Crisis Management in Transitional Societies: The Romanian Experience Crisis Management in Transitional Societies: The Romanian Experience Editors: Julian Chifu and Britta Ramberg Crisis Management in Transitional Societies: The Romanian Experience Editors: Iulian Chifu and Britta Ramberg Crisis Management Europe Research Program, Volume 33 © Swedish National Defence College and CRISMART 2007 No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. Swedish material law is applied to this book. The contents of the book has been reviewed and authorized by CRISMART. Series editor: Bengt Sundelius Editors: Iulian Chifu and Britta Ramberg Printed by: Elanders Gotab 52862, Stockholm 2007 ISSN 978-91-85401-64-2 ISBN 1650-3856 For information regarding publications published by the Swedish National Defence College, call +46 8 553 42 500, or visit www.fhs.se/publikationer. See also www.crismart.org Table of Contens Foreword Britta Ramberg and Iulian Chifu 7 List of Acronyms 9 I. Introduction 11 Chapter 1 – Introduction Britta Ramberg and Iulian Chifu 13 Chapter 2 – The Political and Institutional Context of Crisis Management in Romania Ionut Apahideanu 41 II. Creeping Crises 71 Chapter 3 – Coping with a Creeping Crisis: The Government’s Management of Increased Drug Trafficking and Consumption in Romania Lelia-Elena Vasilescu 73 Chapter 4 – The Romanian Healthcare Crisis, 2003 Oana Popescu 115 III. Acute Domestic Crises 151 Chapter 5 – Bribery in the Government Ionut Apahideanu and Bianca Jinga 153 5 Table of Contents Chapter 6 – The Jean Monet Bombing Delia Amalia Pocan 191 Chapter 7 – The 1998–1999 Miners’ Crisis Cornelia Gavril 215 Chapter 8 – The National Fund for Investments Andreea Guidea 253 IV. International Diplomatic Crises 281 Chapter 9 – The Ingredients for a Diplomatic Conflict at the Border: Romania and the Republic of Moldova Iulian Chifu 283 Chapter 10 – Romania’s Decision Regarding the US and the International Criminal Court Cristina Ivan and Eugen Cobanel 323 V. Conclusions 363 Chapter 11 – Romanian Crisis Management: A Comparative Analysis and Conclusions Britta Ramberg and Iulian Chifu 365 About the Contributors 385 6 Foreword In 2002, CRISMART and the Crisis Research Center at Leiden University in Holland were assigned to assess the existing crisis management capacities in three South Eastern European countries (Albania, Bulgaria, and Romania). The results of this joint project were presented in January 2003 at a UNDP regional conference in Bratislava called “Building Transnational Crisis Management Capacity: An Exploration of Viable Ways to Improve Civil Security in South Eastern Europe.” The reports from this conference inspired CRISMART to continue bilateral cooperation, strengthen its contacts with leading academics and practitioners in Romania, and put together a volume on Romanian crisis management experiences. This was made possible by generous funding from the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Swedish Emergency Management Agency, the United Nations Development Programme, and the Swedish National Defence College. Several of the contributors to this volume are experts in crisis management issues and a few have even directly participated as policy/ decision makers in the Romanian government. Engaging practitioners with valuable insights on the management of recent crises is an important element of the CM Europe Program. Collaboration between the Conflict Prevention and Early Warning Center in Romania and CRISMART were encouraged and stimulated by the late Swedish Minister of Foreign Affairs, Anna Lindh. We would like to express our gratitude to the many people that made this book on crisis management in Romania possible. First and foremost, we owe many thanks to all of the people who kindly shared their experiences of various crises and put their time at our disposal. Gelu Calacean’s contribution from Uppsala University cannot be measured in words or money. His great enthu- siasm and deep knowledge about social and political life in Romania has been most useful, as well as his remarks. Greg Simons has not only made the work on 7 Crisis Management in Transitional Societies: The Roman Experience this book more fun, he has also made sure the contents and language were up to standards. For that he deserves our gratitude. Paul ‘t Hart of Utrecht University also deserves a special thanks for his valuable feedback on different drafts over the years. Our good colleagues at CRISMART (not the least CRISMART’s former and current directors: Bengt Sundelius and Eric Stern) helped keep us on track and provided much inspiration, which we greatly appreciate. Lastly, we would like to thank Stephanie Young who copy edited the entire volume. Britta Ramberg and Iulian Chifu 8 List of Acronyms AVAB Banking