Horia-Roman Patapievici
Encyclopedia
Horia-Roman Patapievici (ˈhori.a ˈroman pataˈpjevit͡ʃʲ; born March 18, 1957) is a Romanian physicist and essayist who currently serves as the head of the Romanian Cultural Institute
. Between 2000 and 2005, he was a member of the National Council for the Study of the Securitate Archives, supporting more openness regarding the files of the Securitate.
. Horia Roman Patapievici was born in Bucharest
and graduated from the University of Bucharest
's Faculty of Physics in 1981, being specialised in lasers. Between 1986 and 1994, he worked as a scientific researcher at the Academy Institute, starting 1990 being also a university assistant at the Polytechnic University of Bucharest
until 1994, when he gave up this job, because he thought professorship was boring and he wanted more independence.
Patapievici was then the director of Center for German studies at the University of Bucharest
, between 1994 and 1996, after which he served until 2000 as the programme director of Group for Social Dialogue
(GDS). He is also a member of the Writers' Union of Romania
, one of the founders of the Research Group for Essentials in European Modernity and an honorary member of the Ludwig von Mises Institute
.
His debut as an essayist was in 1992, in the Contrapunct journal and since then, he had various contributions in the Revista 22
, LA&I, Dilema (now Dilema Veche
), Orizont, Vatra, Secolul 20, ID. He wrote editorials in 22 (1993–2003), LA&I (2003–2004), Dilema Veche (2004–2005), ID (since 2005) and Evenimentul Zilei
(since 2006).
Patapievici was also a TV producer for two shows for TVR Cultural
: "Idei în libertate" (2002) and "Înapoi la argument" (2005).
Since 2004, Patapievici is the director of a cultural journal, Idei în dialog (Ideas in dialogue), published by the Academia Caţavencu
Trust.
Patapievici married in 1981 and he has one son, born in 1989. In 2005, while driving in the village of Cunta, Alba County
, he fell asleep behind the wheel and crashed his car, but he escaped with only minor wounds.
to be a member of the National Council for the Study of the Securitate Archives, an institution which has the purpose to study the files of the Securitate
, the secret service of the communist-era Romania.
Patapievici was initially rejected by the Parliamentary committee, their decision being that although he satisfies the legal criteria, he fails the "morality" criterion, for allegedly "not respecting the Romanians".
Following the demand of the National Peasants' Party
, the issue of Patapievici's candidacy was reopened in late January, the Parliamentary committee approving his candidacy, despite a dissent of the Greater Romania Party
representative, Dumitru Bălăeţ, who accused Patapievici of lack of patriotism.
The council met some difficuties in obtaining some documents from the SRI
archive, and because of this, Patapievici, together with Mircea Dinescu
and Andrei Pleşu
began boycotting the council in October 2001, while demanding full access in the SRI's archives.
The activity of the council, which investigated the former collaborators of the Securitate, drew criticism from the far-right Greater Romania Party. Daniela Buruiană
claimed that Patapievici, Dinescu and Pleşu help foreign secret services which want to discredit the Romanian state institutions, prompting them to announce that they'll sue her.
In September 2002, the council decided to publish a list of the former Securitate officers who were involved in the political police. The Romanian intelligence agency, SRI, initially opposed this, but, following a meeting between the council and SRI, they reached an agreement. Nevertheless, Patapievici argued that the council is blocked because of political reasons.
The following month, Patapievici, together with Pleşu and Dinescu attempted to change the head of the council, Gheorghe Onişoru, who, they argued, sided with the SRI in attempting to open up more of Securitate's files, but they failed in gathering the six needed votes among the eleven council members.
The activity of the council continued slowly, publishing the first list of 33 officers of Securitate in October 2003. There were a few attempts of ousting the Patapievici, Pleşu and Dinescu trio, especially from the Social-Democrats and Greater Romania Party, but eventually they gave in to public pressure and canceled them.
Before the 2004 Romanian presidential election
, the council decided that Corneliu Vadim Tudor
was not a Securitate informer, with a minority dissenting view (Patapievici, Pleşu, Dinescu and Secasiu). Pleşu and Dinescu resigned in protest and Patapievici announced he'd do the same thing after the elections.
