European Union anti-Romanian, anti-Bulgarian xenophobia

This video from Ireland says about itself:

Belfast: Romanians Flee Homes After Racist Attacks

More than 100 Romanians, including a five-day-old baby, have been forced from their homes in Belfast by racist attacks.

Sky’s Mark White reports.

By Julie Hyland in Britain:

Europe’s rulers whip up anti-immigrant chauvinism

18 March 2013

Membership of the European Union is supposed to confer on a country’s citizens the right to free movement and freedom from discrimination on the grounds of nationality.

The populations of Bulgaria and Romania have been targeted by the major European powers for the removal of these rights.

The EU has agreed to postpone a decision on Bulgarian and Romanian membership of the visa-free Schengen zone. Both countries are members of the EU and, according to the European Commission, have fulfilled their obligations under the treaty. After two years of postponement, their citizens were finally to be eligible to work within the EU without restrictions from 2014. But EU justice and home affairs ministers meeting last week delayed agreement, after Germany’s Hans-Peter Friedrich said his country would veto their membership of the Schengen zone.

Friedrich asked contemptuously, “Does free movement in Europe mean that we can expect one day that people anywhere in Europe, who believe that they can live on welfare in Germany better than in their own countries, will come to Germany?”

“Those who only come to receive social welfare, and thus abuse their freedom of movement–they must be effectively prevented from doing so,” he insisted.

Germany is by no means alone. Britain, France, The Netherlands and Austria have made similar statements. Their stance exposes the claims as to the progressive, “harmonising” mission of the EU that was made most stridently at the time of the collapse of the Soviet Union and its satellite states.

During the 1990s the European bourgeoisie rushed to entice the eastern European countries into the EU, holding out the promise of economic prosperity and political stability in an equitable union of nations.

Over the next period, the economies of these countries were looted as the EU demanded sweeping privatisations and the destruction of extensive social welfare provisions. This was justified on the grounds that “structural adjustment” was necessary in order to be fully integrated into the European club.

Instead, even after many of the eastern European countries were accepted into the EU (Bulgaria and Romania joined in 2007) there has been no end to the pain. The result is rising unemployment, joblessness and economic insecurity. Bulgaria and Romania are the two poorest countries in the EU, with half of their populations at risk of poverty.

The EU admits that the ruling elites in Bulgaria and Romania have done everything demanded of them. But it sadistically argues that the very “success” of its scorched earth prescriptions means their populations must not be allowed their rights as EU citizens because the impoverishment inflicted upon them makes them unwelcome!

Ivan Krastev, chairman of the Centre for Liberal Strategies think-tank in Bulgaria, told the Financial Times, “The idea was transition was painful, it was suffering. But now [with EU membership] we were supposed to get to a totally different life. We were going to live if not like Germans, at least like Greeks. It never happened.”

His statement sums up the sea change that has taken place in European class relations. For more than a decade, the Eastern European countries strove to live “like Greeks”. But rather than joining a Europe of prosperity, they joined a Europe of austerity.

Greece has been the laboratory in which the European bourgeoisie has utilised the global capitalist crisis to roll out the shock therapy it pioneered in Eastern Europe across the continent. Subject to five years of savage austerity, unemployment in Greece is more than 25 percent, and almost 50 percent among the youth; food banks are a way of life for tens of thousands, and health care and educational provision is grinding to a halt.

Instead of Bulgaria and Romania “levelling up”, conditions across the continent are being levelled down to a benchmark no longer even set in eastern Europe but in China.

The attitude of the major European powers towards Bulgaria and Romania is not only a matter of great-power arrogance. Class retribution plays its role. Both countries have seen mass movements against EU-dictated austerity that have brought down governments associated with these policies—in April last year in Romania and only last month in Bulgaria.

As punishment, the working population of these countries are now slandered as welfare scroungers, and held virtually captive, while finance capital is free to plunder Europe without let or hindrance.

Meanwhile, vicious propagandising against “benefit tourism” is used to divert from the actual source of rising unemployment and falling wages that lies in governmental policies dictated by the real parasites in society—the financial oligarchy.

