Proclamation of Timisoara
Encyclopedia
The Proclamation of Timişoara was a thirteen-point written document, drafted on March 11, 1990 by the Timişoara
participants in Romania
's 1989 Revolution
, and partly issued in reaction to the first Mineriad. Organized as the Timişoara Society and other bodies of students and workers, the signers expressed liberal-democratic
goals, which they saw as representing the revolutionary legacy. The best-known requirement formed the document's 8th Point, calling for all former Romanian Communist Party
nomenklatura
and Securitate
cadres to be banned from holding public office for a period of 10 years (or three consecutive legislature
s), with an emphasis on the office of President
(see Lustration
). Questioning the status of the governing National Salvation Front, the Proclamation argued that the latter primarily represented a small group of Communist dissident
s who had opposed Nicolae Ceauşescu
's authoritarian regime
and had subsequently monopolized power. These requirements replicated the earlier manifesto
authored in Bucharest
by philosopher Gabriel Liiceanu
(Apel către lichele, the "Appeal to the Scoundrels").
Over the following period, the document was recognized and advocated by hundreds of civic associations, while almost 4 million citizens signed appeals in favor of incorporating the 8th Point into electoral law. The latter was also one of the main requests of the Bucharest Golaniad
(which was violently repressed during the third Mineriad in June of the same year).
, a local academic and writer. According to historian Victor Neumann
, Şerban was in turn inspired by his collaborator Alexandra Indrieş, an influential intellectual and a former political prisoner
during the 1950s. After being written down, the Proclamation was publicly read by Şerban from the National Opera's balcony.
One of the purposes stated in the document was the explicit condemnation of Communism
. Proclaiming class
solidarity, the text opposed "the typically communist method of domination by spreading feuds among social classes". While expressing the will of "not copy[ing] the western
capitalist
systems with their drawbacks and inequities", the 10th Point of the Proclamation argued in favor of privatization
(expressed ideally under the form of "distributing the stock
s equally among the workers, the state keeping only those funds that may ensure the control of the activity") and immediate investments in the public sector
(as a means to prevent the consequences of inflation
). The 11th Point also made mention of Timişoara's openness to a market economy
, decentralization
, and foreign capital
, proposing for a foreign trade bank to be opened in the city. The text also expressed a hope that members of the Romanian diaspora
who had left the country under the Communist regime were to return to their homeland and contribute to the society, and set itself against the portion of the public "who, instigated by obscure forces, abused the returned exiles".
A similar call for solidarity was expressed in regard to ethnic relations (the document stated opposition to all forms of "chauvinism
", depicting Timişoara as the paramount representative of "the spirit of tolerance and mutual respect, the sole principles reigning in the future European House"), and a multi-party system
based on free elections was endorsed, with the exclusion of "extremist
[parties], be they leftist
or rightist
". The document also proposed that the Romanian Communist Party had failed to meet the criteria for participation in Romanian politics, having "discredited itself by degenerating into red
fascism
". In its 7th Point, the Proclamation indicated that activists of the Communist Party had displayed "cowardice" as early as 1979, by refusing to join Constantin Pîrvulescu
in open disobedience to Ceauşescu. The 6th point condemned "prejudice" and "manipulation" against the emerging opposition parties (specifically, the historical National Peasants' Party
and National Liberals
), citing examples where the "groups interested in resuscitating communism" had incited public sentiment with slogans of reportedly Stalinist
inspiration.
Neumann attributed several of the radical social and economic goals, as well as the moral discourse associated with the 8th Point requirements, to the authors' awareness of Marxist
theories (for a certain period, George Şerban
had taught Marxism at the Timişoara Polytechnic University
). While commending the document for thus identifying and radically condemning Communist practices, he expressed his personal opposition to the 8th Point, which he believed to be rooted in "Marxist historicism
" and attempting to impose a "moral code
" in "situations [that] call for a series of compromises".
A final demand regarded proposals that December 22, the date of revolutionary victory in Bucharest, be proclaimed the national holiday
of Romania. The text argued against such a move, and, citing the example of Bastille Day
in France
, proposed December 16, when revolution broke in Timişoara, as the moment of celebration. Eventually, the 1991 Constitution
enforced an unrelated event, Union Day (December 1), as the legal holiday.
