I wished politics was plaid for such great narratives as social justice, freedom, human rights... but it remains just a dirty power game, in Romania as elsewhere, where 'people' are only used and abused by political discourses. As Romanian we can do one thing now, going to vote, expressing our opinion, whatever that is. It is easier to stay apart in our intelectual worlds and our busy lives but what right we would ever have to hope or complain again if we don't express our opinion now?

Adriana Soaita, Pitesti, Romania

For Mister B.T.
Dear "Euro-Friend", don't forget that is not your merit that you are (probably born) British. It's your luck and take it as it is. If you got on the podium, not trough your work and fight, you have no right to bash around. I do for my country what you do for yours. But, I respect all nations and people and I expect likewise from others. Even if I live in New York, I'm still a Romanian at hart and I'll always be. Among other surprises that New York City offers, I met at least 2 or 3 of your nationals, sleeping under bridges and begging for money (homeless or bums). That did not change a bit my image about English people, and I can vouch for that because I still have 2 English employees (among other nationalities) in my company. Therefore, if we want to "shoot arrows" at each other, we can find plenty of examples and resources. None of us are impeccably good, not miserably bad, WE JUST ARE.

Marius, New York City, United States, New York

Hello, I'm from Cluj, one of the top 5 cities in Ro!The article is (unfortunatelly) quite correct. Nobody actually knows for sure if this "russian inflitration" is as bad as described (I believe it is very very overrated) simply because it doesn't quite matter who started to fire at the president,all those who had reasons to fire joined (the reasons go from corrupt oligarchs trying to keep things as they were to simple politicians and people who consider the president to be going a little bit towards a dictatorship).The process itself is weird,but very healthy from a democratical point of view.Romania will find out if it is a presidential republic (like USA) or a parliamentary republic (like some EU countries).Basescu has a lot of credit for the anti-corruption fight, but he can't work alone to clean things up without proper political support.That is the challenge after the referendum.He started the crisis, in a way by not being capable to convince other correct politicians to his side

Adrian, Cluj Napoca, Romania

To B.T.,

My first commentary was kinda sarcastic so I’ll try again. I am a Torontonian of Romanian decent. I visit Europe quite often and I’m well aware of its present state. And every time I return back to Canada I feel a sense of relief. Here in Toronto I grew up in a multicultural city interacting with people from all over the world. And the most important thing that Toronto taught me is that every nation has its strengths and its weaknesses. Brits are no better than Kenyans in winning the Boston marathon, French are no better than south Indians in practicing Yoga, Germans are no better than Italians in making prosciutto. I guess my point to you B. T. is: open up your mind towards the strengths that Romania has and towards its people. Go visit Romania’s caves, have a shot of palinca up in the Maramures county, see the amazing city of Sibiu, enjoy Romania. You’ll be glad you did.

Cris W, Toronto, Canada

First of all I would like to underline the fact that Romania (until proven contrary) is a parlamentarian republic in which the president (even as an "active player") has limited attributions.
It was written in the present article that he together with the former Minister of Justice Mrs. Macovei started to tackle corruption.First, it is not HIS duty as a president to tackle anything. That duty is the right of the Government as well as the Parliament.
Secondly, it is true that several cases of corruption have been set forth, but I believe one should not forget that the president himself has been accused of wrongly entering in the possession of a house in a well-know area of Bucharest without having had the actual legal rights to do it.
What should European politicians understand is that what we have now is ALSO the result of his actions not only those of the opposition.
I believe one should base his opinions on more sources and also attempt a realistic analysis of the situation.

Andrada, Warsaw, Poland

Valentin wrote that "Romania is as civilized as UK.". Sure, this level of civilization was the reason to move your residence out of Romania, to Vienna, right ;) ?

Mitica, Sibiu, Romania

To better understand the political context of the upcoming referendum in Romania, one has to say that for the past 100 yrs or even more, romanians had to constantly choose between bad and evil. Sure, Mr Basescu is no saint (considering his past and his colorful language) but he has the large support of of a nation gripped by corruption but willing to get rid of it. Sadly, Mr Basescu's opponents are nothing but a monstrous coalition of shady interests, none of whom has received the validation of a direct popular vote, the way Mr Basescu did. Not surprisingly, his opponents have relentlessly tried (and sadly, succeeded) to eliminate the former justice minister and opposed vehemently to any form of uninominal parliamentary vote. To say they are disconnected from the common romanian and european interest is almost an understatement.

