of Romania and this final project caused his fall into disgrace once the legitimate government regained control. Carp was a scion of the old boyar class in Moldavia, his family has attested roots going back to the 17th century, the Carps were related to other noble houses, including the Cozadinis, the Racovițăs and the Kostakis. They owned the estate of Țibănești, formed over the centuries by the accumulation of yeomen farmland. Carps father, also known as Petre, was a Spatharios of the Princely Court, educated abroad during the earliest wave of Westernization, fascinated by Enlightenment ideals and the Carboneria, he took part in political agitation before the Moldavian Revolution of 1848. His wife, Petre P. Carps mother, was Smaranda Radul, the couple had another son, who died at birth. The future Conservative leader was born in the Moldavian capital of Iași, when he was still a young child, his father took him on his first trip out of Moldavia, they traveled by stagecoach through the Austrian Empire, and then to Prussia. In Berlin, Petre Jr enlisted at the bilingual Französisches Gymnasium, young Carp received a classical education in literature, and was noted as a connoisseur of works by Homer, J. W. Goethe, and especially William Shakespeare. He took his Matura with the highest grade of his class, Carp affiliated with a notorious student fraternity, the Corps Borussia. It was in Bonn that Carp made his debut as an orator, on behalf of the student fraternities, Carp welcomed Jérôme, cousin of French Emperor Napoleon III, and was remarked by the visitor for his clear and intellectually honest political stance. Carps future colleague, Moldavian Iacob Negruzzi, also met him as a student. Carp was in Prussia when Moldavia merged with Wallachia to create the United Principalities and he returned to Iași in autumn 1862, having just turned 25, and soon after dedicated himself to reanimating the citys intellectual scene
