Michael Shafir

Also by Michael Shafir

• February 03, 2005

  Analysis: Moldovan Government Issues Factually Correct Exaggeration

  A one-page statement issued by the Moldovan government on 1 February warned international organizations, foreign governments, as well as Moldovan and Transdniestrian audiences that the separatist authorities in Tiraspol have launched a drive aimed at destabilizing the situation along the cease-fire lines dividing the belligerent sides since the 1993 armistice. While the statement is based on fact, it is also aimed at mobilizing support for the ruling Party of Moldovan Communists (PCM) ahead of the 6 March parliamentary elections. It may therefore be described as a factually correct exaggeration.

• January 07, 2005

  Analysis: Journalists Abandon Romanian Daily

  'Evenimentul zilei' Editor in Chief Dan Cristian Turturica More than 30 journalists from the daily "Evenimentul zilei" resigned on 5 January to protest their Swiss publisher's purported plans to revamp editorial policies and transform the daily into a tabloid. Five of their colleagues had already quit the paper, which is among Romania's most popular dailies.

• December 29, 2004

  Analysis: New Romanian Cabinet Ushers In Liberal-Democratic Spirit

  Calin Popescu-Tariceanu (file photo) On 28 December, a joint session of the Romanian parliament approved a cabinet proposed by Prime Minister Calin Popescu-Tariceanu (see Profile --> /featuresarticle/2004/12/99CFE0C1-3966-4540-BD0A-BA1624A13787.html ). The parliament was expected to back the new government lineup, but the extent of that endorsement surprised many observers.

• December 29, 2004

  Profile: Calin Popescu-Tariceanu

  Calin Popescu-Tariceanu is a wealthy businessman, whose assets were estimated by the Romanian publication "Capital" earlier this year at some $15 million. Popescu-Tariceanu was born in Bucharest on 1 January 1952 and is a graduate in hydrotechnical engineering from the Bucharest Constructions Institute.

• December 20, 2004

  Analysis: Romanian President Makes Ungraceful Exit

  Exit stage left (file photo) With just two strokes of his pen, outgoing Romanian President Ion Iliescu managed at the end of last week to do more damage to his legacy than any of his political adversaries could have hoped to do.

• December 16, 2004

  Analysis: Testing Romania's Constitution

  Traian Basescu The surprising victory of Bucharest Mayor Traian Basescu over Prime Minister Adrian Nastase in Romania's 12 December presidential runoff created an unexpected political situation.

• December 13, 2004

  Profile: Gigi Becali

  After receiving 2.36 percent of the vote in the 28 November election for Romania's lower house and 2.23 percent of the vote for the upper house, the New Generation Party (PNG) seems to be hardly worth attention. PNG leader Gigi Becali did even worse, garnering a meager 1.77 percent in the first round of the presidential election.

• December 13, 2004

  Profile: Corneliu Vadim Tudor

  Greater Romania Party (PRM) Chairman Corneliu Vadim Tudor failed in 2004 in his third attempt at the position of head of state. Tudor received 12.57 percent of the vote, finishing behind Prime Minister Adrian Nastase, who received 40.94 percent, and Bucharest Mayor Traian Basescu, who received 33.92 percent.

• December 13, 2004

  Analysis: Romania's Presidential Runoff Produces Possible 'Cohabitation' Scenario

  Basescu claiming victory in Bucharest on 12 December With almost all the votes counted in the 12 December presidential runoff, opposition candidate and Bucharest Mayor Traian Basescu appears to have won a surprise victory over outgoing Prime Minister Adrian Nastase. According to the Central Electoral Bureau, Basescu, who is the candidate of the National Liberal Party (PNL)-Democratic Party alliance, has garnered 51.23 percent of the vote, as compared to 48.77 percent for his rival, who ran as the candidate of the ruling Social Democratic Party (PSD)-Humanist Party alliance. The results are based on 99 percent of polling stations counted.

• December 12, 2004

  Profile: Adrian Nastase

  Romanian Prime Minister Adrian Nastase, 54, received 40.94 percent of the vote in the first round of the presidential election on 28 November. (Traian Basescu received 33.92 percent of the vote, according to the Romanian Electoral Bureau.)

