Republic of Romania

History of Romanian Republic

People's Republic of Romania

Bucharest Parliament Palace At the end of the World War II, the Soviet troops remained on the Romanian territory and the country knew an evolution similar to the other satellite countries of the USSR. The Communist government was set up under the guidance of Gheorghe Gheorghiu-dej, the general secretary of the party. The power was taken over by the communists exclusively, the political parties were dismantled, and their members persecuted and sent to prison.

Nicolae Rădescu, a leading military general who assumed power briefly following the conclusion of World War II, was forced to resign by the Soviet Union. Petru Groza, (December 7, 1884 - January 7, 1958) became Premier of the state's coalition government from 1945 to 1952. On December 30, 1947, King Michael I was forced to abdicate and the same day, the People’s Republic of Romania was proclaimed.

Constantin Ion Parhon (October 15, 1874 - August 9, 1969) was head of state from 1947 to 1952. The industrial, banking and transport units were nationalized (1948), and the forced collectivization of the agriculture was carried out between 1949 and 1962.

Ion Gheorghe Maurer became head of state (President of the Presidium of the Great National Assembly of Romania) in 1958-1961, and then Prime Minister of Romania from 1961 to 1974, when he retired from public life.

Socialist Republic of Romania

In the early 1960s, Romania's communist government began to assert some independence from the Soviet Union. Nicolae Ceauşescu became head of the Communist Party in 1965 and head of state in 1967. Ceauşescu's denunciation of the 1968 Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia and a brief relaxation in internal repression helped give him a positive image both at home and in the West. During the 1970s, Ceauşescu attempted to modernise the Romanian economy further, by investing huge amounts of money borrowed from Western credit institutions. Due to his grandiose development projects, the Romanian people were submitted to a rigorous austerity program in the 1980s since Ceauşescu wanted to pay off the country's accumulated foreign debt within a short period. The standards of living plunged considerably as Romania exported much of its food and fuel production.

Romania was nearly the last of the Eastern European communist regimes to fall. Protests and riots broke out in Timişoara on December 17, 1989 soldiers opened fire on the protesters, killing about 100 people. The uprising of Timişoara became known across the country and in the morning of December 21 protests spread to Sibiu, Bucharest, and elsewhere. Ceauşescu fled from Bucharest in an helicopter to Târgovişte, where he was formally tried and shot on December 25.

Republic of Romania

Ion Iliescu emerged as the leader of the uprising. An impromptu governing coalition, the National Salvation Front (FSN), under Iliescu's leadership, seized power, the Communist Party was outlawed, democracy and freedom restored.

Presidential and parliamentary elections were held on May 20, 1990. Iliescu won 85% of the popular vote and thus became the first democratically elected president of Romania. The FSN secured two-thirds of the seats in Parliament. Petre Roman, a professor at the Technical University of Bucharest and a person with strong family roots in the Communist Party, was named Prime Minister.

Dissatisfied with the continued political and economic influence of members of the Ceauşescu-era elite, anti-communist protesters organized a mass-rally in the University Square in April 1990. At Iliescu's request, thousands of miners from the Jiu Valley descended on Bucharest, under the command of their trade union leader Miron Cozma, and violently cleared the University Square, destroyed the headquarters of the opposition parties as well as the private residences of the opposition leaders. The Petre Roman government fell in late September 1991, when the miners returned to Bucharest to demand higher salaries and better living conditions.

In December 1991, a new constitution was drafted and subsequently adopted, after a popular referendum. Iliescu won the presidential elections in September 1992 by, and his party won the general elections held at the same time. The new government was formed in November 1992 under Prime Minister Nicolae Văcăroiu.

Emil Constantinescu won the second round of the 1996 presidential elections and thus replaced Iliescu as chief of state. The new coalition government, under prime minister Victor Ciorbea remained in office until March 1998, when Radu Vasile took over as prime minister. Former National Bank's governor, Mugur Isărescu eventually replaced Radu Vasile as head of the government in 1999-2000.

In the 2000 elections Iliescu won a third term as the country's president. Adrian Năstase became the Prime Minister of the newly formed government.

Presidential and parliamentary elections took place again on November 28, 2004. No political party was able to secure a viable parliamentary majority and there was no winner in the first round of the presidential elections. Traian Băsescu, won the second round on December 12, 2004, thus became the third post-revolutionary president of Romania. Călin Popescu-Tăriceanu had the task of building a coalition government and in December 2004, the new coalition government was sworn in.

European Union

Romania joined NATO in 2004, and the country is scheduled to join the European Union, alongside Bulgaria, in 2007. The EU accession treaty was signed on April 25, 2005 at Luxembourg. The treaty contains a safeguard clause, which allows delaying entry for a year, in case EU-standards are not met.