, the newly-elected President of Romania, named Patapievici as the new head of the Romanian Cultural Institute
, replacing a 15-year rule of Augustin Buzura
. The way this naming was done, without a competition or a debate brought a bit of controversy, being argued that Buzura, Iliescu's man was replaced with Patapievici, Băsescu's man.
Patapievici began a reform inside the Institute under a new vision, under which, the institute ceases to be a creator of culture, but instead it facilitates cultural exchages. He decided shutting down of the Cultura journal, which he saw as a way of wasting taxpayers' money, because similar private-owned journals have a profit.
An incident arose in July 2008 at the Romanian Cultural Institute in New York City
, after a Romanian-language publication, New York Magazin attacked the ICR's exhibition named Freedom for Lazy People, accusing it of obscenity and anti-semitism, the latter because of a pink My Little Pony
toy with a swastika
painted on it. The president of the Romanian Senate, Nicolae Văcăroiu
asked the Culture Commission of the Senate to investigate this issue. Patapievici defended the exhibition from the accusations of anti-semitism, arguing that the swastika sign is not forbidden in the United States and that the pony is just an art object.
About the same time, the Romanian–German writer Herta Müller
published in Frankfurter Rundschau
an open letter
addressed to Horia-Roman Patapievici, in which she criticized the initiative of ICR Berlin to organize a summer school
in collaboration with two people who were formerly Securitate
informers: Sorin Antohi
and Andrei Corbea-Hoişie.
economic policies, arguing that it's "the most efficient cure against the laziness of thought". In 2006, during a debate over the display of Orthodox Christian icons in classrooms, he defended such display, labeling the people who opposed it as "human rights
fanatics".
In Omul recent, Patapievici has a critique of the modern ideologies, including socialism
, multiculturalism
and post-modernism, arguing that the only way of stripping "evilness" out of the modern society is to return to traditional Christianity.
He always had a good relationship with president Băsescu, whom Patapievici defended when, in 2007, the parliament began an impeachment procedure, but blamed the disagreements between the presidents and prime-ministers on the Romanian Constitution. Critics of Băsescu labeled Patapievici, Gabriel Liiceanu
, and Vladimir Tismăneanu
as "Băsescu's intellectuals"—a label that the three refuted.
, Catalan newspaper La Vanguardia
published an interview in which Patapievici was asked about a video recording, which had been repeatedly broadcast in Romanian media, allegedly depicting Băsescu hitting a 10-year old boy. Patapievici said that he though Băsescu only pushed the child, and that Băsescu's error was that he did not deny it immediately. Patapievici then compared the incident with the Lewinsky scandal
, and added that president Traian Băsescu
refused to use in his campaign a tape depicting Mircea Geoană
receiving oral sex: "By the way, I know from reliable sources that a tape showing Mircea Geoană receiving oral sex was offered to Băsescu who refused to use it. He's an honest man, trust me."
Patapievici's interview was met with a strong reaction from Mircea Geoană, who called it a "sinister lie", and Victor Ponta
, who called the statement "sleazy"; Traian Băsescu
's spokesman, Sever Voinescu
, denied that the campaign team was ever aware of any such video. The spokesman of the Romanian presidency, Valeriu Turcan, also denied that Băsescu or his campaign staff had such a recording.
Patapievici later issued a statement asserting that he "only mentioned the tape to emphasize the difference in attitude between Băsescu and his opponents"; moreover, he cited an e-mail sent in English by the Spanish interviewer, Félix Flores: "Mr. Patapievici did not mentioned [sic] the existence of any tape about Mr. Geoana: he just said that Mr. Basescu was offered such a thing and he rejected it. He was not talking about videos -true or fake or may not exist- or against anybody but about Mr. Basescu's moral attitude."
Romanian Cultural Institute
The Romanian Cultural Institute is a state-funded institution that promotes Romanian culture and civilization in Romania and abroad. The ICR was formerly set up through reorganization of the Romanian Cultural Foundation and Romanian Cultural Publishing Foundation...
. Between 2000 and 2005, he was a member of the National Council for the Study of the Securitate Archives, supporting more openness regarding the files of the Securitate.