While slashing wages and conditions, the New Democracy-led government in Greece—in coalition with the social-democratic PASOK and Democratic Left—authorises mass round-ups of immigrants and other racist measures as it appropriates the policies of the fascist Golden Dawn.

The same tendency is underway throughout Western Europe, with social democratic parties increasingly taking the lead.

In Germany, the Social Democrat Mayor of Duisburg, Soren Link, has unleashed a filthy, racist tirade against eastern European migrants, complaining that their presence drains resources from “native” citizens.

In France, the Socialist Party government of Francois Hollande continues the policies of Gaullist President Nicolas Sarkozy, carrying out raids on immigrant camps and mass deportations, as it competes with the National Front.

In Britain, the Labour Party is championing “maximum controls” on eastern European migration, under the demand—again appropriated from the fascist British National Party—of “British jobs for British workers.”

The target of such measures is the social rights of the entire working class. The demands to bar immigrants from welfare entitlements—including health and housing—is used to justify the claim that social provision is no longer affordable and must be eliminated.

…

Workers and youth must actively oppose the campaign of anti-immigrant chauvinism.

Greece’s austerity has caused a 90% decline in pharmaceuticals as drug companies withhold shipments to the country: here.

Related articles

• Tories warned not to discriminate against Romanians and Bulgarians (guardian.co.uk)
• EU: No Consensus on Letting Bulgaria, Romania into Schengen (novinite.com)
• Rich EU Countries Fret Over All The Romanians And Bulgarians Heading Their Way (businessinsider.com)

Roma in Germany in poverty

This video about Hitler’s genocides says about itself:

Story of the Roma and Sinti in the Holocaust.

American History Seminar Project.

By Sybille Fuchs in Germany:

Roma in Germany forced into abject poverty

14 February 2013

A recent report aired by the German public broadcaster ARD provided a shocking exposure of the contempt shown by local authorities and church institutions in the city of Dortmund for impoverished workers from southeastern Europe.

The extreme poverty in the countries from which these workers have emigrated—above all, Bulgaria and Romania—has been deliberately exacerbated by the policies of the European Union (EU). This, in turn, has acted as a mechanism to drive living standards down sharply in countries such as France and Germany.

In the ARD report, television journalists Isabel Schayani and Esat Mogul accompanied Ercan, a Roma worker from Plovdiv in Bulgaria, who had spent a week fruitlessly looking for a low-paying job in the north of Dortmund, the city’s poorest area.

Immigrants from Bulgaria and Romania can legally live in Germany, since both countries joined the EU in 2007, but they are refused the right to work legally. Nonetheless, in 2011 200,000 such workers came to Germany to attempt to earn money mostly as day labourers.

Thousands have come to Dortmund. They stand on the street every morning and hope that a passing driver will offer them work.

Many have no permanent place to live and are forced into so-called “Ekelhäuser” (horror houses). These houses are either already occupied, meaning that the workers can be evicted at any time, or the latter must pay the owner for a single mattress on which to sleep each night. Washing facilities and kitchen appliances are often broken or completely inadequate for the number of people staying in the houses.

The overcrowding leads quickly to a build-up of rubbish and unhygienic conditions, as well as social tensions. The owners do not provide enough rubbish bins for the large number of occupants. In one house, where 19 people were living, there was no water and only one toilet.

Ercan worked for a firm for 22 years in Bulgaria as a packer, but like many Roma workers he lost his job.

Since coming to Dortmund a week earlier, Ercan had had no money to phone his wife. When he arrived in the German city, he found a place to sleep and was told by a Romanian, who said he was the head of the house, that he could stay there for four or five days. But when Ercan returned that evening he found the windows and doors boarded up. Having left his belongings inside, he found himself with only the clothes on his back.

Because of the freezing temperatures, Ercan needed to find somewhere to shower and warm up as soon as possible. The television reporters accompanied him to a charity run by the local evangelical church. He was turned away from there by a man with a note that read, “Bulgarians are not allowed to shower here”.

“They know this full well”, said the man. “but they always come back. And I have to show them this note again. Can they not read it? It is in their language. So, no showering!”

