“Aggressive... stinky Gypsy” (Romanian President Traian Basescu)

On 19 May, 2007, the day the Romanian President Traian Basescu was voted back to his position by an overwhelming majority, he was recorded talking to his wife about a Romanian journalist from a TV station owned by a political opponent, saying: “...how aggressive this stinky gypsy woman was…”

President Basescu is by far the most popular politician in Romania.

On the same day, 19 May, four years ago, Traian Basescu, at that time mayor of Bucharest, reportedly said “[Gypsies] are nomads and nobody can do anything about them... they will bring their horses into the flats and there any attempt to civilize them ends... we should build special camps and keep them outside our cities,” according to the daily Cotidianul.

A few days before the latest incident, on 12 May, 2007, the former Romanian King Mihai, speaking on Romanian TV about his disgust with the political crisis in Romania, described the situation as “gypsy-like.” 

In an article in February 2006, Adrian Cioroianu, current minister of foreign affairs and a strong opponent of Basescu, implied that Roma in one of Bucharest’s neighbourhoods, Chitila, smell bad and are criminals. His article defending the eviction of convicted Roma accuses Romani women of starting a fight that triggered police action as the police “tried to protect the children from their own irresponsible parents.” He also accuses the Romanian police of being too soft on the Roma. Cioroianu uses the strong pejorative “pirande” to refer to Romani women; a word many Roma consider similar to the term “nigger.” In the same article, Cioroianu spoke out against the Hungarians, who, he implies, have a hidden interest in making visible the issues faced by Roma in Romania in an attempt to prevent Romania’s accession to the EU. Cioroianu is one of the best-known intellectuals in Romania, a former Euro-observer and future member of the European Parliament, who writes regularly for Dilema, a well-regarded intellectual magazine.

Since the regime change in Romania in 1990, a significant number of incidents have been reported suggesting that anti-Gypsyism is deeply ingrained in the Romanian society. Polls from the end of 2006 show that 75 per cent of Romanians do not want to live near Roma and over 50 per cent of Romanian villagers would support forced sterilisation of Roma women.

In 2004, the European Commission Report published on 25 October asked that: “The Romanian authorities should demonstrate, at all levels, that the country applies a zero-tolerance policy on racism against Roma or against any other minority or group and that this policy is effectively implemented.”

Romania is now part of the European Union. Yet its highest officials: the president, the minister of foreign affairs and the president of the Romanian senate (who was also the Romanian President for 30 days up to 20 May 2007) have made public statements deeply offensive to Roma.

The launch of the European Year of Equal opportunities in Romania stirred up controversy as Roma believed they were portrayed stereotypically in the video spot of the campaign.

There are no Roma working or targeted to work for the Romanian Presidency or Romanian Foreign Ministry. Up to this moment, the main Romanian parties seem completely uninterested in promoting Roma for the European Parliament despite the fact that the European Union institutions are very vocal about the inclusion of what they consider the most discriminated ethnic minority in Europe. Paradoxically, however, none of the other European institutions employ any Roma.

Estimates put Roma in Romania at around 2 million. Most of them voted for President Basescu. The future for them seems very far from the bright one the President promised.

Valeriu Nicolae,
European Roma Grassroots Organisation

22.05.07