Biography
Denis Patapievici, his father, moved from Cernăuţi (now in Ukraine) to Occupied Poland in 1940, after the Soviet Union occupied BukovinaBukovina
Bukovina is a historical region on the northern slopes of the northeastern Carpathian Mountains and the adjoining plains.-Name:The name Bukovina came into official use in 1775 with the region's annexation from the Principality of Moldavia to the possessions of the Habsburg Monarchy, which became...
. Horia Roman Patapievici was born in Bucharest
Bucharest
Bucharest is the capital municipality, cultural, industrial, and financial centre of Romania. It is the largest city in Romania, located in the southeast of the country, at , and lies on the banks of the Dâmbovița River....
and graduated from the University of Bucharest
University of Bucharest
The University of Bucharest , in Romania, is a university founded in 1864 by decree of Prince Alexander John Cuza to convert the former Saint Sava Academy into the current University of Bucharest.-Presentation:...
's Faculty of Physics in 1981, being specialised in lasers. Between 1986 and 1994, he worked as a scientific researcher at the Academy Institute, starting 1990 being also a university assistant at the Polytechnic University of Bucharest
Polytechnic University of Bucharest
Universitatea Politehnica din Bucureşti is a technical university in Bucharest, Romania. It was founded in 1864 based on the older technical school of Gheorghe Lazăr and it was renamed "Politehnica" in 1920.-History:...
until 1994, when he gave up this job, because he thought professorship was boring and he wanted more independence.
Patapievici was then the director of Center for German studies at the University of Bucharest
University of Bucharest
The University of Bucharest , in Romania, is a university founded in 1864 by decree of Prince Alexander John Cuza to convert the former Saint Sava Academy into the current University of Bucharest.-Presentation:...
, between 1994 and 1996, after which he served until 2000 as the programme director of Group for Social Dialogue
Group for Social Dialogue
The Group for Social Dialogue is a Romanian non-governmental organization whose stated mission is to protect and promote democracy, human rights and civil liberties...
(GDS). He is also a member of the Writers' Union of Romania
Writers' Union of Romania
The Writers' Union of Romania , founded in March 1949, is a professional association of writers in Romania. It also has a subsidiary in Chişinău, Republic of Moldova...
, one of the founders of the Research Group for Essentials in European Modernity and an honorary member of the Ludwig von Mises Institute
Ludwig von Mises Institute
The Ludwig von Mises Institute , based in Auburn, Alabama, is a libertarian academic organization engaged in research and scholarship in the fields of economics, philosophy and political economy. Its scholarship is inspired by the work of Austrian School economist Ludwig von Mises...
.
His debut as an essayist was in 1992, in the Contrapunct journal and since then, he had various contributions in the Revista 22
Revista 22
Revista 22 is a Romanian weekly magazine, issued by the Group for Social Dialogue and focused mainly on politics and culture....
, LA&I, Dilema (now Dilema Veche
Dilema Veche
Dilema veche , formerly Dilema, is a Romanian weekly journal of culture, criticism and opinion.- History :It was founded as Dilema in 1993 by art critic Andrei Pleşu and up until the end of 2003 it was edited by an independent cultural body, Fundaţia Culturală Română...
), Orizont, Vatra, Secolul 20, ID. He wrote editorials in 22 (1993–2003), LA&I (2003–2004), Dilema Veche (2004–2005), ID (since 2005) and Evenimentul Zilei
Evenimentul Zilei
Evenimentul Zilei is one of the leading newspapers in Romania. Based in Bucharest, the Romanian-language daily has a paid daily circulation of 110,000...
(since 2006).
Patapievici was also a TV producer for two shows for TVR Cultural
TVR Cultural
TVR Cultural is the cultural channel of Romania's government-funded television network Televiziunea Română. It provides cultural news, documentaries about the arts, as well as various shows, musicals and theatrical pieces.-References:*...
: "Idei în libertate" (2002) and "Înapoi la argument" (2005).
