By Claudia Ciobanu
BUCHAREST, Oct 22 2007 (IPS)

Twice this year, the Romanian National Anti-Discrimination Council has had to issue judgments about problematic statements made by President Traian Basescu. In one of the instances, the Council declared the head of state guilty of discrimination against the Roma.

But the Council cleared Basescu Oct. 15 of accusations of discrimination against the Armenian community. The ruling came in response to a complaint Sep. 12 by the Union of Armenians in Romania.

Basescu underwent surgery for a thyroid problem early September. He was operated on by a team of eight medics led by Mircea Ghemigian, a Romanian citizen of Armenian origin. When leaving hospital, Basescu said he had found in the doctor “finally, a good Armenian.”

Varujan Vosganian, leader of the Union of Armenians in Romania, immediately retorted: “The statement of President Traian Basescu is a very serious insult to the Armenian community in Romania and to Armenians everywhere.”

Vosganian said Basescu is “obsessed with personal conflicts” and that his attitude could become a threat to democracy in Romania. Some commentators have suggested that, more than an example of a discriminatory attitude against Armenians, the President’s comment was an attempt to provoke Vosganian, one of Basescu’s political rivals.

The Armenian community in Romania numbers around 2,000, in a population of 22 million. Partly because of this tiny size, discrimination against Armenians in rarely considered an issue.

On the other hand, it is hard to deny that the almost two million Roma living in the country are being discriminated against. Another controversial comment, made by Basescu in the spring of this year, validates this view.

Romanians voted in a referendum May 19 to confirm Basescu as president. The majority of political parties in Romania, both from the government and the opposition, had called for suspension of the President, but more than 80 percent of voting Romanians backed Basescu.

That day, while waiting for the results of the referendum, Basescu, a fan of direct contact with “the people”, decided to go shopping in one of the capital’s largest supermarkets. The media was informed about this outing.

Annoyed by several insistent questions from a reporter, Basescu took away the mobile phone of a reporter with which she had taken pictures of him. When the phone was returned to her the next day, the device had on it the recording of a private conversation between the President and his wife. In this recording Basescu was heard describing the journalist as “a stinky gypsy”.

The Roma rights association Romani Criss immediately filed a complaint against the President with the National Anti-Discrimination Council, arguing that the phrase Basescu used to describe the journalist was offensive to the Roma. The Council agreed that the statement was discriminatory, and issued a warning to the President.

Sociologist Andreea Vantu has been studying how this incident was perceived by Roma people in Romania. According to her, interviewees said that the words of the President represent merely the “tip of the iceberg” in a larger structure of discrimination that affects them in all aspects of life.

“Roma people are more bothered by offences coming from their colleagues and other people they interact with on a daily basis,” Vantu told IPS. “A stereotypical portrait of the Roma has already been formed in the minds of the people, and now it is reproducing itself to become stronger and stronger.” Numerous common phrases or spontaneous expressions containing negative references to the Roma (such as the one Basescu used) are frequent in daily conversations.

The Roma people interviewed by Vantu also say that the language of the President contributes to the legitimisation and perpetuation of discriminatory views, as it encourages people to behave offensively towards the Roma.

“Through his attitude, President Traian Basescu is seriously damaging the efforts made lately by the Romanian society towards the promotion of tolerance and implementation of policies of social inclusion,” says Renate Weber, president of the Romanian branch of Soros Foundation, one of the more active organisations in the country in the field of Roma inclusion.

At the same time, Vantu says, Roma people feel “disengaged with the views of the President”, and they no longer expect him to represent them. “They do not any more perceive themselves as belonging to the audience the President of Romania addresses. They are less and less interested in voting, in political activity.”

The Roma already represent one of the most socio-economically disadvantaged segments of Romanian society. If they withdraw from the political process, their chances of improving this condition significantly decrease.

As a result of strong prejudice against them and their marginalisation in the political sphere, Roma people in Romania could become increasingly isolated. “And the more isolated the group, the stronger the discriminative stereotype becomes,” warns Vantu, indicating that such a vicious circle might become too difficult to break.

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