Authors have attributed the limited success of the Proclamation movement to both resistance from surviving Communist structures and the special characteristics of Timişoara in relation to the rest of the country. Victor Neumann mentioned contrasts observed during the Revolution itself, when "only a few cities rebelled [...] alongside Timişoara: Arad
, Lugoj, Sibiu
, Cluj
, Braşov
, Bucharest
, Iaşi
". He attributed this pattern to political, economic and social discrepancies between various areas of the country, ones he believed to have been prolonged in post-Revolution Romania
. Analyst Enikő Baga contended that policy differences also remained notable between Timişoara and its subordinate Timiş County
.
While commenting on the multi-ethnic character of the Revolution as mirrored in the Proclamation itself, Steven D. Roper made mention of the nationalist
revival which was made obvious less than a week after the document was publicized (culminating in the ethnic clashes of Târgu Mureş
and the creation of the Romanian National Unity Party
). At the time, the National Salvation Front accused the Proclamation of seeking political autonomy
for the Banat
.
The Proclamation of Timişoara was unsuccessful in its goal of shaping electoral procedures: the presidential
and legislative election of May 1990 were carried without lustration requirements. Results confirmed the victory of the National Salvation Front as ruling party and of Ion Iliescu
, a former Communist official who had opposed Ceauşescu, as President.
Despite this outcome, although reduced in amplitude, the Golaniad
protests continued in Bucharest's University Square
, and gave ongoing support to the Proclamation. In his previous polemic with the demonstrators, Iliescu argued that the Proclamation was likely to cause "a dangerous witch-hunt
". Leaders of the protest rejected this view, indicating that the Proclamation did not call for punishment, but rather for accurate representation
. After the controversial intervention of Romanian Police
forces, the Golaniad was ultimately broken up in violence by groups of miners arriving from the Jiu Valley
.
by representatives of National Peasants' Party
and National Liberal Party
, but faced opposition from the governing National Salvation Front and its successor party — which eventually grouped itself as the Social Democratic Party
.
On May 27, 1999, following the elections of 1996
which confirmed the victory of the Romanian Democratic Convention
(CDR, comprising the National Peasants' and National Liberal Party together with other groups), a legislative project seeking this goal was proposed inside the Chamber of Deputies
by George Şerban
, elected as a National Peasants' Party member; however, since 1997, the 8th Point was disavowed by the new President Emil Constantinescu
, who stressed his belief that it was "no longer applicable".
The project remained to be analyzed by the Chamber's Judicial Committee over the following seven months, and many of its provisions were ultimately objected to, while it failed to win a parallel verdict from Prime Minister Mugur Isărescu
; it was outvoted by a new Social Democratic majority in February 2001, following the 2000 elections
. (Şerban had died in late December 1998.)
According to several commentators, the project was intentionally blocked. The journal Evenimentul Zilei
indicated the Social Democrat parliamentarian Dan Marţian, who served as president of the Commission and whose position was threatened by lustration, as one of those responsible for the alleged action.
In the wake of the 2004 elections
, confirming the victory of the Justice and Truth
grouping comprising National Liberals and Democrats, lustration was again brought to the attention of Parliament. This involved two separate projects: that of National Initiative Party
politicians Cozmin Guşă
, Lavinia Şandru
and Aurelian Pavelescu was rejected in Senate
(November 2005); a second one, advocated by National Liberal parliamentarians Adrian Cioroianu
, Mona Muscă
, Viorel Oancea, and Mihăiţă Calimente and backed by the Timişoara Society, was eventually adopted by the Senate in early April 2006. It won additional backing from the Association of Former Political Prisoners and its president, Constantin Ticu Dumitrescu
.
Of the proposals, the former was more radical, calling for lustration to be applied permanently to all persons occupying public office under the Communist regime
(whereas the National Liberal project restricts it to Communist Party
and Union of Communist Youth
active cadres, as well as to persons engaged in political policing in relation to the Securitate
). At the time of its presentation to Parliament, Cioroianu stated: "The law will be a real test of morality for the political parties". In parallel, British
historian Dennis Deletant has argued that lustration was intrinsically connected with the necessity for publicizing Securitate files kept by the CNSAS and the Romanian Intelligence Service
. He also contrasted the manifest delays in Romanian procedures with the similar processes in three other former Eastern Bloc
countries (Poland
, the Czech Republic
, and Hungary
).
Timisoara
Timișoara is the capital city of Timiș County, in western Romania. One of the largest Romanian cities, with an estimated population of 311,586 inhabitants , and considered the informal capital city of the historical region of Banat, Timișoara is the main social, economic and cultural center in the...
participants in Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
's 1989 Revolution
Romanian Revolution of 1989
The Romanian Revolution of 1989 was a series of riots and clashes in December 1989. These were part of the Revolutions of 1989 that occurred in several Warsaw Pact countries...