Reporter: No showering. So Bulgarians and Romanians cannot shower here, but anyone else can?

Man: Yes.

The reporters were told by someone from the social welfare charity for Dortmund and Lünen that they offered emergency help for those who required it. But in the provision of showers they were “very poorly equipped”.

People were simply sent on from there to the immigration centre, where they had a public clinic at 1pm. After a reporter asked if that meant Ercan could not shower, the following dialogue took place.

Man: He certainly can’t shower.

Reporter: Why not? Who is allowed to shower in there?

Man: Only Germans; no immigrants.

Ercan finds a place where he can shower, but only three times a week. He has similar problems with where to sleep. He tries to gain emergency accommodation from the welfare services for men, but he is also unwelcome there.

Man: Bulgarian or Romanian?

Ercan: I’m Bulgarian.

Man: Oh, no sleeping here. Only people from Dortmund. Only Germans.

Reporter: Why?

Man: This is only for Germans. Not for Bulgarians or Romanians. That is unfortunately how it works. We’re not allowed to do that.

Reporter: Is there a reason for that?

Man: That is unfortunately how it works. Social services and the city authorities have said so.

The only thing the man from welfare services can offer Ercan is that if he returns at 11:30 pm, “My colleague and I will decide if we will let you sleep here. But this time will only be an exception, because it is so cold. Ok? I can’t do anything more”.

Ercan spends the night in an Internet café, before travelling back to Bulgaria in the morning. The reporters give him the money for the trip.

This is not the first programme showing the predicament of Roma in Dortmund. Two years ago, a young Roma woman who sought to earn money for her family through prostitution was thrown out of a window by a brutal client and severely disabled. The television report used her fate as an opportunity to expose the grim conditions facing Roma in the city.

The report also noted the desperate conditions in the would-be immigrants’ countries of origin. Many of the Roma who arrive in Germany come from Stolipinovo, a district in Plovdiv. This part of the town is one of the largest Roma ghettos in the Balkans. Some 45,000 mainly Turkish-speaking Roma live there, often with no electricity or running water. Their living conditions have worsened catastrophically since the break-up of the Stalinist regimes in Eastern Europe.

Bulgarians and Romanians are only allowed to stay in Germany for more than three months if they obtain a registration certificate, a rental agreement and health insurance. Most of those who arrive have no idea how to obtain such documents. Full freedom of movement and the legal right to work will only apply after 2014. In the meantime some try to sell old scrap vehicles to dealers. Others have to beg or are forced into criminal activity.

Many women manage to exist precariously on the streets. More than 700 in Dortmund reported prostitution as their occupation.

Prostitution was banned on the city’s streets in 2011 and the whole of Dortmund declared an exclusion zone. The measure was aimed at deterring further immigration. Dortmund city official Ingo Moldenhauer stated, “This should send a signal to Bulgaria, that one can no longer earn money here by working on the streets”.

Prostitution now takes place in illegal brothels. Social workers who were previously able to look after the women by providing contraceptives and organising courses in the German language now have no opportunity to do so.

The horrible living conditions in the “Ekelhäuser” also provide a welcome pretext for a witch-hunt in the media, reminiscent of Nazi propaganda.

For example, the Ruhr-Nachrichten, a local newspaper wrote in April 2011, “They [Roma people] steal, break in, and run wild in their surroundings. They confirm every well-known stereotype. Whoever cannot fend them off will perish, believes Hubert Scheuer, an old trade unionist”.

Instead of blaming the miserable economic conditions, government officials and gouging landlords, the media makes the Roma the convenient scapegoats for social problems.

Several “problem houses” were subsequently forcibly cleared by the security services. The Dortmund Municipal Housing Association (DOGEWO) bought seven buildings and has renovated 65 apartments. More is to come. Of course Roma immigrants will not be able to afford the rent in these houses.

Dortmund is not unique. In several large German cities the conditions are similar. In Duisburg, at the other end of the Ruhr region, around 6,000 Roma from Bulgaria and Romania live under the same inhuman conditions.

