CA' FOSCARI UNIVERSITY OF VENICE UNIVERSITY OF HOHENHEIM Double Degree Laurea Magistrale in Economia e gestione delle aziende Master of Science in International Business and Economics Department of Management Associate Professor Dr. Giovanni Favero Master-Thesis Italian Historical Migration and Investments in Modern-day Romania Liviu Constantin Jakob 848196 / 425517 [email protected] [email protected] Venice, October 9th 2014 1 Executive Summary The present master thesis analyses the common historical and economic relationship between Italy and Romania, two countries of Latin origin that have been both founded by the middle of the 19th century, through the unification of different former states of same roots, language, culture and history. The thesis is divided into five chapters. The first chapter covers the middle ages and then the period from the 19th century until 1945, when Italian craftsmen, especially from the provinces of North-Eastern Italy, came to the newly established Romanian Kingdom, laying the foundation for the nowadays officially recognized Italian minority in Romania. The second chapter presents the economic and social relationships between Italy and Romania during the time of the communist regime, which was imposed to Romania by the Soviet Union after World War 2 and lasted until the end of 1989. Chapter three presents the status of the Italian minority after the revolution of 1989 and until today. After the fall of the Iron Curtain, the markets of the former communist states in Eastern Europe were opened to western products and investments. Also Romania opened its economy step by step during the transitional period from communism to capitalism and free market. Many Italian companies used the new opportunities and invested heavily in Romania. In particular, the western historical region of Banat with its unofficial capital Timişoara became the epicentre of Italian invested capital. This development along the reasons why exactly this region became so attractive for Italian companies during the 1990s are presented in the fourth chapter. Chapter five shows the present situation of Italian companies and provides detailed information of their economic activity in Romania. 2 Table of Contents I.Historical Migration of Italians to Romania...............................................................5 I.1.Italians in the Romanian Principalities during the Middle-Ages ..................................5 I.2.Italians in Romania from 1860 to World War I..............................................................8 I.2.1The Origin of the Italian Migrants...........................................................................9 I.2.2Romania as an attractive Destination for Italian Migrants .................................10 I.2.3Economic Domains in which the Italian Guest-workers activated.......................12 I.2.4Italians who marked and influenced Romania.....................................................16 I.2.5Statistics and official documents on the extent of the stable Italian population residing in the Kingdom of Romania...........................................................................19 I.3.Italians in Romania during the Interwar period and World War II ..............................22 I.3.1Statistics and official documents on the extent of the stable Italian population residing in Interwar Greater Romania.........................................................................22 I.3.2Italian Architects and the Construction of Greater Romania................................30 I.3.3Italian Culture and Social Life under the sign of Fascism....................................32 I.4.Conclusions Chapter I................................................................................................36 II.Italian-Romanian Relations during the Communist Period...................................37 II.1.The Sovietization of Romania and the Exodus of the Italians...................................37 II.2.Economic Cooperation and Transfer of Technology..................................................41 II.3.Relations between the Romanian and the Italian Communist Parties......................45 II.4.Romania's Economy and Standard of living in the 1970s and 1980s.......................51 II.5.Conclusions Chapter II..............................................................................................53 III.Italian Minority in contemporary Romania............................................................55 III.1.Unity and political Representation............................................................................55 III.2.Romanian Celebrities with Italian Ancestors............................................................57 III.3.Statistics on the extent of the stable ethnic Italians in Romania..............................59 III.4.Conclusion Chapter III..............................................................................................62 3 IV.Investments during the Time of Transition...........................................................63 IV.1.Transition in Romania...............................................................................................63 IV.2.Italian Investments in the Romanian Footwear and Apparel Industry .....................70 IV.3.Technic Development, a Subsidiary of Geox in Timişoara.......................................75 IV.4.Comparative Advantages of the Banat and the western Regions............................76 IV.5.Conclusions Chapter IV............................................................................................79 V.Italian Companies doing Business in contemporary Romania..............................80 V.1.Commercial Exchange between Italy and Romania.................................................80 V.2.Italian Foreign Direct Investments in Romania.........................................................81 V.3.Astaldi's double-sided reputation in Romania...........................................................85 V.4. Enel and its imminent withdrawal from Romania ....................................................87 V.5.Italian Banks in Romania...........................................................................................89 V.6.The ”investments” of the Italian Mafia.......................................................................91 V.7.Conclusions Chapter V..............................................................................................93 VI.Conclusion of the Thesis, Closing Remarks and Forecast..................................95 4 I. Historical Migration of Italians to Romania I.1. Italians in the Romanian Principalities during the Middle-Ages Very little is known about the migration of people from the territory of today's Italy to the Romanian principalities before the 1800s. Over the years there have been nevertheless Italians that got in contact with the princely courts of Moldavia, Wallachia and Transylvania. Those early Italians were travellers, adventurers, physicians, missionaries, military and civil architects, painters, musicians, chisellers, carpenters or builders.1 Historical documents certify the presence of Italians on the territory of present-day Romania already by the 12th century. During the reign of the Hungarian King Géza II, between 1142 and 1162, the first foreign settlers started to arrive in Transylvania. Along them were also Italians, but unfortunately no other information about these people has been recorded. Another migration wave was recorded half a century later when alongside Walloons also Italians settled at Varadino (present Oradea, north-west Romania). There they constructed themselves their urban districts already before the Mongolian invasion of the year 1241. The quarters bare the names of their inhabitants, such as Venezia, which nowadays still exists and is called Velenza.2 Contemporaneously in the 13th and 14th centuries the ancient Greek fortresses at the Black Sea have been colonized by the maritime republics of Genoa and Venice, first with the approval of the Byzantine Empire and later in compliance with the Ottoman Empire. Those colonies were called Lycostomo (today's Chilia Veche in the Danube Delta), Moncastro (now Bilhorod- Dnistrovskyi, formerly Cetatea Albă, in Ukraine near the city of Odessa) and Vicina, a fortress on the Danube (the exact location is debated by archaeologists and historians). The urban administration of Vicina and Lycostomo were in the hands of the Genovesi. They were ruled by a consul, likewise Italian cities in that times. Businessmen from both Genoa and Venice contributed substantially to the reinvigoration and intensification of commerce through the Romanian ports at the Danube.3 The Republic of Venice had even established a vice-consulate at Moncastro, back then a port of the Principality of Moldavia, 1 N. Luca, L'Emigrazione Storica dei Friulani in Romania, Bucharest, Sempre Uni, 2006, p. 33 2 E. H. Bader, R. F. Gurau, Fortificaţiile medievale din Transilvania, Editura Sfera, Bucharest, 2001, p.169, cit. in Luca, L'Emigrazione Storica dei Friulani in Romania, cit., p. 33 3 T.V. Poncea, Geneza Oraşului Medieval Românesc Extra Carpatic (Secolele X-XIV), Bucharest, Biblioteca Bucureştilor, 1999, p.110 5 in the year 1435. The first consuls name was Francesco Diedo.4 After 1300 there are mentioned Italian architects and craftsmen, which were invited to construct fortresses and citadels. For example between 1307 and 1315, they constructed a castle for the Hungarian king Charles Robert of Anjou in Timişoara