, and partly issued in reaction to the first Mineriad. Organized as the Timişoara Society and other bodies of students and workers, the signers expressed liberal-democratic
Liberal democracy
Liberal democracy, also known as constitutional democracy, is a common form of representative democracy. According to the principles of liberal democracy, elections should be free and fair, and the political process should be competitive...
goals, which they saw as representing the revolutionary legacy. The best-known requirement formed the document's 8th Point, calling for all former Romanian Communist Party
Romanian Communist Party
The Romanian Communist Party was a communist political party in Romania. Successor to the Bolshevik wing of the Socialist Party of Romania, it gave ideological endorsement to communist revolution and the disestablishment of Greater Romania. The PCR was a minor and illegal grouping for much of the...
nomenklatura
Nomenklatura
The nomenklatura were a category of people within the Soviet Union and other Eastern Bloc countries who held various key administrative positions in all spheres of those countries' activity: government, industry, agriculture, education, etc., whose positions were granted only with approval by the...
and 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...
cadres to be banned from holding public office for a period of 10 years (or three consecutive legislature
Legislature
A legislature is a kind of deliberative assembly with the power to pass, amend, and repeal laws. The law created by a legislature is called legislation or statutory law. In addition to enacting laws, legislatures usually have exclusive authority to raise or lower taxes and adopt the budget and...
s), with an emphasis on the office of President
President of Romania
The President of Romania is the head of state of Romania. The President is directly elected by a two-round system for a five-year term . An individual may serve two terms...
(see Lustration
Lustration
Lustration is the government process regulating the participation of former communists, especially informants of the communist secret police, in the successor political appointee positions or in civil service positions in the period after the fall of the various European Communist states in 1989 –...
). Questioning the status of the governing National Salvation Front, the Proclamation argued that the latter primarily represented a small group of Communist dissident
Dissident
A dissident, broadly defined, is a person who actively challenges an established doctrine, policy, or institution. When dissidents unite for a common cause they often effect a dissident movement....
s who had opposed Nicolae Ceauşescu
Nicolae Ceausescu
Nicolae Ceaușescu was a Romanian Communist politician. He was General Secretary of the Romanian Communist Party from 1965 to 1989, and as such was the country's second and last Communist leader...
's authoritarian regime
Communist Romania
Communist Romania was the period in Romanian history when that country was a Soviet-aligned communist state in the Eastern Bloc, with the dominant role of Romanian Communist Party enshrined in its successive constitutions...
and had subsequently monopolized power. These requirements replicated the earlier manifesto
Manifesto
A manifesto is a public declaration of principles and intentions, often political in nature. Manifestos relating to religious belief are generally referred to as creeds. Manifestos may also be life stance-related.-Etymology:...
authored 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....
by philosopher 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....
(Apel către lichele, the "Appeal to the Scoundrels").
Over the following period, the document was recognized and advocated by hundreds of civic associations, while almost 4 million citizens signed appeals in favor of incorporating the 8th Point into electoral law. The latter was also one of the main requests of the Bucharest Golaniad
Golaniad
The Golaniad was a protest in Romania in the University Square, Bucharest. It was initiated by students and professors at the University of Bucharest....
(which was violently repressed during the third Mineriad in June of the same year).
Character
In its final shape, the text owed much to the inspiration of George ŞerbanGeorge Serban
Gheorghe Şerban was a Romanian journalist, politician and writer, best known for his role in the writing of the Proclamation of Timişoara in the wake of the 1989 Revolution....
, a local academic and writer. According to historian Victor Neumann
Victor Neumann
Victor Neumann is a Romanian historian, political analyst, and professor at the West University in Timişoara. He is a well-known specialist in the recent cultural and intellectual histories of Eastern and Central Europe...
, Şerban was in turn inspired by his collaborator Alexandra Indrieş, an influential intellectual and a former political prisoner
Political prisoner
According to the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, a political prisoner is ‘someone who is in prison because they have opposed or criticized the government of their own country’....
during the 1950s. After being written down, the Proclamation was publicly read by Şerban from the National Opera's balcony.