• December 12, 2004

  Profile: Traian Basescu

  Bucharest Mayor and Democratic Party Chairman Traian Basescu, 53, received 33.92 percent of the vote in the first round of the Romanian presidential election on 28 November. (Adrian Nastase received 40.94 percent of the vote, according to the Romanian Electoral Bureau.)

• December 06, 2004

  Analysis: The Legacy Of Trianon

  Women in traditional Hungarian dress voting in Veresegyhaz, some 30 kilometers east of Budapest The results of the referendum held in Hungary on 5 December defuse the potential danger of new tensions among European states with ethnic Hungarian minorities. Preliminary official results show that voters failed to approve a referendum on whether to give ethnic Hungarians living outside the country the right to become Hungarian citizens and whether to scrap the state health-care system.

• November 05, 2004

  Moldovan President Congratulates Bush On Reelection

  President Vladimir Voronin on 4 November sent a congratulation message to his U.S. counterpart George W. Bush on his reelection as president, Flux reported, citing a presidential office press release.

• November 05, 2004

  Hungary Gives Bush Unpleasant Reelection Present

  Hungarian Socialist Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany on 4 November congratulated George W. Bush on his reelection as U.S. president "by a convincing margin," AFP reported. One day earlier, Hungary announced it intends to withdraw its 300-strong noncombat contingent from Iraq by the end of March 2005 at the latest. Gyurcsany said the decision was made after consultations with the United States and other allies, Reuters reported.

• November 05, 2004

  Czech Leaders Hail Outcome Of U.S. Elections

  Vaclav Klaus (file photo) Czech President Vaclav Klaus said on 3 November that George W. Bush's victory in the U.S. presidential election was due to his having demonstrated that he is "a true leader of his people in tough times," CTK reported.

• November 05, 2004

  Slovakia Reacts To Bush's Reelection

  Slovak Prime Minister Mikulas Dzurinda said on 3 November upon learning about the victory of George W. Bush in the U.S. presidential election that the outcome was good for the United States, for Slovakia, and for the world at large, CTK and TASR reported.

• November 05, 2004

  Analysis: Romanians Respond To U.S. Election

  On 3 November, the morning after the presidential election, all eyes were on the United States. Romanians (just like the Russians, the Chinese, the Iraqis, or the French) began asking themselves: "what will the results mean for us?" The question is all the more relevant as, on 28 November, Romanians go to the polls themselves to select a new president and to elect a new legislature. Many op-eds or editorials in the Romanian press on 4 November asked whether a win for the incumbent, U.S. President George W. Bush would influence the outcome of the Romanian ballot and, if yes, in what way.

• November 03, 2004

  Iliescu Says Bush Victory Is Win For Romania

  Prague, 3 November 2004 (RFE/RL) -- Romanian President Ion Iliescu said prior to today's announcement of U.S. President George W. Bush's reelection that a Bush victory "would somehow mean a victory for Romania as well, because it would ensure the continuity of a beneficial relationship" between the two countries, Mediafax reported.

• October 12, 2004

  Analysis: Romanian President Puts Shameful Holocaust Episode To Rest

  Romanian President Ion Iliescu delivered an historic speech on 12 October at the parliament building in Bucharest when, for the first time, a Romanian head of state acknowledged in no ambiguous terms and with no "ifs and buts" his country's participation in, and responsibility for, the perpetration of the Holocaust.

• October 05, 2004

  Analysis: The 'Romanian Lesson' And Media Freedom

  On 25 October 2003 Cornel Nistorescu, editor in chief of the Bucharest daily "Evenimentul zilei," told readers in an editorial that the Expres publishing group, which he had helped establish in 1992, would soon change owners. In September 1998, Expres had been bought by the German magazine and newspaper publisher Gruner+Jahr (G+J), which is part of the Bertelsmann media-holding giant. G+J eventually decided to concentrate mostly on magazine publishing, and ownership of the Romanian daily was to be passed on to the Swiss Ringier group, Nistorescu announced.

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