Liviu, Atlanta, USA

Good article, great job ! The article pertinently reflects the Romanian political reality of these days. President Basescu was suspended by an ad-hoc coalition of corrupt PM's because of his determination in reforming political structures and supporting anti-corruption measures. Oligarchy-controlled media started an unprecedented mudslinging campaign against the suspended president, in order to compromise his chances of being reconfirmed by direct popular vote. Nevertheless, Romanian electorate is not as gullible as some corrupt politicians might think: Basescu's popularity remained unchanged at about 70%. Next Saturnday, the referendum will clear much in Romanian politics.

R. Lalu, Bucharest, Romania

I am truly emotioned by the message His Majesty King Michael of Romania - currently living in Bucarest / Romania - had conveyed to the Romanian folk - on the 9/10th of May (a few days ago). He mentioned - between other things that

- Romania should have a NEW (proper) Constitution

- The President should hold the power of
* demoting the Parliament and call earlier elections
* dismiss a non performing Government

This is NOT TO MENTION the internal political struggle of the simple people of Romania trying to make sense of the "so called" democracy - and have whether the former Monarch re-instated or free and direct Presidential elections - i.e. - candidates directly elected by the electorate - and not the Parliament (a process similar to the one current in Turkey now).

President Basescu - once re-instated, should be allowed and assisted by EU to dissolve the current Parliament of ex-communists and form a NEW GOVERNMENT - replacing the current (corrupt) one ! EU should assist !

G. von Gross, Sydney, Australia

All countries have good and bad things. The problem with foreigners is that we see them more since the press speculates that. No one wants to read about some french or english criminal. I have romanian colleagues in a multi-national company in France and none of them are the way i read in the papers. Their biggest problem is the bad image they got over the years i think.

Michel Peirroux, Cleremont-Ferrand, France

I find this a pretty accurate description of what is happening in Romania right now. It is almost like an old western movie, with good and bad guys. This is not just the usual fight for political power, it has deep consequences for the whole Romanian society.

Rick, Hannover, Germany

For B.T.
1) Why is Romania a member of EU?
Because Romania is an European country, with an European culture, with a lot of intelligent and educated people.
2) You have to take into account the history and the geo-political influence.
3) Generally, the people you talked about are not native romanians, but are gypsies from Romania. Also, the persons that are presented by the press are not exactly representative for the Romanian society. You must know that there are also (all over the world) many mathematicians, engineers, architects, medical stuff and so on. Please do not judge a country and a nation after some local problems.

F.B., Grenoble, France

B.T. u think you're smart? come here and live as us, with a salary of 300euros per month and high prices at everything.. you give more than half of salary on your everyday meals.. should we talk about clothes too???

A., Bucharest, RO

The Romania of 2006-2007 looks very much like the Romania presented in Ion Luca Caragiale's comedies...

There are so many questions and few clear answers...we all now just half of the deformed reality.

There is no respect for youth in Romania and Băsescu is trying to convince politicians to respect us and to offer more opportunities for young romanians so they won't leave country anymore. We don't have a decent education system and this is what Băsescu noticed. He asked politicians who are responsable for this to take action but everybody said this is not a priority. If education is not prioritary then what is?

Ioana Crisu, Bucharest, Romania

obviously british criticise everybody and everything but they don't look at themselves, sure never mind romanians,irish,french, german, dainish, italians, they all hate england, why? because they don't look at themselves, sure romania was terrorised by communism for more than 50 years,obviously it will have aftermaths cuz people over there have different conceptions , sure irish used to be hated by everyone and poor as hell,look at ireland now, ritchest country in europe,

Doru, Dublin, Ireland

When Basescu was elected president, I was just graduating from college. I had high hopes about living in a better country, in a future european country. Although the situation is pretty much the same I still have faith.
I don't find Basescu the optimum choice for Romania's presidency, but at least, he is the best we have.
On the other hand, I despise prime-minister Tariceanu and especially the muppet Minister of Justice Chiuariu who has no intention of pursuing Mrs. Macoveis' reforms. And believe me, I am a part of the system, I know what I am saying.
And tell me, should I accept this situation, or should I try to do something about it? I choose the second variant; my vote ( anti-suspension) will not matter, but at least, I will express my point of view regarding Romania's political class.
I believe in a new Romania and I believe in those who are trying to improve the world they live in. Unfortunately, Romania lacks people of this category.