Since 2004, Patapievici is the director of a cultural journal, Idei în dialog (Ideas in dialogue), published by the Academia Caţavencu
Academia Catavencu
Academia Caţavencu is a Romanian satirical magazine founded in 1991 and made famous by its investigative journalism. Academia Caţavencu also owns Radio Guerrilla , an FM radio station with national coverage ; Tabu, a women's magazine, Superbebe, a magazine for new parents, Aventuri la pescuit, a...
Trust.
Patapievici married in 1981 and he has one son, born in 1989. In 2005, while driving in the village of Cunta, Alba County
Alba County
Alba is a county of Romania, in Transylvania, its capital city being Alba-Iulia with a population of 66,406.- Demographics :In 2002, it had a population of 382,747 and the population density was 61/km².* Romanians - 90.4%* Hungarians - 5.4%...
, he fell asleep behind the wheel and crashed his car, but he escaped with only minor wounds.
National Council for the Study of the Securitate Archives
In December 1999, Patapievici was nominated by the National Peasants' PartyChristian-Democratic National Peasants' Party (Romania)
The Christian-Democratic National Peasants' Party is a Romanian Christian-Democratic party...
to be a member of the National Council for the Study of the Securitate Archives, an institution which has the purpose to study the files of the Securitate
Securitate
The Securitate was the secret police agency of Communist Romania. Previously, the Romanian secret police was called Siguranţa Statului. Founded on August 30, 1948, with help from the Soviet NKVD, the Securitate was abolished in December 1989, shortly after President Nicolae Ceaușescu was...
, the secret service of the communist-era Romania.
Patapievici was initially rejected by the Parliamentary committee, their decision being that although he satisfies the legal criteria, he fails the "morality" criterion, for allegedly "not respecting the Romanians".
Following the demand of the National Peasants' Party
National Peasants' Party
The National Peasants' Party was a Romanian political party, formed in 1926 through the fusion of the Romanian National Party from Transylvania and the Peasants' Party . It was in power between 1928 and 1933, with brief interruptions...
, the issue of Patapievici's candidacy was reopened in late January, the Parliamentary committee approving his candidacy, despite a dissent of the Greater Romania Party
Greater Romania Party
The Greater Romania Party is a Romanian radical right-wing, ultra-nationalist political party, led by Corneliu Vadim Tudor. The party is sometimes referred to in English as the Great Romania Party....
representative, Dumitru Bălăeţ, who accused Patapievici of lack of patriotism.
The council met some difficuties in obtaining some documents from the SRI
SRI
Sri may refer to:*Sri, a Hindu honorific; not to be confused with Sir, a title of respect used in several modern contexts*Sri Lanka, an island state at the south tip of India, formerly called Ceylon*SRi, a car specification badge...
archive, and because of this, Patapievici, together with Mircea Dinescu
Mircea Dinescu
Mircea Dinescu is a Romanian poet, journalist and editor.He was born in Slobozia, the son of Ştefan Dinescu, a metalworker and Aurelia . Dinescu studied at the Faculty of Journalism of the Ştefan Gheorghiu Academy, and was considered a gifted young poet during his youth, with several poetry...
and Andrei Pleşu
Andrei Plesu
Andrei Gabriel Pleşu is a Romanian philosopher, essayist, journalist, literary and art critic, and politician.- Biography :Born in Bucharest, the son of Radu Pleşu, a surgeon and Zoe Pleşu , he spent much of his early youth in the country side...
began boycotting the council in October 2001, while demanding full access in the SRI's archives.
The activity of the council, which investigated the former collaborators of the Securitate, drew criticism from the far-right Greater Romania Party. Daniela Buruiană
Daniela Buruiana
Daniela Buruiană Aprodu is a Romanian politician and Member of the European Parliament. She is a member of the Greater Romania Party, part of the Identity/Sovereignty/Transparency group, and became an MEP on 1 January 2007 with the accession of Romania to the European Union.-External links:**...
claimed that Patapievici, Dinescu and Pleşu help foreign secret services which want to discredit the Romanian state institutions, prompting them to announce that they'll sue her.
In September 2002, the council decided to publish a list of the former Securitate officers who were involved in the political police. The Romanian intelligence agency, SRI, initially opposed this, but, following a meeting between the council and SRI, they reached an agreement. Nevertheless, Patapievici argued that the council is blocked because of political reasons.