Greece: According to reports of journalists in Xanthi and the state tv station ET3, residents of the city have invited a group of neonazis to attack the community of Roma people. The excuse was more or less the same like other regions of the country. The residents talk about a number of small-robberies in their area which is increased lately. The residents together with the nazis set the half of the Roma people tents on fire. The local police didn’t show up during the pogrom incident: here.

Related articles

• Bulgarians Battle Extreme Poverty – Die Presse (novinite.com)
• Immigration to Germany soars as workers fleeing crisis-hit southern Europe join waves of Poles, Bulgarians and Romanians (thisismoney.co.uk)
• Bulgarians, Roma, French ‘Banned in Norway’ (novinite.com)
• President Plevneliev: EU Countries Use Bulgaria, Romania as Convenient Excuse for Domestic Problems (novinite.com)
• Migrant debate shameful says EU chief (express.co.uk)
• Up-Close with Violeta Draganova: “The First Woman from Roma Origin on National TV in Bulgaria” (romediafoundation.wordpress.com)
• Bulgaria vs Nigel Farage (spectator.co.uk)
• Roma groups walk out of Bulgarian Government’s integration council (sofiaglobe.com)

Austrian political corruption

This video is called EU Parliamentarian Strasser [filmed] with a hidden camera.

From Reuters:

Ex-EU lawmaker Strasser “harmed European politics”

By Georgina Prodhan

VIENNA | Mon Nov 26, 2012 8:00am EST

Disgraced Austrian politician Ernst Strasser harmed European politics by agreeing to push for laws in the European Parliament in exchange for money, a Vienna prosecutor said when his bribery trial started on Monday.

The former Austrian interior minister and European lawmaker was caught on camera boasting of his lobbying skills and saying his clients paid him 100,000 euros ($130,000) a year for influencing legislation.

Strasser, who denies the charges, faces 10 years in jail if convicted of corruption.

Prosecutor Alexandra Maruna said at the start of the trial it was not relevant whether Strasser had actually taken any money or sought to push through any legislation.

What was important that he had offered his vote and his voice for cash.

“He massively harmed European politics,” she told the court.

Strasser, 56, was filmed last year by undercover journalists from Britain’s Sunday Times posing as lobbyists. He resigned but denied wrongdoing, saying he wanted to protect his party, the Austrian conservative OVP.

“Of course I am a lobbyist,” he told the journalists in a secretly filmed video that has been published on YouTube.

“This is a wonderful opportunity to learn all the people, to have my own network, and to use this network for my, for my companies. It’s a very good combination.”

Strasser, one of several once-mighty Austrian politicians embroiled in corruption scandals, told the journalists he already had five such clients.

On Monday, he reiterated his defence that he went along with the “lobbyists” because he believed they were U.S. secret service agents and he wanted to find out what their goal was – eliciting laughs from the public and press in court.

Asked by the judge why he had not gone to the authorities with his suspicions, a stony-faced Strasser said his experience as Austrian interior minister had taught him not to trust them.

NEGATIVE IMAGE

The trial in Vienna comes as European politicians battle to keep faith with the post-war ideals of European integration and rejection of extreme nationalism that led to the founding of what would become the European Union more than 60 years ago.

Less than half of the EU’s half a billion citizens voted in the last European Parliament elections in 2009, and a poll last year found that 26 percent had a negative image of the parliament, up from 17 percent three years earlier.

“Most European parliamentarians are as lazy as I am,” Strasser told the Sunday Times journalists.

…

Three other European lawmakers were caught in the Sunday Times sting operation: Romania’s Adrian Severin, Slovenia’s Zoran Thaler and Spain’s Pablo Zalba Bidegain.

Thaler resigned after the scandal but the other two still sit in parliament.

Eight days have been allotted for Strasser’s trial, with the verdict expected on December 13. ($1 = 0.7717 euros)

(Editing by Alison Williams)

Austrian billionaire Stronach launches new right-wing party: here.

Related articles

• Europeans Losing Faith in Their Parliament (nytimes.com)

European Union disagreements

This video is called Nikolaos Chountis – “Today in Greece, the Troika is the real government.”