One of the purposes stated in the document was the explicit condemnation of Communism
Communism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
. Proclaiming class
Social class
Social classes are economic or cultural arrangements of groups in society. Class is an essential object of analysis for sociologists, political scientists, economists, anthropologists and social historians. In the social sciences, social class is often discussed in terms of 'social stratification'...
solidarity, the text opposed "the typically communist method of domination by spreading feuds among social classes". While expressing the will of "not copy[ing] the western
Western world
The Western world, also known as the West and the Occident , is a term referring to the countries of Western Europe , the countries of the Americas, as well all countries of Northern and Central Europe, Australia and New Zealand...
capitalist
Capitalism
Capitalism is an economic system that became dominant in the Western world following the demise of feudalism. There is no consensus on the precise definition nor on how the term should be used as a historical category...
systems with their drawbacks and inequities", the 10th Point of the Proclamation argued in favor of privatization
Privatization
Privatization is the incidence or process of transferring ownership of a business, enterprise, agency or public service from the public sector to the private sector or to private non-profit organizations...
(expressed ideally under the form of "distributing the stock
Stock
The capital stock of a business entity represents the original capital paid into or invested in the business by its founders. It serves as a security for the creditors of a business since it cannot be withdrawn to the detriment of the creditors...
s equally among the workers, the state keeping only those funds that may ensure the control of the activity") and immediate investments in the public sector
Public sector
The public sector, sometimes referred to as the state sector, is a part of the state that deals with either the production, delivery and allocation of goods and services by and for the government or its citizens, whether national, regional or local/municipal.Examples of public sector activity range...
(as a means to prevent the consequences of inflation
Inflation
In economics, inflation is a rise in the general level of prices of goods and services in an economy over a period of time.When the general price level rises, each unit of currency buys fewer goods and services. Consequently, inflation also reflects an erosion in the purchasing power of money – a...
). The 11th Point also made mention of Timişoara's openness to a market economy
Market economy
A market economy is an economy in which the prices of goods and services are determined in a free price system. This is often contrasted with a state-directed or planned economy. Market economies can range from hypothetically pure laissez-faire variants to an assortment of real-world mixed...
, decentralization
Decentralization
__FORCETOC__Decentralization or decentralisation is the process of dispersing decision-making governance closer to the people and/or citizens. It includes the dispersal of administration or governance in sectors or areas like engineering, management science, political science, political economy,...
, and foreign capital
Capital (economics)
In economics, capital, capital goods, or real capital refers to already-produced durable goods used in production of goods or services. The capital goods are not significantly consumed, though they may depreciate in the production process...
, proposing for a foreign trade bank to be opened in the city. The text also expressed a hope that members of the Romanian diaspora
Romanian diaspora
The Romanian diaspora is the ethnically Romanian population outside Romania and Moldova. The concept does not usually include the ethnic Romanians who live as natives in the states surrounding Romania, chiefly those Romanians who live in Ukraine and Serbia. The diaspora does include the people of...
who had left the country under the Communist regime were to return to their homeland and contribute to the society, and set itself against the portion of the public "who, instigated by obscure forces, abused the returned exiles".
A similar call for solidarity was expressed in regard to ethnic relations (the document stated opposition to all forms of "chauvinism
Chauvinism
Chauvinism, in its original and primary meaning, is an exaggerated, bellicose patriotism and a belief in national superiority and glory. It is an eponym of a possibly fictional French soldier Nicolas Chauvin who was credited with many superhuman feats in the Napoleonic wars.By extension it has come...
", depicting Timişoara as the paramount representative of "the spirit of tolerance and mutual respect, the sole principles reigning in the future European House"), and a multi-party system
Multi-party system
A multi-party system is a system in which multiple political parties have the capacity to gain control of government separately or in coalition, e.g.The Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition in the United Kingdom formed in 2010. The effective number of parties in a multi-party system is normally...
based on free elections was endorsed, with the exclusion of "extremist
Extremism
Extremism is any ideology or political act far outside the perceived political center of a society; or otherwise claimed to violate common moral standards...
[parties], be they leftist
Far left
Far left, also known as the revolutionary left, radical left and extreme left are terms which refer to the highest degree of leftist positions among left-wing politics...
or rightist
Far right
Far-right, extreme right, hard right, radical right, and ultra-right are terms used to discuss the qualitative or quantitative position a group or person occupies within right-wing politics. Far-right politics may involve anti-immigration and anti-integration stances towards groups that are...
". The document also proposed that the Romanian Communist Party had failed to meet the criteria for participation in Romanian politics, having "discredited itself by degenerating into red
Red flag
In politics, a red flag is a symbol of Socialism, or Communism, or sometimes left-wing politics in general. It has been associated with left-wing politics since the French Revolution. Socialists adopted the symbol during the Revolutions of 1848 and it became a symbol of communism as a result of its...
fascism
Fascism
Fascism is a radical authoritarian nationalist political ideology. Fascists seek to rejuvenate their nation based on commitment to the national community as an organic entity, in which individuals are bound together in national identity by suprapersonal connections of ancestry, culture, and blood...