elena, Bucharest, Romania

With all due respect for the British people, I would rather argue that the phrase "why is Romania a member of EU" belongs to the Middle Age. It is at least wired for a developing nation to observe how some Westerners do not manage to see beyond tabloids' headlines. It is more disappointing to see that the difference between "us" and "you" resides mainly in our bank accounts value, type of car owned etc (mainly material benefits). Similarities? Judgements are influenced through the same media mechanisms and ignorance blesses both westerners and easterners. I would kindly ask you, before making a value judgement on my country and its citizens, to read more history, economic analysis, travel to Romanian's touristic destinations, find out about our rich culture and about who wrote the first History of Religions (Mircea Eliade), who is the true inventor of Insulin (Nicolae Paulescu), who invented the jet plain (Henri Coanda) some small contributions to humanity. Then...why is Romania...??

Oana Ecaterina Man, Cluj-Napoca, Romania

I'd rather say is quite a good article.
Is definitely not "political" balanced.
"Romanians are good in Iraq but not in Britain" is something that you have to think about"
Basescu just declared about himself "(he is) not the best president the Romania could have but rather the best president the romanian policians offered for Romania"

tudor, Bucharest,

I've been in London for 1 year and now I am living in Italy until July. I will travel almost 200km to vote for OUR president. And the same will do 4 friends of mine. Why because the 322 parlament members think they are above the law, that they are above the will of the nation !!!
We need OUR PRESIDENT back and most of all we need Ms. Monica Macovei back. They were the only persons able and willing to help us step forward and not backward in the hole Rusia has digged for us.
Go BASE !!!!!!

Lucian, Sacile/PN, Italy

As with most countries, it is the very poorest and the very best that flee. These extremes are no standard by which to judge a whole coutry. Personally, I have a lot of familly friends who moved to the US and most of them are in the 100 000 USD to 500 000 USD per year income bracket. I an saying this to point out that not all romanian emigration is made out of beggars and criminals.
Your problem is the fact that baggars and criminals emigrate anyway, whether you like it or not. They are not the ones to go through passport control. Only onest people do. As for the chinese coming in, it's not a matter of jobs not being open here. It's more about the payment. They're willing to work for a lot less.

Tudor Dimitriu, Bucharest, Romania

I live and work in Bucharest and I am married to a Romanian. So, I think I am in a good position to predict what will happen in the referendum. Basescu will win by a landslide, but the communists will say he lost. After manipulating the result and lying to the people there will be an uprising. Romanians will take to the streets. Why? The alternative is to have the communists back. A communist government would be like putting a paedophile in charge of an orphanage. The economy would be raped every day.

Angus McFarlane, Bucharest, Romania

Saying about us "They are prostitutes and criminals" it's like us saying about you "You're a nation of hooligans, alcoholics and violent people".
None of them are true.

But, how much can you expect from ignorants? :-)

Mircea, Bucharest, Romania

You should visit us first. There's a big chance you're going to find the answer to that question by yourself. If you don't want to learn more, pls stop making false judgements.

r, bucharest, romania

To Mr. B.T.: We (Romanians) don't give you corruption. We keep it for ourselves for the moment. As for the misery, please, when did you last felt miserable because of us? The government is not recruiting Chinese people, they are recruited by private companies because there is not enough work force in some particular areas. This is as a result of freedom of movement and free market which would be attributes of a democracy. Mr. B.T., it is OK to criticize a government, it is not OK to speak like that about a country.

Basescu lied and made a few other mistakes but the rage against him is almost absurd and frightening. We haven't found out yet what exactly has he done to get suspended (allegations are pretty general). Imagine the TV campaign rules where everybody can say anything about him and he cannot defend himself because he's not allowed to show up on TV. Imagine they have set the date of the vote for impeachment and _after_ that they changed the law that regulated the vote.

Vlad Danciu, Cluj, Romania

To B.T
If you hear at news that some Romanians did bad things, this does not means all Romanians are criminals, thieves or prostitutes.Don't blame a country because of some bad poeple. There is no perfect country.Britain has also thieves, criminals.I read about it all the time on Sky news. There are a lot of British pedophils going to Thailand,etc. -this does not means that all Brits are pedophils-does it?
Try to think a bit deeper before writing bad about a country. And for your information-in the UK are a lot of doctors, teachers, nurses and scientists from Romania-very good people.
Romanians are going to work in other countries because they will earn better-the same reason why the British people are working abroad . Why are a lot of British nurses working abroad when in the UK is big shortage of nurses?