By Stefan Steinberg:

European Union budget talks deadlock

23 November 2012

Sharp conflicts emerged this week in discussions over the European Union’s (EU) budget. The negotiation of a new EU budget every seven years is regularly characterised by nationalist grandstanding, but this time tensions between European member states are particularly pronounced.

EU leaders began their summit meeting at 8pm Thursday in Brussels but failed to reach an agreement. Further talks are scheduled on Friday and, if necessary, over the weekend.

The run-up to the Thursday summit saw considerable wrangling between member states over the budget, which must be agreed unanimously. It was €127 billion (US$163.6 billion) for 2011, spent on farm subsidies (44 percent), development aid for poorer EU regions (33 percent), research (8.5 percent), and administrative costs (6 percent). Three-quarters of the funds were paid by European national governments, while the remainder come from sales tax and customs receipts.

The European Commission originally proposed a small increase in the EU budget for the period 2014 to 2020 to a total of just over €1 trillion. This proposal was then supported by the European Parliament and those 17 countries, mainly from southern and eastern Europe, which are net recipients of EU funds.

The European Commission proposal was opposed, however, by net contributors to the EU budget, centred on a core of northern European countries, notably Germany, the Netherlands and Finland. These countries argued against any increase in the EU budget and demanded it be limited to one percent of the EU’s economy, or €960 billion.

Opposition to both the European Commission proposal and the German stance came from the British Premier David Cameron. Cameron came to Brussels with a mandate from the British parliament to insist on budget cuts, after a core of deputies from Cameron’s Conservative party joined ranks with the opposition Labour Party to demand reductions in the EU budget.

EU Budget talks collapse: an opportunity for politicians to think again: here.

The failure of European leaders in Brussels to finalise the European budget means that the threat of massive funding cuts to our countryside and wildlife still loom large, says the RSPB: here.

Moody’s downgrades French debt rating, presses for austerity in Europe: here.

IMF steps up pressure on Romanian government prior to election: here.

Related articles

• EU Leaders in Budget Battle (blogs.voanews.com)
• EU budget summit: Cameron says leaders must stop tinkering and start cutting – live (guardian.co.uk)
• You: EU budget deal unlikely – Merkel (bbc.co.uk)
• Europe budget talks heading for collapse (thehindu.com)

Maltese criminals maim young bee-eater

From Wildlife Extra:

Maltese hunters start annual autumn massacre – Where are the police?

Illegal hunters take advantage of lax enforcement on first days of hunting season

September 2012. BirdLife Malta today announced that there were no ALE units patrolling the countryside on the opening weekend of Malta’s autumn hunting season, and the organization has already started receiving shot protected birds.

BirdLife Malta received an adult Night Heron and a juvenile Bee-eater, both protected species, on Saturday, the first day of the autumn hunting season. A veterinary surgeon confirmed that both protected birds had sustained gunshot wounds.

This morning BirdLife Malta received the third injured protected bird since the start of the season, a juvenile Marsh Harrier, with visible gunshot injuries. The bird has been taken to vet and the authorities have been informed.

Despite a government statement last week that police would “monitor closely the observance of hunting regulations and conditions”, Administrative Law Enforcement officers were assigned to other duties.

Since the migration started in August, BirdLife Malta has reported 18 active illegal trapping sites to police, targeting protected species from Wood Sandpipers to Grey Herons. Half of these illegal trapping sites had already been reported to the police last year.

The ALE were unavailable to respond to any of the incidents of illegal trapping reported by BirdLife Malta teams, referring all calls to the Local or District police. The lack of specifically trained officers lead to police failing to locate live decoy birds, neglecting to remove nets or to confiscate illegal tape lures which play calls to attract birds.

When BirdLife Malta’s surveillance teams revisited the areas only a few days later the sites were again actively trapping and targeting protected birds.

“This demonstrates, yet again, the falsity of claims that hunting and trapping law is strictly enforced by the Maltese authorities”, said Mr Barbara, adding that BirdLife Malta has long been calling for a dedicated wildlife crime unit to deal with illegal hunting and trapping both during and outside hunting seasons.

