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Romania, Between Law and Lawlessness
The largest part of these writings is the chronicle of an internal battle, fought day by day since 2010: parties, governments, presidents, courts, elections, natural resources, the press, the streets.
They were written hot, often on the very evening of the thing they describe. That is why they are sometimes harsh and almost always unfair to the powerful. I leave them as they were. A pamphlet corrected twenty years later is neither pamphlet nor testimony.
What binds them is a single conviction I have never abandoned: that politics and law cannot be separated, and law and justice even less so.
By subtheme
Every subject has its own page. Open the rows below.
Anti-corruption prosecutors, courts and criminal files: what justice looks like in a country where the intelligence services conduct criminal investigations.
- The Ravings About the “Coup d’État” July 9, 2012
- The Prosecutors, from Door to Door August 14, 2012
- The Tactic of Subjugating the Judiciary September 5, 2012
- At the High Court, Against Băsescu May 10, 2013
- My Complaint, Rejected by the High Court May 13, 2013
- Șova, “from His Experience as a Lawyer” September 21, 2013
- A Social Democrat Pays October 7, 2013
- On the Zambaccian Ruling January 6, 2014
- On Judges and Stupidity January 14, 2014
- A Summary Analysis of the Last Ten Years from a Criminal-Law Perspective March 15, 2015
From Băsescu to Iohannis and beyond — portraits written without indulgence, in their own time.
- The Health Bill, Withdrawn January 13, 2012
- A “Liberal” Interim Prime Minister February 6, 2012
- On the Primal Instincts July 3, 2012
- On the Despair at B1 July 3, 2012
- On Băsescu’s Desperation July 5, 2012
- On the Diversion, in the Square July 5, 2012
- Awaiting the Quorum July 28, 2012
- Two Years Since the Slap August 21, 2012
- On the Screen Again October 20, 2012
- A Guest on RTV, on “Consideration” October 21, 2012
Governments that come and go, parties that quarrel in public and vote the same way in private.
- The Agora of University Square, January 2012: Ianua Coeli or Ianua Inferni? January 21, 2012
- The Pollution Tax, Postponed January 23, 2012
- Thieves, Authoritarians and Incompetents January 26, 2012
- The Hungarian Party and the Early Elections (I) January 29, 2012
- The Hungarian Party and the Early Elections (II) February 6, 2012
- On Prime Minister Ungureanu February 6, 2012
- Hopes at Ponta’s Speech February 9, 2012
- I Sit Up at Night Asking Stupid Questions: Is Ponta a Villain, or Merely a Fool? February 10, 2012
- Ponta Digs In March 9, 2012
- Merely More Coincidences September 13, 2012
Campaigns, ballot boxes, the Constitutional Court, and December 2024 — the year the election was annulled.
- On the Presidential “Vigil” July 6, 2012
- The Constitutional Court’s Ruling: the Statements About the Roma July 6, 2012
- The Constitutional Court’s Ruling: the Findings of Fact July 6, 2012
- The Constitutional Court, a Political-Jurisdictional Organ July 6, 2012
- The Venice Commission Recommends a Referendum Without a Quorum July 12, 2012
- The Bush v. Gore Precedent August 1, 2012
- Since We Insist on Dragging Politics into the Criminal Sphere, I Recall That Some Ten Days Ago August 10, 2012
- I Went to Vote December 9, 2012
- Do Not Rise to the Provocations November 16, 2014
- He Has Grown Weary of Good Fortune November 9, 2015
The gas of the Black Sea, the offshore law, the forests, Hidroelectrica: what we had and what we gave away.
- Ponta and Shale Gas January 4, 2013
- The Chevron–Exxon–Petrom Visit March 13, 2014
- But About the Natural Resources — Nothing? November 6, 2015
- Tăriceanu “Receives” the Message March 12, 2018
- Attention! Share This Message June 29, 2018
- “Independence Day” in Bucharest June 29, 2018
- Let Us Return to the Natural Resources July 1, 2018
- Dragnea on the Black Sea Gas: “There Will Be No Zero Taxes on Gas” July 3, 2018
- On the Gas: Dragnea Comes Back to It July 4, 2018
- Good News, Too, Never Comes Alone. After Kövesi’s Dismissal, Another Piece of Good News July 9, 2018
The supreme forum of the people, between complicit silence and the few moments when it meant something.