Elly, Fagaras, Romania

"All the Romanians give us is corruption, misery and crimes." B.T.

if that is the only thing you know about Romanians means that you are completely limited, belive me. If you are really interested what they can give search for more, otherwise you'll get only that.

CF, Munich,

But you missed something: the president was the first to ctiticize the prime minister; he said he was sorry to have named him as prime minister and he was trying hard to get the prime minister down; where were you when all these happened? Why do you tell half a story?

Traviata, Bucharest, Romania

Most of the Romanians do not want Romania in the EU either ... but there are enough that do.
Just before 2007 we have seen TV commercials to encourage people not to fear changes to be brought by EU. EU brings some new regulations in the country that are hard to accept and are of no immediate help for us

Adrian Constantin, Ploiesti, Romania

Curiously enough the "Shady dealings"-list misses Mr. Basescu's own shaky deals. E.g., he had a suspicous interest in the privatization of the romanian commercial fleet, his closed friends made some lucrative deals the time Mr. Basescu was the mayor of Bucharest. Not to mention the fact that at his positions owned in the Ceausescu-times he must have had serious relations with the Securitate.

Mihai Ionescu, Brasov, Romania

Roger Boyes article is certainly food for thought. It shows that recent events on the Romanian political scene go beyond its borders and they affect my country international image in a very negative way. One thing it bothers me though: if Britain sees the trouble that we have to deal with why don’t you help? It’s clear to me and many others that Romania is perceived as EU “troubled” sister. It is unfortunate that our government projects such an image of corruption and indecisiveness however I believe that Britain has a moral obligation to help us out of this hole. Why allowing us to join UE if you’re not willing to give us the support we need to integrate ourselves alongside you? Is Britain too busy tending to its Muslims radicals that may end up destroying the essence of your very existence: freedom and democracy? Instead of throwing mud at my country’s public image, clean your own closets Britain!

Dan, Bacau, Romania

Dear B.T.

Romania being a member of EU is the chance you Europeans got back to us, the honest Romanians. All you said about mothers who are selling their own children or about Romanian criminals could be true, truly, I believe that. But all the misery you get from us is a boomerang. Beginning with France who gave Legion of Honor to corrupt Romanian ministries and continuing with multinationals corporations who treat us like Chinese workers in our own country (even the most of Chinese are doing well in Romania). Of course, as a British citizen you have no guilt to endure us, but as a nation, you British have to support us, the honest Romanians, for two reasons: a) we are Europeans too and b) the parent’s sins are paid by children until a seventh generation and you have to remember Winston Churchill who sold us to Stalin. Nowadays Romanians are the result of the transaction.

Victor, Bucharest, Romania

I can understand your concerns,but you are not very well informed.
First of all,nobody is recruiting 200.000 chinese workers.
It was just an isolated case Bacau,where some factories have recruited about 1000 chinese women.
Second,most of the romanians who come in western Europe come to work,and not to steal or kill anybody.
Of course there are also jobs in Romania,but would it be enough for you to live with 300 euro/month?
We have a lot of problems,but that doesn't mean we are retarded or so.
Most of the peoples who make problems in EU-Countries are gipsyes.They sell their children,they steal and they live without working.But nobody can stop them to cross the border and it wouldn't be fair for the honest people to suffer because of them.
Do not confound the romanians with theis politicians.

Tiberius, Konstanz, Germany

Sure, Romania actually invented prostitution right?Before us, all the european states where like virgins, untouched by crime and prositution.
True european crime organisations are angels, and a very good theme for movies, like the italian mafia.We are only rubbish.
Let me see you beign held by the throat for Half a Century by comunism, and then transform into a saint as fast as Houdini escapes from a watertank.

Gherasim Catalin, Bucharest, Romania

If you want to have a relative real picture of Romania don't settle for what you get in the media. Romania is nowhere near Middle Age, even if it's GBP is only at a third from the EU average.
I am a constant reader of The Times and in the last couple of months there were 2 stories related to Romania that I can remember: one about some immigrants sleeping in Hyde Park and this interview with Mr. Basescu. It's kind of hard to get away from stereotypes if you don't go beyond this.
The whole Eastern Europe is moving away from it's gloomy past at an incredible pace (I may be subjective here) but that is hardly visible from the comfort (and ignorance at times) of the west.
BTW: those 200 000 Chinese workers were actually 200 and some of them went back already. Ignorance is bliss.

