The Year 2020 In Review

A review of major political events in 2020 and a COVID update

Bogdan Matei, 02.01.2021, 13:00

The country under pandemic

Over 600,000 contaminations and around 15,000 dead – these are the most relevant figures related to the COVID-19 pandemic in Romania. The pandemic brought to the surface old hospitals, badly run, with precarious equipment, where patients risk dying in fires such as the one in Piatra Neamt; poorly trained staff, insufficient in number; online teaching with not enough equipment; factories with their production temporarily on hold; a tourism and hospitality sector on the brink of starvation; shuttered theaters and cinemas; small scale farmers kicked out of farmer markets. This epidemic has left nothing unscathed, and has badly affected the whole of the economy and society. Instituted in May, after two months of a state of emergency, the state of alert has been extended to overlap the holidays. At the end of the year, health authorities have launched a national plan for recover after the health crisis, which brings Romania over 30 billion Euros in European funding, as well as a mass vaccination campaign against the novel coronavirus, considered to be the only way to get out of the pandemic.

New government in Bucharest

A new coalition government brings together the Liberals, the USR and the Hungarian Democratic Union took over in the last days of the year from the Liberal-only government led by Ludovic Orban. The new prime minister, former Liberal Minister of Finance Florin Citu, has as deputies the heads of the coalition partners, Dan Barna and Kelemen Hunor. The Liberals continue holding on to nine ministries, among them Defense, led by reserve general Nicolae Ciuca, and Foreign Affairs, led by career diplomat Bogdan Aurescu. The USR has six ministries, among them European Funds and Health, taken over by former activists Cristian Ghinea and Vlad Voiculescu. The Hungarian Democratic Union has three ministries, among them Youth and Sports, led by head of the Romanian Bicycle Federation, Eduard Novak.

Record lack of votes

With Liberal Ludovic Orban as speaker of the Chamber of Deputies and Anca Dragu from the USR as speaker of the Senate, the new coalition has taken over Parliament as a result of the elections on December 6. Back then, the only landslide, two thirds of the electorate, a record in the three decades after the fall of communism, was absent votes. The fear of COVID, the bad weather, and the lack of confidence in the political class are several of the explanations for this massive undermining. The insufficient percentages for each of the parliamentary parties were also the cause for prolonged negotiations to form a government. After a year spent in the opposition, the Social Democratic Party became, as everyone is used to, the winner of the vote, with about 30% of the electorate, but it is now completely isolated in Parliament. In spite of support from President Klaus Iohannis, the Liberals only managed 25%. The USR-PLUS alliance, with 15%, had much better results than four years ago, but much poorer than in 2019. The Hungarian Democratic Union had its usual 5%, corresponding to the percentage of ethnic Hungarians. However, for the first time, gaining 10% of the vote, the AUR nationalist party gained seats in Parliament, in spite of much speculation and very little information about them. However, the parties that did not make it into Parliament are led by three major political figures, former president Traian Basescu, and former PMs Victor Ponta and Calin Popescu Tariceanu.

Changes in local elections in Bucharest

On September 27, when local elections took place, the presence at the polls nationally was 46%. Sociologists say that this meant 2% less presence than in the previous elections for city halls and local councils, when people did not fear infection by the new virus. Voters in Bucharest, however, were less inclined to show up, with 37%, which is still a higher number than 4 years ago. The new mayor of Bucharest is mathematician and activist Nicusor Dan, replacing Social Democrat Gabriela Firea, and he took over a city stifled in pollution, with gridlocked traffic, bad home heating networks, and a poor infrastructure. The six sectors of the capital city were divided among three parties, the Liberals, the Social Democrats, and the USR. County councils were also hotly contested. The Social Democrats held on to their usual counties in the south and east, while the USR took over for the first time the ones in Timisoara, Brasov, Alba Iulia, and Bacau.