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Simeon Mitropolitski is a Canadian analyst, of Bulgarian origin, and a former syndicated columnist with the Bulgarian News Agency (BTA). He is the author of several hundred articles dealing with hot political and economic topics, both national and international.
He was part of the first group of Bulgarian intellectuals and students that began the opposition movement that finally put an end to the communist regime in this country in 1989, and in 1996-1997 participated in international observation teams during the elections in several Balkan countries - Romania, Albania and Bulgaria.
In 2002 Simeon and his family moved from Bulgaria to Canada where they live now in Montreal, province of Quebec. Simeon is a Master of Political Science from McGill University and a B.A. of Political Science and History.
Global Real Estate Project
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Romania: None of the options is good
In the ex-communist countries, as we had numerous occasions to show, the strong presidential office is bad for the country. The original idea that stood behind this strong office was that it would push the country away from the communism. In fact, however, it always acted against the democratic development. The only reason why strong presidents in Eastern Europe wouldn't turn overnight into dictators is the lack of ethnic homogeneity, a factor that really makes presidential office above all other institutions. So, the conflict between the Romanian president and parliament should lead to a better-quality democracy only if it leads to constitutional amendments reducing the powers of the president vis-à-vis the parliament. The chances for such development, however, are negligible. Even if it happens, in the Romanian context, however, this may not lead to better-quality democracy given the corrupted political system. The suspended president had become an advocate of a cleaner political system. That's how he managed to facilitate the Romanian entry into the EU earlier this year; that's why he has so many political friends in Brussels and in Washington; that's why he still enjoys such overwhelming popularity among Romanian people. If he's definitely removed from office, this may be a good sign for the democratic quality in one sense, but will be a bad sign for the democratic quality in another sense. An administrative system built on corruption is better reformed from outside than inside. Eliminating this outsider will make the system less vulnerable for improvement. Some analysts argue that the EU membership and the European conditionality for new members act undoubtedly in favor of political democratization, economic liberalization, and fight against corruption. To some degree this is true, but only if we take countries that start from a very low level of democracy, liberalism and transparency. For countries above a certain level, the EU influence isn't always so beneficial as expected. In our case, once the EU leverage weakened after Romania became a full member, the old habits reappeared on the surface. The reforms, and to some degree the appearance of reforms, was necessary only to get the entry tickets. Once inside, the old cost-benefit calculations become useless. And, unfortunately, none of the options on the table to move out of the crisis is good for Romania.
Romania country profile: --------------------
See also the directory of companies providing real estate services in, and general real estate information of Romania.
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