Rares Rusu, Cluj-Napoca, Romania

And why Britons then? If you have the chance to read the Eastern Europe newspapers it is often mentioned the cases of British paedophiles doing dirty things around...or drunk British citizens driving cars in the middle of Bucharest and killing innocent people. Just to mention some of the recent news about Britons in Romania.

Jan, Bucharest, Romania

Romania is as civilized as UK. Believe not that just because some gipsys with Romanian citizenship do stupid things Romania is not a civilized country. We are actually very happy that they do what they do outside Romania because it's your problem now. For 15 years or so EU just threatened us because we are not able to integrate gipsys..now lets see how good you are at doing exactly what you ask Romania to do. I bet you have never been to Romania if you can right that comment. And pls never again speak about gipsys as Romanians. They are migrant primitve people that belong to no civilized society. We in Romania read in the newspapers very often that a lot of Britisch citizens come to Romania to abuse childeren but we are smart enaugh to do not believe that all Brits are like that. And if it comes to crises and coruption you should remamber that U.K was not oong time ago in the same situation. We gotta flash it out from our system as you would say..but it (the illness) won't come easy.

Valentin, Vienna, Austria

Jesus, you'd think more open-minded people read this newspaper than the guy above me. I'm Romanian, for one, and I think that being against the free movement of labour means you are also against one of the founding pillars of the European Union. Aside from a few riff-raffs that trouble the streets of London, Paris, or elsewhere, there are tens of thousands of Romanians who work abroad and whose life stories are never told, despite adding value to the societies they live and work in.

And as far as Basescu is concerned, he is a good politician, the first person to condemn the crimes of Communism, and the first to adopt the will of people as his own political mandate without seeming hypocritical or disjointed from the realities of our country. And for that he will most likely keep his mandate this coming weekend.

Mihnea Dumitru, Bucharest, Romania

B.T., your judgment is very wrong. According to this judgement, I should say that all english people are hoolingans and alcoholics. Shame on you to judge a nation just by his imigrants.

Andrei Daneasa, Bucharest, Romania

Impeechment followed a democratic vote in the law-making body of Romania. The problem is that our country has more severe issues than this futile political struggle. Think not that the president is not backed by oligarchs and other shady characters!
The Christian-Democrats (PNTCD), a long standing member of the EPP decided on the best solution to date: that is BOYCOTT !!!

Mihai Petroseneanul, Timisoara, Romania

Heh, I love 'join the debate'. I was reading through this, and wondered, 'what's the average Joe on the ground in Romania thinking?' - scroll down, and Messrs Anca, Catalin and Catul answer for me! :)

Re: Catul on B.T,

As you said, Catul, as we would not judge your country by a few bad individuals, please also don't judge our country by a small number of prejudiced individuals such as B.T!

Mark, Woking, UK

To B.T.: I'm a Romanian and I don't understand what are we doing in EU :)

Extra, Bucharest, Romania

Most of the romanian people are actively supporting the president in his fight with the corrupt polticians and oligarchs, that got rich over night, most of them former senior memebrs of the comunist party, or from Securitatea.

After Mr Basescu and the formidable Justice Minister, Monica Macovei, had been elbowed from power, a lot of changes are in progress in the justice departament. Many prosecutors, that were investigating economical frauds of major oligarchs or politicians have been fired, in just a week. The situation is not good here, the media has a very powerfull propaganda against him, he has been banned from public television. So as the president is in trial now, he was not allowed to publicly defend himself, and the laws are changing as the trial is in proges.
However we still hope, that after the referendum the situation will come back to normal, and the politicians will respect a simple rule of democracy : the will of the people!

Octavian, Bucharest, Romania

Would you like to work 10 to 12 hours a day, 5 or 6 days per week, for a salary of 350 Euros per month in a country where you need some 700 Euros to eat 3 meals a day, pay your bills and buy a T-shirt occasionally? NO? Neither the Romanians.
Do you think that there are no crimes committed by the British, Irish, Americans, French?
Stop somplaining. If your country wasn't a great coloniser, you will not be able to gain your salary today, for you may ignore it, but you need so much those Romanians, Bulgars or Indians to do the jobs you do not thiks are good enough for you, to pay your taxes and to make Great Britain the economic power it is today!
UE needs Romania to enlarge its borders. UE needs Romanian workers and Romanian brains (the IT recruits in India and Romania).
The majority of Romanians gave you windows, homes, food, looked for your children and payed taxes. The Romanians are also University teachers, engeneers lawers, doctors and writers.

