Thousands take to the streets in support of striking teachers

Introduction

New government voted into power

On 15th June 2023, the Romanian parliament elected a new government. Marcel Ciolacu, the leader of the Social Democratic Party (PSD), became the new prime minister, while many positions in the cabinet remained unchanged.

The reshuffle was the result of a political compromise between the PSD, National Liberal Party (PNL) and the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania (UDMR), which was signed in 2021 and aims to create a stable government structure. As part of the agreement between the three parties, the previous prime minister, PNL’s Nicolae Ciucă, was to swap places with a PSD candidate in May 2023 as part of a rotating premiership system. However, he postponed his resignation as the country was hit by a major teachers’ strike.

Exposing Romania's progress on the rule of law: a closer look behind the European Commission's report

On 5th June 2023, the European Commission published its 2023 Rule of Law Report, and the overall assessment of Romania was rather positive. According to the report, although corruption remains a persistent issue, Romania has reportedly maintained a “positive record in combating corruption”, with particular emphasis on the government’s efforts to strengthen the independence of the judiciary and the National AntiCorruption Directorate, the country’s specialised public prosecutor's office for preventing and prosecuting corruption-related offences.

However, in February 2023, the report by the Romanian human rights watchdog APADOR-CH (Association for Defence of Human Rights in Romania - Helsinki Committee) painted a less positive picture of Romania’s efforts in the fight against corruption. APADOR-CH also pointed out serious problems with regard to public consultations, the restriction of media freedom, the restriction of freedom of expression and the restriction of NGOs' access to the legal system.

Freedom of Assembly

Pride March in Iași continues despite condemnation by local church

On 11th June 2023, 600 people marched through the streets of Iași for Pride. This marks the third Pride March organised by the Rise OUT Association in the East-Romanian town. Around 30 counter-demonstrators were also present, reportedly chanting “Iași is not Sodom” and wearing religious symbols. The local church in Iași condemned the march. As previously reported by the CIVICUS Monitor, in the 2022 Pride March in Iași, hundreds of people were attacked by conservative and religious counter-protestors.

In an independent yet related development, on 23rd May 2023, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) ruled that Romania had violated the European Convention on Human Rights, which protects family life, in the case of 21 same-sex couples who sued the Romanian state. This judgement refers to the Romanian Civil Code, which still does not recognise the right to marriage or civil partnership for same-sex couples. Without this recognition, LGBTQI+ couples encounter difficulties being present during healthcare emergencies, obtaining joint medical insurance, securing property and employment rights, and applying for bank loans. This decision by the European court is binding for the 46 member states, establishing a legal precedent for all these countries to provide recognition and protection to same-sex families.

However, Romania has a notorious track record of not implementing ECtHR judgments. A report conducted by the European Implementation Network and Democracy Reporting International found that Romania is the EU country with the largest number of ECtHR decisions awaiting implementation, with 113 of the court’s rulings against the country not implemented as of 1st January 2023. The report also identifies that the countries with the most unenforced judgments (Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Italy, Romania) are the ones experiencing systemic problems with the rule of law.

Teachers strike for better pay for the first time in 18 years

On 22nd May 2023, Romania's teachers initiated a nationwide general strike, for the first time in 18 years, to demand improved pay. New teachers in Romania are paid less than half the national average salary (2,400 lei and 4,554 lei, respectively, approximately EUR 480 and 910). Unions have called for a 25% wage increase, alongside enhanced investments in educational infrastructure and teaching supplies. In 2023, Romania allocated more than 3% of its GDP to education, falling short of the government's commitment to raise spending to 6%.

After numerous rounds of negotiations and government offers, on 12th June 2023, the unions announced the conclusion of the general strike, contingent upon the government's approval of the proposals through an emergency ordinance, which was subsequently granted. The government agreed to increase the basic salaries of teaching staff and auxiliary teaching staff in pre-university education and higher education institutions by 1,300 lei gross (around EUR 260).