- A Solution for the Square January 23, 2012
- On Goldman Sachs and Lobbying January 27, 2012
- Let Us Remind Romania’s Members of Parliament That, Under Article 61 of the Constitution August 27, 2012
- On the Changing of the Coat of Arms August 23, 2013
- Consultations with “the Street” November 5, 2015
- 22 December, After the Long Night December 22, 2015
- Mass Stockholm Syndrome January 22, 2017
- Very Well: Out in the Streets Are a Few Thousand, or Tens of Thousands, of Lovers of Handcuffs and Security Men January 20, 2018
- “I Don’t Know.” “I’m Not Aware.” “I’m Not Sure.” “I’m Not Familiar with the Subject.” April 10, 2018
- Senator Graham: “Who Is Your Biggest Competitor?” April 10, 2018
Front organisations, trumpets, fake news, and the machinery by which a reality is manufactured.
- On the “Pro-American Island” November 13, 2016
- “How So, Counsel?” November 14, 2019
- Fake News for Fools November 18, 2019
- On March 1990 December 16, 2019
- Today, After the Ascension Service, as I Went to Take the Blessed Bread from the Priest’s Paten, I Heard May 28, 2020
- On a “Bombshell Revelation” June 22, 2020
- The Trumpets Go for the Throat August 8, 2020
- Today I Was Given to Live Something That Still Gives Me the Strength to Hope November 4, 2020
- The Propaganda and Bogdan Stanovici January 12, 2021
- Today, 14 February 2023, from Five O’clock, I Shall Speak with Adriana Bahmuțeanu on Global News February 14, 2023
Squares, placards, gendarmes — and the difference between real revolt and the organised kind.
- Another 13–15 June? Provocations in the Square January 15, 2012
- The Devils’ Advocate January 16, 2012
- On the Protest with the Cars January 17, 2012
- For the “Worms” in the Square January 19, 2012
- “The Protesters’ Lawyer”, Once Again January 24, 2012
- Quality, Not Quantity February 6, 2012
- On the System’s Cheering Sections February 1, 2017
- Tales from the Future February 19, 2017
- “Corruption Kills” Versus the Real World May 3, 2017
- After the #resist Demonstration January 21, 2018
What the Romanian citizen receives in exchange for the two thirds of his labour that he gives the state.
- On Saint Nicholas’s Day December 6, 2015
- A Wish for the Coming Year December 31, 2015
- A Danish Film on Cinemax January 4, 2016
- On the Lesson from Albania June 20, 2016
- The Morning When Everyone Was “Black” November 9, 2016
- Nae Ionescu, at His First Lecture July 30, 2018
- The Barna in the Reformists’ Eye August 27, 2019
- On the Prices in the Colony January 4, 2020
- The Height of Electoral Efficiency January 20, 2020
- Tales of the Public Purse February 26, 2020
What holds us together: the language, the tradition, the faith — and what happens when we lose them.
- On a New Movement in the Square January 23, 2012
- The Sermon of a Băsescu Ultra July 8, 2012
- On the Reason of the Human Condition April 19, 2014
- An Observation on the German’s Manner of Communicating March 31, 2015
- Many Happy Years, Romania. Many Happy Years, Romanian December 1, 2015
- On the Attack in Nice July 15, 2016
- I Say Union — You Call Me a Putinist October 23, 2016
- They No Longer Wish to Be a Nation of Thieves. On This I Agree with the #resist Crowd November 3, 2017
- I Went to the Referendum. And I Voted Yes for Marriage Between a Man and a Woman Only October 6, 2018
- The Referendum Has Failed: the Party Comes Next October 7, 2018
The remaining entries about everyday Romania, just as they were written.
- Spritzgate (I): the Presidential Slap August 21, 2010
- Christ Is Risen April 23, 2011
- On the Beautiful People Standing in the Frost January 25, 2012
- On the Fear of the Democrat-Liberals July 3, 2012
- On Wise Madness January 1, 2013
- On the Passing of Sergiu Nicolaescu January 5, 2013
- On the Power of the Deed and of the Thought January 7, 2013
- “Where There Is Nothing, Not Even God Demands” February 27, 2013
- For All My Catholic Friends March 30, 2013
- On the Fix with the “TraDOTTORE” April 4, 2013
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