A.B., Lyon, France

I will tell you why is Romania in EU: Because the older EU members (the big producers, like allso UK is) need additional market places for selling their products, and need new places where to develop their bussines based on cheep work, and good bussines conditions. The marekts in UK, Germnay and the big EU countryes are filled up and cannot develop at the same rate they would in a country that is in tranzition (in developement). This is why EU is extending his boundries, and will continue on expanding.
I think is fair to say UE needs Romania as much as Romania needs UE.

Alex21, Timisoara, Romania

whether we should be or not an eu member it is kinda late for you to judge. the fact is we are. and even if you like it or not, sooner or later britain will have to open the labour market for us. fair play,as there are numerous brits who are buying properties in romania now, thus making the prices to rocket . the 200000 chinese workers thing was is just a mith created by the right wing tabloids who are trying to scare the nation by creating a danger of a chinese invasion, pretty much the same as the romanian invasion scares the british. and yeah, it might be that when we will allowed to work there we will come in as big numbers as the poles did. if you don`t like it , tough. i`ve heard that they really need staff at bnp nowadays.

brebe, ploesti, romania

I understand Your view, Mr. B.T., however I must disagree, as what You say is oversimplified. Besides some criminals, which are normal in every society, Romania offers the EU some of the most well-prepared professionals in IT, some of the best doctors and a lot of excellent students and future university professors. Furthermore a great part of the Romanians who work legally in the other EU states are praised by employers as being the most hardworking people they have seen. Last but not least, the Romanian youth speaks more languages than other European youth, and wins most of the international intellectual competitions. The problem is that Your press is too much in love with scandal, and shows You only the dark side: a prostitute sells better than thousands of hardworking intellectuals. But I think that part of the problem is that ordinary people in the EU states are opaque to other cultures and know nothing about the cultural richness of easter European nations.

L.D., Brasov, Romania

Dear B.T, from Caversham, Berkshire ,maybe you should try to find out more facts about Romania and romanians before having your say. The situation in Romania is unicue, and some romanian are triyng to make a life faraway from home. You do not have the right to say that they are turning Europe back in the Middle Age. They are not all prostitutes and they are not all triyng to sell their children. They are just triyng to make a better life for them. Just because you were lucky enough to be born in the right country does not mean that your are better then the rest.

Chaning, Bucharet, Romania

The Times articles is fairly good, but it omits a lot of important aspects of Romanian politics. For example, the detail that those who impeached the president also forced the Constitutional Court to change the referendum law a few weeks before the impeachment referendum! Whoever knows about Romanian politics knows that Romanian mafia and Russian economics interests are involved in the current crisis. Unfortunately this is not well explained in this article.

MF, Woking, Surrey

For M. Big, Northampton,
How do you know that this article is poor researched? Have you ever been in Romania? I live in Bucharest, an I confirm that everything that you have read in this article is true. And this is not all...The article is not saying who are the people that stay against president Basescu...comunists and comunist political police officers.

gelu, bucharest, romania

It is true that mr Basescu is now under siege, because he is the only one brave enough to fight for Romania.
It is quite funny that people forgot now the events in '90s, when Ion Iliescu asked a street fight from the miners.
At that time, romanians were manipulated, and didn't know exactly what happened, how many people died or how many were injuried. Only now, when I see Europe's reaction at that time, to that events I realize how deep the truth is.
And now, Iliescu plays the role of an inocent man, supporting a left political group, and fights for what he calls democracy.
Well mr Iliescu, democracy can not be made with street fighting, with political crise, or with the same lies that we hear since '89.
We would like to have a real democracy, free of coruption and comunism.
We would like to know that our children have an education, a future, culture, jobs, and many other things that never were possible in the past, when Iliescu was president.

Catalin, Bucharest, Romania

FOR B.T.