Numerous protests with thousands of participants took place before and during the general strike, in which 150,000 teachers and a further 60,000–70,000 teaching and support staff took part.

• On 10th May 2023, nearly 10,000 union members demanded better salaries and working conditions in the Romanian school system on the streets of Bucharest.
• On 25th May 2023, around 10,000 protesters marched from the government building in Bucharest towards the Parliament building, chanting “dignity,” “thieves,” and “shame on you.”
• On 30th May 2023, once again about 10,000 gathered in Victoriei Square in Bucharest, in front of the Government, and then marched to the President’s office demanding his intervention. Teachers also protested in Cluj, Timișoara, Drobeta-Turnu Severin and Sfântu Gheorghe.
• On 9th June 2023, over 10,000 protestors took to the streets in Bucharest to support the teachers’ cause.

The protests passed off peacefully, without any significant altercations reported.

Healthcare workers protest for better pay and working conditions

On the 8th of June, healthcare workers began a strike, with approximately 2,500 of them protesting in Bucharest to demand higher wages, improved working conditions, and an increase in staff numbers. Due to inflation, the real wages of healthcare workers (similar to teachers) have been steadily declining. According to the Health Solidarity Federation, this decline will result in a reduction in healthcare quality. The primary concerns of the protesters centre around the insufficient wages provided to nurses and auxiliary staff, currently ranging between 2,500 and 3,000 lei (equivalent to 500 to 600 Euros).

A week later, the Health Solidarity Federation called on its members to picket hospitals between 12:00-12:30. These picket protests, occurring in Bucharest and across the country, aimed to alert government officials to the imminent threat of a general strike.

Police join strikes for better pay

On 8th June 2023, alongside teachers and healthcare workers, members of the Romanian police and prison service also went on strike in front of the European Commission representation in Bucharest. The police union expressed concerns about the “unprecedented shortage of personnel in the Interior Ministry, when, for the first time, at police training schools, after the knowledge verification stage, there were 0.57 candidates per place.” Previously, on 30th May 2023, police officers in the penitentiary system also went on strike to protest against the special pension reform project.

AUR protest in Parliament turns violent

On May 10th, a protest organised by the extreme right-populist Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR) Party outside the Parliament building turned violent. The protest was directed against a legislative proposal to establish support services for children from at-risk families (those affected by poverty, lack of social assistance and basic education, inadequate housing, etc.), the stated aim of which is to address the children’s needs within the home and prevent family separation. However, the AUR party claims that the proposal is “anti-family”, and aimed at separating Romanians from their children in order to complete the process of “selling Romania” to occult Western forces that would impose a “globalist dictatorship” on the country.

The demonstrators clashed with the police, who declared the protest illegal. Police announced that they had launched an investigation into a member of the AUR party who had attempted to enter the building while allegedly carrying ammunition. George Simion, the chairman of the AUR, denied this allegation and stated that the bullets found by the police were keychains. The protest escalated when Ludovic Orban, the country’s former liberal prime minister, tried to pass through the crowd in order to enter the building. Orban reported that he was verbally attacked, spat at and kicked by the demonstrators. Another member of parliament, Csoma Botond from the UDMR party, also reported being attacked by demonstrators.

Freedom of Expression

Journalist intimidated and insulted for requesting information about illegal logging

On 18th May 2023, Crina Boros, a British freelance journalist of Romanian origin, faced verbal abuse and intimidation when seeking data on logging permits and loggers from the Ministry of Environment.

Boros had submitted two Freedom of Information (FOI) requests to SUMAL, the ministry’s Forests Department data and IT service, for her investigative project on illegal mining and habitat destruction in Romania. These requests were in line with Romania’s legal obligations under FOI law.