". In its 7th Point, the Proclamation indicated that activists of the Communist Party had displayed "cowardice" as early as 1979, by refusing to join Constantin Pîrvulescu
Constantin Pîrvulescu
Constantin Pîrvulescu was a Romanian communist politician, one of the founders of the Romanian Communist Party , and, eventually, an active opponent of Communist Romania's leader Nicolae Ceauşescu...
in open disobedience to Ceauşescu. The 6th point condemned "prejudice" and "manipulation" against the emerging opposition parties (specifically, the historical 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...
and National Liberals
National Liberal Party (Romania)
The National Liberal Party , abbreviated to PNL, is a centre-right liberal party in Romania. It is the third-largest party in the Romanian Parliament, with 53 seats in the Chamber of Deputies and 22 in the Senate: behind the centre-right Democratic Liberal Party and the centre-left Social...
), citing examples where the "groups interested in resuscitating communism" had incited public sentiment with slogans of reportedly Stalinist
Stalinism
Stalinism refers to the ideology that Joseph Stalin conceived and implemented in the Soviet Union, and is generally considered a branch of Marxist–Leninist ideology but considered by some historians to be a significant deviation from this philosophy...
inspiration.
Neumann attributed several of the radical social and economic goals, as well as the moral discourse associated with the 8th Point requirements, to the authors' awareness of Marxist
Marxism
Marxism is an economic and sociopolitical worldview and method of socioeconomic inquiry that centers upon a materialist interpretation of history, a dialectical view of social change, and an analysis and critique of the development of capitalism. Marxism was pioneered in the early to mid 19th...
theories (for a certain period, George Şerban
George Serban
Gheorghe Şerban was a Romanian journalist, politician and writer, best known for his role in the writing of the Proclamation of Timişoara in the wake of the 1989 Revolution....
had taught Marxism at the Timişoara Polytechnic University
Polytechnic University of Timisoara
The "Politehnica" University of Timişoara was founded on November 11, 1920. It is one of the largest technical universities in Central and Eastern Europe.The university has 10 faculties and several independent departments....
). While commending the document for thus identifying and radically condemning Communist practices, he expressed his personal opposition to the 8th Point, which he believed to be rooted in "Marxist historicism
Historicism
Historicism is a mode of thinking that assigns a central and basic significance to a specific context, such as historical period, geographical place and local culture. As such it is in contrast to individualist theories of knowledges such as empiricism and rationalism, which neglect the role of...
" and attempting to impose a "moral code
Morality
Morality is the differentiation among intentions, decisions, and actions between those that are good and bad . A moral code is a system of morality and a moral is any one practice or teaching within a moral code...
" in "situations [that] call for a series of compromises".
A final demand regarded proposals that December 22, the date of revolutionary victory in Bucharest, be proclaimed the national holiday
National Day
The National Day is a designated date on which celebrations mark the nationhood of a nation or non-sovereign country. This nationhood can be symbolized by the date of independence, of becoming republic or a significant date for a patron saint or a ruler . Often the day is not called "National Day"...
of Romania. The text argued against such a move, and, citing the example of Bastille Day
Bastille Day
Bastille Day is the name given in English-speaking countries to the French National Day, which is celebrated on 14 July of each year. In France, it is formally called La Fête Nationale and commonly le quatorze juillet...
in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, proposed December 16, when revolution broke in Timişoara, as the moment of celebration. Eventually, the 1991 Constitution
Constitution of Romania
The 1991 Constitution of Romania, adopted on 21 November 1991, voted in the referendum of 8 December 1991 and introduced on the same day, is the current fundamental law that establishes the structure of the government of Romania, the rights and obligations of the country's citizens, and its mode...
enforced an unrelated event, Union Day (December 1), as the legal holiday.
Aftermath
Arad, Romania
Arad is the capital city of Arad County, in western Romania, in the Crişana region, on the river Mureş.An important industrial center and transportation hub, Arad is also the seat of a Romanian Orthodox archbishop and features two universities, a Romanian Orthodox theological seminary, a training...
, Lugoj, Sibiu
Sibiu
Sibiu is a city in Transylvania, Romania with a population of 154,548. Located some 282 km north-west of Bucharest, the city straddles the Cibin River, a tributary of the river Olt...