TO claim that Romania is a source of crime and corruptionfor Uk's own misery is a little narrow minded. After all UK has its own criminals within and without the borders. Every country has its own share of criminal people. This however does not qualify descriptions of the country in such derogative forms. At the moment over 2 million romanians live and work in EU with the exception of UK and most of them bring positive contributions to their new home.
All the data about the country is too old to be taken seriously. The country's commitment to democracy and prosperity remains unshaken. Moreover, in spite of political instability Romania's economy is still booming and growing at the fastest rate currently in the EU. What happens in Romania has precedent in the EU. Italy has always had problems with corruption and yet it has prospered.

basyl wyatt, Oxford, UK

Have you been to Romania, B.T.?You can judge a nation by some people who emigrated in UK or some prostitutes...or other extreme examples from the media.No kid from Romania killed his colleagues because he wase depresed like in US or in your country.There is many good things in Romania, and we are very smart people..but, ya we have stupid leaders as you can see.After 45 years of comunism with one tv station, 10 min for day of cartoons:) and restriction to food, heat and many other things..is take long time to recover.Anyway you should come here to visit and see if we are the way you think.

Catul, Bacau, Romania

Well, I am a Romanian and I live in Bucharest. So I am very close to these realities. Although I have never been a Basescu's fan, I have to admit that they way he was suspended and all actions taken against him are unbelievable.
I am not sure if his oponents realise this, but they have turned him into a hero.
As for the new Justice Minister, what can I say...He is destroying everything which Monica Macovei did. If I were the Prime Minister of Romania, I would be ashamed to have such a person in my team.

Anca Stefanescu, Bucharest, Romania

The most politically orientated and poor researched article I ever seen. I dont know why I lost my time with it?

M. Big, Northampton,

The present interim President of Romania was involved himself in breaking UN sanctions against Yu, through a company put on the name of his wife. The most important weekly satirical magazine wrote about that at the time.
You forgot to tell about Bancorex, another bank devoided by politicians and police officers! And about Caritas also, a "gold mine" for some of the politicians.
Well, Basescu is not a saint, but one cannot help himself to ask: what these guys (Basescu and Macovei) did to stir up so hardly all the politicians (except Democrats, who counts for less than 25%), from right to left, almost all of them coming from the old communist party's structures?

Martin Zick, Bucharest, Romania

I do not wish British people to experience what Romanian people experienced over the last hundreds of years.
Mr. Basescu is the right person to continue fighting on corruption and ex-communist "elite" that pose nowadays as "business men" and angels that defend democracy. We had enough promises from the ex-comunist upper-class. The reality is that ex-communists have always considered Romanian people a mass of stupid individuals that are easy to manipulate and control while their so called "businesses" have kept adding cash to their personal bank accounts. Enough is enough! The time has come for a new start, to reform deeply the economy and the laws that govern the republic. The "red" oligarchs will fail to impeach the president on the 19th of May. Simply because romanians wish the best for their country and are not stupid. HAI ROMANIA!

Bogdan, Denver,

Message from Bucharest, Romania

I urge UK to support president Basescu in his fight against former communists and their oligarchy.
Europe should have an interest in pulling Romania out of Russian influence and also Europe should find ways for new types of energy. Otherwise, Rusia always will blackmail Europe.
This Saturday, Romanians will decide not necessarly if they want their president back in the office but if Romania will head for good to West.
The communist oligarchy will try to do whatever it takes to steal the votes and to influence the result of the referendum.
Please do not let that happend! Please support president Basescu!

Bogdan Popescu ( a Romanian who still believes that good things prevails)

bogdan popescu, Bucharest, Romania

From your political system this situation seems to be "absurd" . For a democracy there is a need to be 2 parties at least. In Romania are in this moment 4 or 5 competing for power. Because of the conflicts between them the transparency about the steps done by the government and strange bussines connections is increasing. We don't have the systems you have build so we need a conflictual state to stop any party in taking control of the resources. Sounds strange for you but it's a step forward for us. The most corupt moments in our new part of the history was in periods where one party had alone the power.
Our President is really trying to change something. It is hard and the comunists have used anything to stop the change. There is a real chance to have a changed Romania in the next years.

Dan , Timisoara, Romania

Though one should always back the Parliament against any single ruling person (such as the country's President), I believe this time it's not the case - Mr. Basescu is perfectly right to say that the Parliament has completly fallen under the spell of oligarchs. The sacking of the Justice Minster, Ms. Macovei, is one of the many proofs of this argument. I, for one, I'm backing the President on this one, and hope for the introduction of the Uninominal Vote as the criteria for forming the Parliament. Ing. Sorin Lumezeanu, Bucharest, Romania

Sorin, Bucharest, Romania