Boros' first FOI request was met with minimal data. After repeated requests for a meeting, Boros attended a meeting at the SUMAL office in Bucharest with the director of Freedom House Romania, Cristina Guseth. Instead of a productive discussion, Boros was met with aggressive behaviour from SUMAL staff. During the meeting, an unnamed person from the environment minister's control corps forced Boros to stop recording, shouted misogynistic remarks and attempted to intimidate her in order to stop her accessing the information. After she was expelled from the meeting, SUMAL staff reluctantly showed Boros some, but not all, of the requested data and only allowed her to take handwritten notes.

The International Press Institute (IPI) condemned the incident. They called on the Environment Minister to publicly reprimand his staff for their behaviour. The IPI found that the ministry was in breach of Article 15 of the FOI law, which states that the mass media must be guaranteed access to information of public interest. Logging and forestry data have been notoriously elusive to journalists, with previous FOI requests only partially fulfilled. Notably, in 2021, filmmakers Mihai Dragolea and Radu Constantin were physically assaulted while documenting illegal logging in north-east Romania.

Concerns over security services’ interference in upcoming elections due to powers introduced by cybersecurity law

Romania's new cybersecurity law, passed in the Senate in December 2022, has expanded the jurisdiction of the Romanian Intelligence Service (SIR) into the political sphere, raising concerns that the new powers granted to the SIR could enable it to influence the upcoming elections, potentially leading to the banning of websites or the censoring of political speech deemed to be “disinformation.” Although the law was challenged before the Constitutional Court, it has been upheld as constitutional.

On 20th July 2023, APADOR-CH requested the Ombudsman to appeal to the Constitutional Court, introducing new arguments, particularly focusing on the problematic nature of a subsection of Article 3 of the new law. The vague language in this article allows the SRI to characterise any public statements of opinion—political or otherwise—as threats to national security, potentially jeopardising freedom of speech and political rights.

Major Romanian TV station fined for hate speech about investigative journalist’s suicide

On 27th April 2023, the National Audiovisual Council (CAN), the Romanian media regulator, imposed a fine of 100,000 lei (EUR 20,000) on Romania TV. This is the highest fine ever imposed by the media regulator and also the highest it can impose.

The fine was imposed in response to the way the television station reported on the death of journalist Iulia Marin, who took her own life on 18th April 2023. Marin had been living with bipolar disorder and depression, and had long spoken about her mental health issues on social media. She was known for her investigative reporting and worked for many reputable media outlets, including her last employer, the daily newspaper Libertatea.

Victor Ciutacu, a presenter on Romania TV, publicly stated that Marin was not suitable to work in the media due to her “mental problems” and discussed her death with guests on two television programmes he hosted in a very humiliating and discrediting manner. Romania TV then issued a statement accusing the editor-in-chief of Libertatea of causing Marin’s death, claiming she should have been tasked with writing about culture, ecology or leisure due to her circumstances. In response, over 200 journalists, psychotherapists, non-governmental organisations and public figures signed a letter protesting Romania TV’s hate speech towards Marin.

Later, in June 2023, CAN issued two public summonses (but no fine) for programs broadcast in late April in which Romania TV addressed the death of the journalist.

NGOs call on the public prosecutor’s office to act in Emilia Șercan case

In July 2023, 19 NGOs signed a memorandum calling on the country’s General Prosecutor to ensure an effective and expedient criminal investigation into the case of journalist Emilia Șercan. She became the target of a misogynistic harassment campaign due to her investigative work. The memorandum emphasises that, despite numerous complaints, the authorities have not taken the necessary legal steps to investigate the reported offences for more than a year.

As CIVICUS Monitor has previously reported, Emilia Șercan has been subjected to abuse and harassment since her investigation into a plagiarism case involving the Prime Minister. She initially filed a complaint with the police in 2022 after her private photos were uploaded to porn sites.

The memorandum expresses concern that the inaction of the authorities may indicate that there are no effective means of preventing such offences and that investigative journalists who expose the misconduct of high-ranking officials are not sufficiently protected by law.