WWF has warned that poaching is still a huge threat to large carnivores in Romania, after a brown bear monitored by the organization via GPS-GSM, was found dead in a hunting range belonging to a local hunting association in Maramures, North Romania. Although the association does not have a quota for hunting brown bears this year, the medical report issued by the Sanitary-Veterinary Agency shows that the bear was shot: here.

New Romanian government

This video is about shale gas in Romania and Chevron.

By Tom Mellen:

PM promises to boost government wages

Friday 04 May 2012

Romania‘s new government said today that it will boost public-sector wages that were cut by a quarter to get a £16 billion IMF loan in 2010.

New Prime Minister Victor Ponta, picked by President Traian Basescu after mass anti-cuts protests booted out the previous right-wing government, also promised to slice a tax on bread from 24 to 9 per cent.

Parliament is expected to approve his cabinet on Monday. It is made up mostly by Social Democrat MPs with some National Liberals and Conservatives.

A confidence vote last week toppled a right-wing coalition that had been in power for two months.

Aside from the cuts, it had been criticised for handing shale gas rights to US energy giant Chevron.

Mr Ponta temporarily banned shale gas exploration on Thursday.

He also promised to take another look at plans to build Europe’s biggest opencast gold mine in Transylvania, which many Romanians oppose.

Rosia Montana Gold Corporation, mostly owned by Canadian company Gabriel Resources with a small stake held by state firm Minvest, has pushed for 14 years to get the right mining permits.

President Basescu urged the previous government to hurry things up, saying it would bring in foreign cash.

But local residents, environmentalists and academics have protested against the mine, which would use 12,000 tons of cyanide a year.

Romanian miners don’t give up

The person who put this video on YouTube in 2008 wrote about it:

from Romania TVR1-Romanian mine explosion kills 12

This is the way in Romania the guvernment takes care of the Romanian workers, they are first busy to fill up their pockets with
milions of $$$ and latter to take care of workers.

Twelve miners died and thirteen others were interned at the Hospital Emergency Petrosani, following two explosions that took place Saturday at the Petrila mine.

From daily The Morning Star in Britain:

Romanian miners’ demo hits day four

Thursday 08 March 2012

Thousands of coal miners employed by a state firm demonstrated for a fourth day in western Romania today over low pay and working conditions.

They mounted their latest protest after talks with managers broke down.

The workers are demanding that the state-owned company, which employs 7,800 people at seven mines, delivers on a January agreement that awarded them a 10 per cent wage rise.

They said they would walk the 205 miles from Petrosani to Bucharest but were foiled by police who blocked a bridge leading out of the city.

And workers in Romania’s mining industry face an even bigger fight in coming years.

The government has agreed with the International Monetary Fund to sack 3,300 mineworkers by 2018 in return for loans.

The 1984-1985 British miners’ strike: here.

The appalling situation of Romania’s institutionalized children: From Ceausescu to today: here.

Romanian miners strike because of broken promises

From daily The Morning Star in Britain:

Miners walk out for wage increase

Monday 05 March 2012

Four hundred Romanian coal miners refused to go underground today demanding a 10 per cent pay rise.

The miners rallied in Petrosani to press the state-owned firm to cough up the rise, which they said has been due to them since the beginning of the year.

Massing outside the National Coal Company’s offices in the town, the miners chanted: “Thieves,” “liars,” and “resign.”

Union leader Tiberiu Cozma said: “I have not entered the mine because our rights are not being respected.”

At the start of the year former economics minister Ion Ariton signed a deal giving the miners a 10 per cent pay rise, but the workers say they have not received the increase.

On February 1, miners refused to descend underground and those who were on the night shift refused to come out, to press him for the rise.

Subsequently over 1,500 miners from seven mines in the Jiu Valley kicked off a spontaneous strike.

Romanian government concessions to protest movement

From daily The Morning Star in Britain:

Romanian ministers review cuts after protests

Monday 16 January 2012

by Tom Mellen

Romanian ministers were forced to review their plans to impose IMF and EU-mandated health-service cuts today as protesters continued their anti-austerity rallies.