, Cluj
Cluj-Napoca
Cluj-Napoca , commonly known as Cluj, is the fourth most populous city in Romania and the seat of Cluj County in the northwestern part of the country. Geographically, it is roughly equidistant from Bucharest , Budapest and Belgrade...
, Braşov
Brasov
Brașov is a city in Romania and the capital of Brașov County.According to the last Romanian census, from 2002, there were 284,596 people living within the city of Brașov, making it the 8th most populated city in Romania....
, 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....
, Iaşi
Iasi
Iași is the second most populous city and a municipality in Romania. Located in the historical Moldavia region, Iași has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Romanian social, cultural, academic and artistic life...
". He attributed this pattern to political, economic and social discrepancies between various areas of the country, ones he believed to have been prolonged in post-Revolution Romania
History of Romania since 1989
- 1989 revolution :1989 marked the fall of Communism in Eastern Europe. A mid-December protest in Timişoara against the eviction of a Hungarian minister grew into a country-wide protest against the Ceauşescu régime, sweeping the dictator from power....
. Analyst Enikő Baga contended that policy differences also remained notable between Timişoara and its subordinate Timiş County
Timis County
Timiș , , Banat Bulgarian: ) is a county of western Romania, in the historical region Banat, with the county seat at Timișoara. It is the largest county in Romania in terms of land area....
.
While commenting on the multi-ethnic character of the Revolution as mirrored in the Proclamation itself, Steven D. Roper made mention of the nationalist
Nationalism
Nationalism is a political ideology that involves a strong identification of a group of individuals with a political entity defined in national terms, i.e. a nation. In the 'modernist' image of the nation, it is nationalism that creates national identity. There are various definitions for what...
revival which was made obvious less than a week after the document was publicized (culminating in the ethnic clashes of Târgu Mureş
Ethnic clashes of Târgu Mures
Târgu Mureş is a town in Romania with an ethnically mixed population that was almost equally distributed between Romanians and Hungarians after the fall of the communist regime in December 1989. In March 1990, short-lived, but violent clashes occurred there between the two ethnic groups in the...
and the creation of the Romanian National Unity Party
Romanian National Unity Party
The Romanian National Unity Party was a political party in Romania between 1990 and 2006.PUNR was the first nationalist party in post-Communist Romania, created in 1990....
). At the time, the National Salvation Front accused the Proclamation of seeking political autonomy
Autonomous area
An autonomous area or autonomous entity is an area of a country that has a degree of autonomy, or freedom from an external authority. Typically it is either geographically distinct from the rest of the country or populated by a national minority. Countries that include autonomous areas are often...
for the Banat
Banat
The Banat is a geographical and historical region in Central Europe currently divided between three countries: the eastern part lies in western Romania , the western part in northeastern Serbia , and a small...
.
The Proclamation of Timişoara was unsuccessful in its goal of shaping electoral procedures: the presidential
Romanian presidential election, 1990
These are the results of the Romanian presidential election of May 20, 1990:-Results:...
and legislative election of May 1990 were carried without lustration requirements. Results confirmed the victory of the National Salvation Front as ruling party and of Ion Iliescu
Ion Iliescu
Ion Iliescu served as President of Romania from 1990 until 1996, and from 2000 until 2004. From 1996 to 2000 and from 2004 until his retirement in 2008, Iliescu was a Senator for the Social Democratic Party , whose honorary president he remains....
, a former Communist official who had opposed Ceauşescu, as President.
Despite this outcome, although reduced in amplitude, the Golaniad
Golaniad
The Golaniad was a protest in Romania in the University Square, Bucharest. It was initiated by students and professors at the University of Bucharest....
protests continued in Bucharest's University Square
University Square, Bucharest
University Square is located in downtown Bucharest, near the University of Bucharest.Four statues are located in the University Square, in front of the University; they depict Ion Heliade Rădulescu , Michael the Brave , Gheorghe Lazăr and Spiru Haret .The square was the site of the 1990 Golaniad,...
, and gave ongoing support to the Proclamation. In his previous polemic with the demonstrators, Iliescu argued that the Proclamation was likely to cause "a dangerous witch-hunt
Witch-hunt
A witch-hunt is a search for witches or evidence of witchcraft, often involving moral panic, mass hysteria and lynching, but in historical instances also legally sanctioned and involving official witchcraft trials...
". Leaders of the protest rejected this view, indicating that the Proclamation did not call for punishment, but rather for accurate representation
Representation (politics)
In politics, representation describes how some individuals stand in for others or a group of others, for a certain time period. Representation usually refers to representative democracies, where elected officials nominally speak for their constituents in the legislature...