Credits Recovery Authority BCR Romanian Commercial Bank BOP Public Opinion Barometer (biannual) CEC National Savings House CNVM National Stock Commission CPC Civil Protection Command DaD Defense against Disasters DNSF Democratic National Salvation Front DP Democrat Party DUHR Democratic Union of Hungarians in Romania EADRCC Euro-Atlantic Disaster Relief Coordination Center EAPC Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council EC European Commission EJC European Journalism Centre GCDD Government Commission for Defense against Disasters G.E.O. Government Emergency Ordinance GIES General Inspectorate for Emergency Situations HP Humanist Party IBR International Bank of Religions ICDO International Civil Defense Directory IPI International Press Institute MAI Ministry of Administration and Interior MMA Media Monitoring Agency “Academia Caţavencu” MoD Ministry of National Defense MoI Ministry of Interior MoPI Ministry of Public Information NAPO National Anti-corruption Prosecution Office NBR National Bank of Romania NLP National Liberal Party NSESM National System for Emergency Situations Management NSF National Salvation Front OSF Open Society Foundation PCSES Public Communitarian Service for Emergency Situations PNL The National Liberal Party RG Romanian Government RP Romanian Parliament 9 Crisis Management in Transitional Societies: The Roman Experience RVA SA Reorganizing and Winding Up Joint Stock Company (Reconversie şi Valorificare SA) SAR Romanian Academic Society SCND Supreme Council of National Defense SDP Social Democrat Party SGG General Secretariat of the Government SIE Foreign Intelligence Service SRI Romanian Intelligence Service UNOPC National Union of Investment Trust Companies Organizations 10 PART I INTRODUCTION 11 Chapter 1 Introduction Britta Ramberg and Iulian Chifu Long isolated behind the iron curtain, Romania has now rejoined the European fold with membership in both the EU and NATO. The EU and NATO acces- sion will provide Romania with a stronger voice and increased influence, thus marking Romania’s re-entry into the European mainstream. Romania has clear- ly arrived, but the journey there was turbulent at times. With the end of the Cold War, the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the expansion of NATO and the EU, the constellations of European politics have altered dramatically. Concerns about risk, safety and security are high on the public agenda and the ability to cope with a crisis constitutes a major challenge to the capacity to govern (‘t Hart, Stern, and Sundelius, 1998; Eriksson 2001; Bovens et. al. 2001; Guzzini and Jung 2004). Societies in transition are for systemic reasons especially prone to experience crises (Stern et. al., 2002: 527- 532). Fundamental changes in the political, economic and social systems give rise to vulnerabilities and social unrest that are unlikely to otherwise exist, or at least have equally severe effects, in more settled polities (Elster, Offe and Preuss, 1998). In addition, governments in transitional states have not accumulated a capital of credibility among the public, to the same extent as a consolidated democracy with largely tested and tried institutions. Although transitional societies arguably do not have a higher frequency of crisis situations than west- ern democracies, previous studies in the Crisis Management Europe series have 13 Crisis Management in Transitional Societies: The Roman Experience shown that the conditions under which crisis management takes place represent a particular set of challenges, which threaten to intensify the crisis itself. When the Soviet Union fell and Communism was dismantled, all Eastern and Central European countries went through profound changes. The chang- es in Romania in many respects coincide with its neighbors; new democratic structures for democracy and market economic institutions were to be built from scratch and the old power elite was to be replaced by a new one. But there are also important peculiarities that make the Romanian experience unique. Romania has experienced some particularities that have accentuated the situation of the state institutions after the revolution. First, some considered Romania having one of the most oppressive regimes and being most resistant to Gorbachev’s changes. Hungary, Czechoslovakia and Poland had alternative parties, free trade unions and even a political opposition. Thus, changes to post- communism were relatively smooth in these countries. In contrast, Romania experienced a bloody revolution with thousands of deaths. The new political leadership in Romania was formed by a concoction of former historical party figures, former communist dissidents (even some former Stalinist opposition- ists of Ceausescu) and re-branded communist leaders. They