Hundreds gathered in Bucharest’s central University Square, chanting: “The mafioso government stole everything we had.”

Before going into cabinet talks on redrafting an unpopular health Bill which proposes to privatise the ambulance service, Prime Minister Emil Boc said: “We understand the hardships Romanians are facing.

“The crisis has been harsher than we imagined. There is much room for dialogue, but no room for violence.”

President Traian Basescu’s government took a two-year €20 billion (£16.5bn) loan from the International Monetary Fund, the European Union and the World Bank in 2009 in return for savage spending and public-sector wage cuts.

Widespread anger over plunging living standards spilled onto the streets last Wednesday and Romanians have been out every day since, with 10,000 demonstrating on Sunday.

Riot police in the capital clashed with protesters, some of whom threw stones and petrol bombs, and arrested 29 people.

Several major banks had their windows smashed and some street lamps and bus stops were damaged.

A Romanian medical official says 59 people were hurt, 10 of whom were police officers.

Police official Aurel Moise said about 250 people had been fined for their conduct and 36 more will be investigated.

He claimed that a group of football fans bent on violence had infiltrated the protest.

The police may also join the protests soon, with their Pro Lex union warning Interior Minister Traian Igas that their members will take to the streets unless he coughs up unpaid wages and pledges not to scrap paycheque payment of union dues.

Pro Lex said that it had asked Mr Igas on December 22 to discuss the issues but hadn’t heard anything back.

Thousands of Romanian citizens marched in Bucharest this afternoon for one of the country’s largest demonstrations in years – crowning a week of militant rallies against the pro-EU government of President Traian Basescu: here.

MASSIVE PROTESTS IN ROMANIA AND HUNGARY: here.

Thousands of trade unionists and their allies took to the streets of Romania for the twelfth consecutive day over the pro-EU government’s austerity drive: here.

In Hungary Orban plays the nationalist card but the truth is that his government is completely dependent on the EU and IMF, and is intent on meeting their demands: here.

Romanian anti-health privatisation demonstrators attacked

From daily The Morning Star in Britain:

Police attack injures 20 at Romanian rally

Sunday 15 January 2012

by Tom Mellen

Riot police attacked a mass demonstration in Bucharest on Saturday against plans to privatise emergency health services, wounding more than 20 people and arresting around 40.

Protesters had massed in central Universitate Square, calling for early elections and shouting: “Down with Basescu” – referring to President Traian Basescu – “Stop thievery” and “You lied to us and robbed us,” while others blew whistles and jeered.

Some waved the Romanian national tricolour with the centre ripped out, a symbol of the uprising that overthrew the socialist regime in 1989.

When protesters blocked traffic, riot police waded in with batons and tear gas. Some protesters responded by hurling stones at officers, at least one of whom suffered a serious head injury.

A total of five police were treated for injuries. Some 20 protesters were wounded, including 16 who required hospital treatment. Several of the injured were elderly people.

Protests kicked off on Wednesday after the resignation of Deputy Health Minister Raed Arafat, a Palestinian with Romanian citizenship.

Mr Arafat quit on Tuesday over a draft healthcare law mandated by the governments’ creditors which seeks to introduce privately owned emergency health services.

President Basescu took a two-year €20 billion (£16.5 billion) loan from the International Monetary Fund, the EU and the World Bank in 2009.

As well as agreeing to open up the country’s health service to private business, Mr Basescu slashed public-sector pay by 25 per cent and increased taxes.

Pensioner Rodica Patran, who took part in Saturday’s protest, said she had turned out to express her opposition to a pensions freeze and the swingeing public-sector pay cut, which was adopted by the Basescu government in July 2010.

“We can no longer stand the poverty. Enough is enough,” Ms Patran declared.

Protesters staged smaller rallies in Timisoara, Constanta, Craiova, Cluj and in other towns.

After three days of angry protests, Mr Basescu announced on Friday night that he had asked Prime Minister Emil Boc to withdraw the draft health-care law.

But citizens out in the streets on Saturday said they did not believe him.