. After the controversial intervention of Romanian Police
Romanian Police
The Romanian Police is the national police force and main civil law enforcement agency in Romania. It is subordinated to the Ministry of Interior and Administrative Reform.-Duties:The Romanian Police are responsible for:...
forces, the Golaniad was ultimately broken up in violence by groups of miners arriving from the Jiu Valley
Jiu Valley
The Jiu Valley is a region in southwestern Romania, in Hunedoara county, situated in a valley of the Jiu River between the Retezat Mountains and the Parâng Mountains...
.
Legacy
The cause of lustration as prescribed by the Timişoara 8th Point was advocated in ParliamentParliament of Romania
The Parliament of Romania is made up of two chambers:*The Chamber of Deputies*The SenatePrior to the modifications of the Constitution in 2003, the two houses had identical attributes. A text of a law had to be approved by both houses...
by representatives of 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...
and National Liberal Party
National Liberal Party (Romania)
The National Liberal Party , abbreviated to PNL, is a centre-right liberal party in Romania. It is the third-largest party in the Romanian Parliament, with 53 seats in the Chamber of Deputies and 22 in the Senate: behind the centre-right Democratic Liberal Party and the centre-left Social...
, but faced opposition from the governing National Salvation Front and its successor party — which eventually grouped itself as the Social Democratic Party
Social Democratic Party (Romania)
The Social Democratic Party is the major social-democratic political party in Romania. It was formed in 1992, after the post-communist National Salvation Front broke apart. It adopted its present name after a merger with a minor social-democratic party in 2001. Since its formation, it has always...
.
On May 27, 1999, following the elections of 1996
Romanian legislative election, 1996
Legislative elections were held in Romania on 3 November 1996, together with the Presidential election. The elections were won by the Romanian Democratic Convention, an alliance of liberal, Christian Democratic and green parties. This marked the first time that the Party of Social Democracy was out...
which confirmed the victory of the Romanian Democratic Convention
Romanian Democratic Convention
The Romanian Democratic Convention was an electoral alliance of several political parties of Romania, active from early 1992 until 2000....
(CDR, comprising the National Peasants' and National Liberal Party together with other groups), a legislative project seeking this goal was proposed inside the Chamber of Deputies
Chamber of Deputies of Romania
The Chamber of Deputies is the lower house in Romania's bicameral parliament. It has 315 seats, to which deputies are elected by direct popular vote on a proportional representation basis to serve four-year terms...
by George Şerban
George Serban
Gheorghe Şerban was a Romanian journalist, politician and writer, best known for his role in the writing of the Proclamation of Timişoara in the wake of the 1989 Revolution....
, elected as a National Peasants' Party member; however, since 1997, the 8th Point was disavowed by the new President Emil Constantinescu
Emil Constantinescu
Emil Constantinescu was President of Romania from 1996 to 2000.He graduated from the law school of the University of Bucharest, and subsequently started a career as a geologist...
, who stressed his belief that it was "no longer applicable".
The project remained to be analyzed by the Chamber's Judicial Committee over the following seven months, and many of its provisions were ultimately objected to, while it failed to win a parallel verdict from Prime Minister Mugur Isărescu
Mugur Isarescu
Mugur Isărescu is the Governor of the National Bank of Romania. From 22 December 1999 to 28 November 2000 he served as Prime Minister. He is a member of the Romanian Academy....
; it was outvoted by a new Social Democratic majority in February 2001, following the 2000 elections
Romanian legislative election, 2000
Legislative elections where be held in Romania on November 26, 2000, together with the Presidential election. The Greater Romania Party made big gains, as did the PDSR, which became the ruling party. The formerly governing Romanian Democratic Convention lost all its seats and was shortly...
. (Şerban had died in late December 1998.)
According to several commentators, the project was intentionally blocked. The journal 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...
indicated the Social Democrat parliamentarian Dan Marţian, who served as president of the Commission and whose position was threatened by lustration, as one of those responsible for the alleged action.
In the wake of the 2004 elections
Romanian legislative election, 2004
The Romanian legislative election of 2004 was held on 28 November 2004. 137 seats in the Senate of Romania and 314 seats in the Chamber of Deputies were up for election.The 2004 legislative election was held simultaneously with the presidential election...
