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BC Romanians night and day on
question of Romania’s economic
revival
Romanian
news says to look on the
bright side, but can it be
trusted?
By
Malcolm Morgan
Published October 2005
BC Romanian
opinions fall on either side
of a description in Romanian
news detailing Romania’s
current economic upturn.
“What I hear you
saying is what I am praying to
happen, but I don’t think that
is happening,” said family
counsellor and owner of
Vancouver’s Able Professionals
agency Rodica Balaj, a native
of Jimbolia, Timis, when given
the description of what
Romanian news sources like
Rompres and Invest
Romania had recently said
about upcoming Romanian
economic prosperity.
A September 14
“Romanian Press Review” in
Rompres reported from
Romanian news source
Cotidianul that Romanian
president Traian Basescu was
monitoring oil price
fluctuations, specifically in
association with the Romanian
oil company Petrom.
Cotidianul said Basescu
had made statements about the
company’s prices, which twice
directly preceded their
decrease – leading to a
greater public confidence in
Basescu (more votes), as the
oil prices were an issue of
public concern.
Invest
Romania, from the previous
week, September 6, reported
the combined optimistic
forecasts of Prime Minister
Calin Popescu Tariceanu and
Finance Minister Sebastian
Vladescu, who stated that
greater macroeconomic
stability was in the wings and
that “unsustainable expenses”
would be cut (Vladescu
specifically), also saying the
value-added tax would not be
increased in 2006, and payroll
taxes would be reduced (Tariceanu
specifically). Invest
Romania concluded that
Romania’s economy would
undergo growth of more than 5
percent, with intent to cut
inflation from 9.3 percent
last year to 7.5 percent this
year.
These are some
very optimistic outlooks and
strong commitments for a
country the 2005 CIA Factbook
appraises negatively on the
question of economy, saying
“recent macroeconomic
gains have done little to
address Romania's widespread
poverty….”
But perhaps
it’s the case that 2007 EU
Accession, virtually just
around the corner, is having
an effect on Romanian economic
reforms, both as EU dictates
and requirements, and as a
more progressive spirit in a
country typically burdened by
poverty.
Balaj, for one,
doesn’t buy into this notion.
“What I see happening after
the (1989) revolution, is that
the price of joining the EU
was very high,” she said,
going on to detail a
post-revolution skyrocketing
of the prices of goods, while
Romanian incomes remained
meagre, the hoarding of
privileged social positions
and resources by those who
were, as Balaj said, “plugged
into the system” before the
revolution, and the EU’s
restructuring of Romanian
holdings, to favor some other
countries over Romania.
She mentioned
specifically the shutting down
of Timis’ employment-boon
ComTim Timisoara pig meat
processing factory, with a
very similar factory opening
suspiciously soon afterward on
the Hungarian side of the
border. The American company
Smithfield Foods Inc. took
over the majority of the stock
of the ComTim factory from the
Italian company Agrotolvis in
June 2004, according to
Press Review Online’s June
14, 2004 report. This
certainly is a sign of Western
(EU and beyond) appropriation
of Romania’s wealth, but
Press Review Online quoted
the Romanian Meat Association
President Sorin Minea as
saying this takeover would
have the beneficial effect of
reducing Romanian meat prices
overall – as Smithfield’s meat
prices were more competitive
than those of the Romanian
producers, forcing Romanian
adjustment.
It’s difficult
to know how exactly to read
the Romanian financial
situation, because several of
the details, like this, can be
read two ways, and some
details, expects Balaj, may
even harken of Communist-era
government propaganda
permeating the Romanian
press.
An example of the
two-way reading is the very
same Rompres article
that commends President
Basescu’s stabilizing of oil
prices also quotes Finance
Minister Vladescu as saying
cigarette prices will likely
double in the next year. And
the Invest Romania reports
about the hopeful
macroeconomic situation do
specify that the GDP growth of
4.9 percent in the first half
of 2005 is slower than the 6.6
percent growth in the same
period last year, detailing
how, while services,
construction and industry have
grown, by 6.9 percent, 3.9
percent and 3.6 percent
respectively agriculture,
silviculture and fisheries
have fallen by 7.1 percent
generally.
Much of Balaj’s
basic doubt comes from her
recent time spent in Romania,
where the continued poverty
and corruption she saw (points
resources like the CIA
Factbook continue to mention)
convinced her that the
positive transition to a
Western-style government and
economy just wasn’t
happening.
Not every
Romanian in BC feels the
same. Adrian Neagu, Vice
President of Vancouver’s
Romanian Community Centre,
thinks such Romanian news
reports reflect real Romanian
potential for economic
revival. He also visited
Romania recently, and says,
“the trends are very positive
right now, and the transition
from a Centralized Economy to
an Open Market Economy is
happening.” He believes there
may only be difficulties in
the country’s development
because “the transition [from
one economic style to another]
takes time.”
Neagu remains
confident that EU accession
will bring further along
toward development, party
owing to the participation in
the EU of Romania’s notable
technology-trained population.
Whichever
perspective is more accurate,
there is an undeniably
overriding perspective
identifying Romania’s
instability, in news and
academic resources, and among
Romanian citizens. Balaj
expressed this concern,
saying, “during Communism, it
was hard but there was
structure, a predictable
structure – but after the
revolution, it was hard to
tell what structure could be
trusted and which could not.”
As an almost black-humour
summary of the Romanian
infrastructure’s tendency
toward a chaotic nature, and
whether or not Romanians can
interact with their system
reliably, Balaj said,
“everything is gambling.”
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2007 All content property of European Weekly unless where otherwise
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