euro|topics - Cristian Campeanu

09/01/2009

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Campeanu, Cristian

5 articles of this author have been cited in the European Press Review so far.

Romania Libera - Romania | 24/06/2008

The dream of the post-communists

Minister Adrian Nastase and former Minister for Transport Miron Mitrea on charges of corruption. This is the first time that parliamentarians rather than the public prosecutors decide on such a matter. The newspaper Romania Libera comments: "It is high time we admitted that the battle against corruption has failed as miserably as the judicial reform. ... The battle against corruption should have got rid of the corrupt judges, prosecutors and functionaries, while the judicial reform should have eliminated corruption right up to the highest ranks. The precondition for success was the will of the political elite to achieve this. But it never existed. On the contrary, we are well on our way to making the golden dreams of post-communist politicians come true: a society which lacks the rule of law but which is nonetheless a member of the EU. A society in which you can steal with impunity. ... Our political class has no arguments to ward off a possible application of the safeguard clause by Brussels in the area of justice. Yet the safeguard clause could do more harm than good. ... And even if it is not applied, other measures could follow: from the suspension of EU funding to that of Romania's voting rights in the EU Council of Ministers."

Romania Libera - Romania | 13/05/2008

Putin: from head of state to head of government

Former Russian President Vladimir Putin is now Prime Minister of Russia. Cristian Campeanu comments: "Russian politics will continue on the same familiar course as before - Putinism. We must expect a consolidation of the authoritarian regime in domestic policy. ... A second element of Putinism is 'state capitalism', the form of quasi-fascist corporatism in which the majority of Russian companies belong to the state and are led by high-ranking government functionaries according to capitalist principles. These companies, which command huge financial resources, are not only needed for maximising profits but also for advancing Moscow's political interests. Gazprom, one of the largest companies in the world, is a fitting example. ... Today governments like Italy, Germany and Austria work according to the principle: if we cannot beat the Russians, we are better off doing business with them. The capitalism of the Russian state has many converts in Western Europe who have grown tired of liberal capitalism, and there is also an increasing number of those who support the theory that we should adapt to Moscow."

Romania Libera - Romania | 18/03/2008

Romania's jukebox media

Over the past week the Romanian media, which are partly owned by politicians, have attacked President Traian Basescu repeatedly. The latter countered by saying that the media resembled a jukebox in which you only had to insert a few coins for it to play the desired tune. Cristian Campeanu comments: "I have no doubt whatsoever that the Romanian press is open to bribery. They are financed by important interest groups which are intent on promoting their own political and economic agenda. We journalists all know who those voices belong to. The Romanian media pioneers honesty and morals just as little as the politicians do. Nonetheless, this doesn't justify the president's 'jukebox theory'. I don't believe Basescu is a dictator in disguise. I think he's driven by a demon."

Romania Libera - Romania | 07/11/2007

Cristian Campeanu on the collapse of multiculturalism

Since the murder of an Italian woman by a Romanian Roma gypsy, Italy and Romania have been discussing immigration and deportation policies. Cristian Campeanu says the affair reminds him of the murder of Dutch filmmaker Theo Van Gogh: "The murder of director Theo Van Gogh sparked a debate about the limits of multiculturalism in the Netherlands and all over Europe. Multiculturality is a theory according to which all the cultures in a given society have the same rights - regardless of ethnic group, language or religion. .. In other words, there are no universal values; values are defined by the culture, race or ethnic group in question and cannot be imposed by an exterior force. ... The most unfortunate consequence of this ideology is that it makes dialogue between cultures impossible. We live side by side in parallel worlds with parallel rules. The minorities flee to the ghettoes and 'tolerance' generally means nothing more than mutual ignorance. Problems arise when limits are violated and two parallel worlds collide. This is what happened with the murder of Van Gogh, which was committed by an Islamist and culminated in mosques being set on fire. And now, following the murder of a woman by a Roma, it is being repeated with Italy's deportation of Romanians. We suddenly forget that we're cultivated, multicultural Europeans."

Romania Libera - Romania | 27/09/2007

Romania ranks 69th in corruption index

The "Transparency International" organisation has published its 2007 international Corruption Perception Index (CPI). Cristian Campeanu comments on Romania's ranking: "We share place 69 - out of a total of 180 - with Ghana, and this despite the fact that Romania is supposed to have made important progress thanks to its EU accession. We rank lower than Columbia, the global epicentre of cocaine smuggling, Bulgaria, where the mafia shoots people in broad daylight, and Turkey, where words like 'Bakschich' (bribery) were invented. Naturally it's all a matter of perception... Nonetheless we still ask ourselves why Romania is perceived as so corrupt. The only honest answer is: because it is... When government officials - from city councils to ministries - are corrupt, and police officers, public prosecutors, judges and MPs too, you get the feeling you're trapped, and this reinforces the perception that corruption is everywhere."