MIRCEA MARIAN: “We have all sorts of urban legends that appeared during Basescu’s presidency mandate: the man wants to become a dictator, like Putin, he walks drunk in the gardens of Cotroceni Palace, or the gas is expensive because he had upset the Russians.”
Yet, the story with the best catch in the media – and I include myself – is that which says that no chief of state is visiting Romania due to the President’s aggressive personality. So, it seems we’re isolated because Basescu is a broiler.
I don’t want to become the President’s advocate, especially because I know from my own experience how much Basescu can upset you when he is nervous and aggressive. But I believe that it would be unfair to believe that we are an isolated state, after the George W. Bush’s fore coming visit in Romania. Had Bush chose to arrive only at the Summit, we could have thought that his visit was purely formal and that it didn’t matter whether he had to go to Sofia or Budapest.
Yet, President Bush will visit two cities, Bucharest and Neptun, near the Black Sea. And considering the extreme security measures that are involved, it’s fair to accept the fact that Basescu’s foreign politics had a good echo, at least in Washington. The Russian/American press conference programmed at the sea shore shows that not even the Americans are bothered by the rough statements, that the Black Sea shouldn’t be a Russian lake anymore.
Off course, the skeptics point of view concerns our relation to the EU. I believe the times when the Europeans didn’t enjoy our close relation to the US are gone. Merkel and Sarkozy are pro-American, unlike their predecessors. France’s President has also recently paid a visit in Romania. I’d say that we have more problems with the Executive, who still is falling behind with Romania’s obligations toward the European Union.
Many might wonder what do we get from the fact that Bush comes to Romania. Ford bought the factory in Craiova, which shows that the Americans are willing to invest and probably won’t resume to this acquisition. Also, it’s worth reminding that Basescu was involved in the Ford matter, ever since his visit in South Korea, when the factory was supposed to be bought back from Daewoo and until he had gone to the Ford headquarters, in Detroit, in September 2006.
The Americans might show more sympathy toward the visa issue. The fact that over a third of the requests are denied is, sometimes, quite unfair and I don’t believe that it should be a criteria for entering the Visa Waiver program. Romanian Grannies who wish to go raise their little nephews in America will never understand that the embassy’s office men see that they will work illegally as nannies.
Many Romanians are asking themselves why are our soldiers good enough to fight and die in Afghanistan and Iraq, while the American officials continue to treat us as awkward citizens, who are willing to wash dishes in the beautiful country of the American dream. Our national pride would deserve at least this much: the hope that after a while, we will manage to escape the visa humiliation.
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