, confirming the victory of the Justice and Truth
Justice and Truth
The Justice and Truth Alliance was a political alliance comprising two political parties in Romania: the centre-right liberal National Liberal Party and the initially social-democrat Democratic Party , which later switched to center-right ideology.As the political formation with the largest...
grouping comprising National Liberals and Democrats, lustration was again brought to the attention of Parliament. This involved two separate projects: that of National Initiative Party
National Initiative Party
The National Initiative Party is a small Romanian political party....
politicians Cozmin Guşă
Cozmin Guşă
Cozmin Horea Guşă is a Romanian physicist, journalist and politician. A member of the National Initiative Party , he was a member of the Romanian Chamber of Deputies for Bucharest from 2004 to 2008....
, Lavinia Şandru
Lavinia Şandru
Marcela Lavinia Şandru is a Romanian politician. The current president of the National Initiative Party , she was a member of the Romanian Chamber of Deputies for Mureş County from 2004 to 2008....
and Aurelian Pavelescu was rejected in Senate
Senate of Romania
The Senate of Romania is the upper house in the bicameral Parliament of Romania. It has 137 seats , to which members are elected by direct popular vote, using Mixed member proportional representation in 42 electoral districts , to serve four-year terms.-Former location:After the Romanian...
(November 2005); a second one, advocated by National Liberal parliamentarians Adrian Cioroianu
Adrian Cioroianu
Adrian Mihai Cioroianu is a Romanian historian, politician, journalist, and essayist. A lecturer for the History Department at the University of Bucharest, he is the author of several books dealing with Romanian history...
, Mona Muscă
Mona Muscă
Mona Octavia Muscă is a Romanian philologist and politician. A former member of the National Liberal Party and of the Liberal Democratic Party , she was a member of the Romanian Chamber of Deputies for Caraş-Severin County from 1996 to 2004 and for Bucharest from 2004 to 2007...
, Viorel Oancea, and Mihăiţă Calimente and backed by the Timişoara Society, was eventually adopted by the Senate in early April 2006. It won additional backing from the Association of Former Political Prisoners and its president, Constantin Ticu Dumitrescu
Constantin Ticu Dumitrescu
Constantin-Grigore Dumitrescu, also known as Constantin Ticu Dumitrescu or Ticu Dumitrescu , Olari, Prahova, was a Romanian politician and president of the Association of Romanian Former Political Prisoners....
.
Of the proposals, the former was more radical, calling for lustration to be applied permanently to all persons occupying public office under the Communist regime
Communist Romania
Communist Romania was the period in Romanian history when that country was a Soviet-aligned communist state in the Eastern Bloc, with the dominant role of Romanian Communist Party enshrined in its successive constitutions...
(whereas the National Liberal project restricts it to Communist Party
Romanian Communist Party
The Romanian Communist Party was a communist political party in Romania. Successor to the Bolshevik wing of the Socialist Party of Romania, it gave ideological endorsement to communist revolution and the disestablishment of Greater Romania. The PCR was a minor and illegal grouping for much of the...
and Union of Communist Youth
Union of Communist Youth
The Union of Communist Youth was the Romanian Communist Party's youth organisation, modelled after the Soviet Komsomol. It aimed to cultivate young cadres into the party, as well as to help create the "new man" envisioned by communist ideologues.-History:Founded in 1922, the UTC went underground...
active cadres, as well as to persons engaged in political policing in relation to 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...
). At the time of its presentation to Parliament, Cioroianu stated: "The law will be a real test of morality for the political parties". In parallel, British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
historian Dennis Deletant has argued that lustration was intrinsically connected with the necessity for publicizing Securitate files kept by the CNSAS and the Romanian Intelligence Service
Serviciul Român de Informatii
The Romanian Intelligence Service is the Romanian domestic intelligence service. It is considered the descendant of the former Departamentul Securităţii Statului , of the Socialist Republic of Romania. The official decree The Romanian Intelligence Service (', SRI) is the Romanian domestic...
. He also contrasted the manifest delays in Romanian procedures with the similar processes in three other former Eastern Bloc
Eastern bloc
The term Eastern Bloc or Communist Bloc refers to the former communist states of Eastern and Central Europe, generally the Soviet Union and the countries of the Warsaw Pact...
countries (Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
, the Czech Republic
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....
, and Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
).
Further reading
- Lavinia Stan,
- "Lustration in Romania: The Story of a Failure", in Studia Politica, Vol. 6, No. 1 (April 2006), pp. 135-156
- "Lungul drum al lustraţiei în Europa de Est" ("The Long Road of Lustration in Eastern Europe"), in Sfera PoliticiiSfera PoliticiiSfera Politicii is a monthly political science magazine, published in Romania since 1992. Its articles, written in both English and Romanian, deal with diverse issues in local and international politics....
, Nos. 120-122 (June 2006)