The following month, Patapievici, together with Pleşu and Dinescu attempted to change the head of the council, Gheorghe Onişoru, who, they argued, sided with the SRI in attempting to open up more of Securitate's files, but they failed in gathering the six needed votes among the eleven council members.
The activity of the council continued slowly, publishing the first list of 33 officers of Securitate in October 2003. There were a few attempts of ousting the Patapievici, Pleşu and Dinescu trio, especially from the Social-Democrats and Greater Romania Party, but eventually they gave in to public pressure and canceled them.
Before the 2004 Romanian presidential election
Romanian presidential election, 2004
A presidential election was held in Romania on November 28, 2004. 12 candidates competed for the office. As no candidate won more than 50% of the votes, a run-off was held on December 12, 2004, between the two leading candidates: prime minister Adrian Năstase of the ruling Social Democratic Party...
, the council decided that Corneliu Vadim Tudor
Corneliu Vadim Tudor
Corneliu Vadim Tudor is leader of the Greater Romania Party , writer, journalist and a Member of the European Parliament...
was not a Securitate informer, with a minority dissenting view (Patapievici, Pleşu, Dinescu and Secasiu). Pleşu and Dinescu resigned in protest and Patapievici announced he'd do the same thing after the elections.
Romanian Cultural Institute
In January 2005, Traian BăsescuTraian Basescu
Traian Băsescu is the current President of Romania. After serving as the mayor of Bucharest from June 2000 until December 2004, he was elected president in the Romanian Presidential Elections of 2004 and inaugurated on December 20, 2004...
, the newly-elected President of Romania, named Patapievici as the new head of the Romanian Cultural Institute
Romanian Cultural Institute
The Romanian Cultural Institute is a state-funded institution that promotes Romanian culture and civilization in Romania and abroad. The ICR was formerly set up through reorganization of the Romanian Cultural Foundation and Romanian Cultural Publishing Foundation...
, replacing a 15-year rule of Augustin Buzura
Augustin Buzura
Augustin Buzura is a Romanian novelist and short story writer, also known as a journalist, essayist and literary critic. A member of the Romanian Academy, he has been the president of the Romanian Cultural Foundation since 1990 and president of the Romanian Cultural Institute between 2003 and...
. The way this naming was done, without a competition or a debate brought a bit of controversy, being argued that Buzura, Iliescu's man was replaced with Patapievici, Băsescu's man.
Patapievici began a reform inside the Institute under a new vision, under which, the institute ceases to be a creator of culture, but instead it facilitates cultural exchages. He decided shutting down of the Cultura journal, which he saw as a way of wasting taxpayers' money, because similar private-owned journals have a profit.
An incident arose in July 2008 at the Romanian Cultural Institute in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, after a Romanian-language publication, New York Magazin attacked the ICR's exhibition named Freedom for Lazy People, accusing it of obscenity and anti-semitism, the latter because of a pink My Little Pony
My Little Pony
My Little Pony is a brand of toy ponies marketed primarily to girls produced by the toy manufacturer Hasbro. These ponies can be identified by their colorful bodies and manes and a unique symbol on one or both sides of their flanks...
toy with a swastika
Swastika
The swastika is an equilateral cross with its arms bent at right angles, in either right-facing form in counter clock motion or its mirrored left-facing form in clock motion. Earliest archaeological evidence of swastika-shaped ornaments dates back to the Indus Valley Civilization of Ancient...
painted on it. The president of the Romanian Senate, Nicolae Văcăroiu
Nicolae Vacaroiu
Nicolae Văcăroiu is a Romanian politician, member of the Social Democratic Party, who served as Prime Minister between 1992 and 1996. Before the 1989 Revolution he worked at the Committee for State Planning, together with Theodor Stolojan....
asked the Culture Commission of the Senate to investigate this issue. Patapievici defended the exhibition from the accusations of anti-semitism, arguing that the swastika sign is not forbidden in the United States and that the pony is just an art object.
About the same time, the Romanian–German writer Herta Müller
Herta Müller
Herta Müller is a Romanian-born German novelist, poet and essayist noted for her works depicting the effects of violence, cruelty and terror, usually in the setting of Communist Romania under the repressive Nicolae Ceauşescu regime which she experienced herself...
published in Frankfurter Rundschau
Frankfurter Rundschau
The Frankfurter Rundschau is a German daily newspaper, based in Frankfurt am Main. It is published every day but Sunday as a city, two regional and one nationwide issues and offers an online edition as well as an e-paper...
an open letter
Open letter
An open letter is a letter that is intended to be read by a wide audience, or a letter intended for an individual, but that is nonetheless widely distributed intentionally....
addressed to Horia-Roman Patapievici, in which she criticized the initiative of ICR Berlin to organize a summer school
Summer school
Summer school is a school, or a program generally sponsored by a school or a school district, that teaches students during the summer vacation....
in collaboration with two people who were formerly Securitate
Securitate
The Securitate was the secret police agency of Communist Romania. Previously, the Romanian secret police was called Siguranţa Statului. Founded on August 30, 1948, with help from the Soviet NKVD, the Securitate was abolished in December 1989, shortly after President Nicolae Ceaușescu was...
informers: Sorin Antohi
Sorin Antohi
-Biography:Antohi was born in Târgu Ocna. He received his Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts degrees from the University of Iaşi and a DEA from École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales. He taught history at the University of Michigan, at the University of Bucharest and at the Central-European...
and Andrei Corbea-Hoişie.
Political views
Patapievici is a supporter of libertarianLibertarianism
Libertarianism, in the strictest sense, is the political philosophy that holds individual liberty as the basic moral principle of society. In the broadest sense, it is any political philosophy which approximates this view...
economic policies, arguing that it's "the most efficient cure against the laziness of thought". In 2006, during a debate over the display of Orthodox Christian icons in classrooms, he defended such display, labeling the people who opposed it as "human rights
Human rights
Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
fanatics".
In Omul recent, Patapievici has a critique of the modern ideologies, including socialism
Socialism
Socialism is an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy; or a political philosophy advocating such a system. "Social ownership" may refer to any one of, or a combination of, the following: cooperative enterprises,...
, multiculturalism
Multiculturalism
Multiculturalism is the appreciation, acceptance or promotion of multiple cultures, applied to the demographic make-up of a specific place, usually at the organizational level, e.g...
and post-modernism, arguing that the only way of stripping "evilness" out of the modern society is to return to traditional Christianity.
He always had a good relationship with president Băsescu, whom Patapievici defended when, in 2007, the parliament began an impeachment procedure, but blamed the disagreements between the presidents and prime-ministers on the Romanian Constitution. Critics of Băsescu labeled Patapievici, Gabriel Liiceanu
Gabriel Liiceanu
Gabriel Liiceanu is a Romanian philosopher.He graduated from University of Bucharest's Faculty of Philosophy in 1965, and from Faculty of Classical Languages in 1973. He earned a doctorate in philosophy at the University of Bucharest in 1976....
, and Vladimir Tismăneanu
Vladimir Tismaneanu
Vladimir Tismăneanu is a Romanian and American political scientist, political analyst, sociologist, and professor at the University of Maryland, College Park...
as "Băsescu's intellectuals"—a label that the three refuted.
Sex tape controversy
On the day of the Romanian presidential election 2009Romanian presidential election, 2009
The first round of 2009 Romanian presidential elections was held in Romania on 22 November and a run-off round between Traian Băsescu and Mircea Geoană was held on 6 December 2009. Although most exit polls favored Geoană in the runoff, the authorities declared Băsescu the narrow victor with 50.33%...
, Catalan newspaper La Vanguardia
La Vanguardia
La Vanguardia is Catalonia's leading daily newspaper as well as the fourth best-selling in Spain. It has its headquarters in Barcelona, Catalonia's largest city....
published an interview in which Patapievici was asked about a video recording, which had been repeatedly broadcast in Romanian media, allegedly depicting Băsescu hitting a 10-year old boy. Patapievici said that he though Băsescu only pushed the child, and that Băsescu's error was that he did not deny it immediately. Patapievici then compared the incident with the Lewinsky scandal
Lewinsky scandal
The Lewinsky scandal was a political sex scandal emerging in 1998 from a sexual relationship between United States President Bill Clinton and a 25-year-old White House intern, Monica Lewinsky. The news of this extra-marital affair and the resulting investigation eventually led to the impeachment of...
, and added that president Traian Băsescu
Traian Basescu
Traian Băsescu is the current President of Romania. After serving as the mayor of Bucharest from June 2000 until December 2004, he was elected president in the Romanian Presidential Elections of 2004 and inaugurated on December 20, 2004...
refused to use in his campaign a tape depicting Mircea Geoană
Mircea Geoana
Dan Mircea Geoană is a Romanian politician, who served as president of the upper chamber of the Romanian Parliament, the Senate from December 20, 2008 until he was revoked by the senators on November 23, 2011. From 21 April 2005 until 21 February 2010 he was the head of the Partidul Social...
receiving oral sex: "By the way, I know from reliable sources that a tape showing Mircea Geoană receiving oral sex was offered to Băsescu who refused to use it. He's an honest man, trust me."
Patapievici's interview was met with a strong reaction from Mircea Geoană, who called it a "sinister lie", and Victor Ponta
Victor Ponta
Victor-Viorel Ponta is a Romanian jurist and politician. A member of the Social Democratic Party and its leader since 2010, he has been a member of the Romanian Chamber of Deputies for Gorj County since 2004...
, who called the statement "sleazy"; Traian Băsescu
Traian Basescu
Traian Băsescu is the current President of Romania. After serving as the mayor of Bucharest from June 2000 until December 2004, he was elected president in the Romanian Presidential Elections of 2004 and inaugurated on December 20, 2004...
's spokesman, Sever Voinescu
Sever Voinescu
Sever Voinescu is a Romanian journalist, political analyst, diplomat and right-wing politician. A Foreign Affairs Ministry figure during the mid-1990s, he was later a Consul General of Romania in Chicago, United States. Voinescu became known as a columnist for Dilema Veche weekly and Cotidianul...
, denied that the campaign team was ever aware of any such video. The spokesman of the Romanian presidency, Valeriu Turcan, also denied that Băsescu or his campaign staff had such a recording.
Patapievici later issued a statement asserting that he "only mentioned the tape to emphasize the difference in attitude between Băsescu and his opponents"; moreover, he cited an e-mail sent in English by the Spanish interviewer, Félix Flores: "Mr. Patapievici did not mentioned [sic] the existence of any tape about Mr. Geoana: he just said that Mr. Basescu was offered such a thing and he rejected it. He was not talking about videos -true or fake or may not exist- or against anybody but about Mr. Basescu's moral attitude."
Works
- Cerul vazut prin lentilă (The Sky seen through the Lens), 1995
- Zbor în bătaia săgeţii (Flight within Arrow's Reach), 1995
- Politice (Politics), 1996
- Omul recent (The Recent Man), 2001
- Schimbarea subiectului - o reverie (The change of subject - a dreaming), audiobook, 2004
- Spărtura din cer (The breach in the sky), audiobook, 2003
- Ochii Beatricei (Beatrice's Eyes), 2004
- Discernământul modernizarii (Discernment of Modernization), 2004
- David Bohm, Plenitudinea lumii si ordinea ei (The Wholeness of the World and the Implicate Order), translation, in collaboration, 1995.
Awards
- Essay Prize of the Publishing House Nemira, 1993
- Début Prize of the Association of Professional Writers, 1995
- Prize for Journalism of the Cultural Magazine "Cuvintul", 1995
- Man of the Year Prize of the Cultural Magazine "Cuvintul", 1995
- "Alexandra Indries" Prize of "Societatea Timisoara", 1995
- National Board for Audio-Visual Prize, best cultural TV Production, 2003
- APTR Prize (Romanian Association of the Professionals in Television).
External links
- Author page of Horia-Roman Patapievici at the Humanitas publishing houseHumanitas publishing houseHumanitas is an independent Romanian publishing house, founded on February 1, 1990 in Bucharest by the philosopher Gabriel Liiceanu...
website - Ultimul Culianu