Another "hero" comes along (BBC News)

Rich populist woos Romanians

By Oana Lungescu European Affairs correspondent, Bucharest

Published: 2007/03/16 10:57:12 GMT

Less than three months after Romania joined the EU, the country is in deep political crisis, with the president and prime minister accusing each other of lying and corruption.

Meanwhile, a third man is climbing in the polls. He is Gigi Becali, the multi-millionaire boss of the champion Steaua football club.

From humble beginnings as a shepherd, Mr Becali made his fortune in real estate after the fall of communism to become one of Romania's richest men and the second most popular politician after the president himself.

His New Generation Party (PNG) headquarters is as flamboyant as the man - a palace in Bucharest being polished back to its former glory with no expense spared.

Restorers carefully apply gold leaf to every moulding, while Gigi Becali, a dark-haired man in his late forties, looks on whistling O Sole Mio.

In Berlusconi's footsteps

His soulmate among European politicians is Silvio Berlusconi. Like the former Italian prime minister, Mr Becali wants to use football and money to get to the top. But he is also a devout Orthodox Christian.

I met him on his return from Mount Athos, the holiest site in Eastern Orthodoxy. He often goes there in a private jet to pray before key matches.

His office looks more like a shrine, with Byzantine icons on every wall, a life-size painting of himself as St John in the desert and on his desk a statuette of his namesake St George killing the dragon.

"I too want to kill the devil in Romania, the corruption and lies," he tells me, with an eye on the huge TV screen in the corner to check how often his own face pops up on the news channel.

So how does he explain his spectacular rise from shepherd to multi-millionaire politician?

"In the Byzantine Empire, the great kings were shepherds. And if you want me to quote the Bible, Jesus didn't say I am your captain or your driver, but I am your shepherd. So in Romanian politics, I see myself as an apostle because I'm trying to do something no one has tried before", he said.

"Now that Europe has been reunited, I also want to see a spiritual reunification of Europe, I want western Christian-democracy to be enriched by Eastern Orthodoxy. If we don't counter sin with faith, then the end of the world is nigh," Mr Becali says.

Fan base

This messianic tone goes down well in a country where the Orthodox Church is the most trusted institution. Football too enjoys cult status.

At a match in the Black Sea port of Constanta, I saw Steaua fans furiously chanting and waving their red and blue banners.

Some even had flags that looked suspiciously like iron crosses. Notorious for their violence and their racist taunts against Hungarian, Roma or black players, they are a force to be reckoned with, on the pitch and at the polls.

"Gigi would make Romania a cleaner and fairer country, because he has faith in God and he wants to clean out the mafia," one young man said. "He helps poor people, he understands their difficulties, while other politicians do nothing," said another.

Help for poor

For leading political analyst Alina Mungiu-Pippidi, Mr Becali "satisfies an important need in the voters right now - the need to denounce the whole corruption of the political system".

"He managed to create an image for himself of a person who not just speaks differently from the rest of the political class, but also is different. He's a man of his word, he is a provider, he delivers what he says he does," Alina Mungiu-Pippidi says.

The proof can be seen in a village in eastern Romania called Vadu-Rosca. It is now known as Becali's village.

The houses here were swept away by catastrophic floods two years ago. Then came Mr Becali in his trademark Maybach limousine and promised to build them all up again. And so he did.

Eleonora Lazar showed me into one of 200 identical small white bungalows, all built by Mr Becali. A widow with three children, she told me she had more faith in the football boss than in the government.

"He's so generous, he deserves to become president," she says. "Why should we elect someone who didn't even bother about us? We pray for him every day, for his health and so people should stop accusing him of all sorts of things. He's never done anything bad," Mrs Lazar told me.

Mr Becali has fought off accusations of tax evasion and dodgy deals. He equally rejects any charges of extremism and intolerance.

Anti-gay stance

But what about an offer he made last year to give a few million dollars to anyone who would root out homosexuality in Romania? Amid the faint smell of incense that pervades his office and with three bodyguards looking on, he got visibly angry.

"I love homosexuals like everyone else. I have nothing against them. But I insist, it's a sin. And I will repeat it everywhere, including in the European Parliament, because I'm not afraid of any European policy or whatever, homosexuality is a sin, and that's that!" he shouted.

If he is elected, I asked him, what are the first three things he plans to do?

"I will ask God to give me wisdom," came the answer after a pause. "He will tell me, this is the first thing you should do, this is the second, and this is the third. I can't tell you now what God will tell me then."

Mr Becali's parting words were just as striking. "We'll see," he told me with a smile, "if you are on the side of God or on that of the devil."

In one of Europe's poorest countries, his voice is unashamedly anti-liberal, promising some sort of salvation to those angered and frustrated with conventional party politics.

Political turmoil

Mr Becali's party is gaining ground on the more established Greater Romania Party, which recently caused a stir in the European Parliament by helping to form a new ultra-nationalist group.

Polls credit PNG's list headed by Gigi Becali with 10-15% of the vote, which could see it wining four to six seats of the 35 allotted to Romania in the European Parliament.

But as Alina Mungiu-Pippidi explains, it is not just happening in Romania. "People like Becali and others in Central Europe, where everywhere radical populism is on the rise, are the product of a certain failure in our political transition," she says.

"Our transitions were very successful economically, they succeeded in bringing our countries into the EU, but didn't succeed in creating normal politics. If Becali fails, it's going to be somebody else. The problem is that normal politics don't manage to deliver as they should," Mrs Mungiu-Pippidi says.

If he fails, Mr Becali told me he would buy a few thousand sheep, make cheese and stop answering journalists' questions.

But many fear his flock will be the stray sheep of Romania's long transition to democracy.

Timidly peeking out into the world (Wall Street Journal)

Transylvanian Town Set to Shine as This Year's European Cultural Capital

By MARK BAKER
March 16, 2007

Although Sibiu's recorded history goes back eight centuries, a stroll through this city's broad, handsome squares and neat, cobblestone alleys in many ways feels like a glimpse into Romania's happier future.

The sheer anarchy of a place like Bucharest makes you wonder if the European Union didn't bite off more than it could chew this time around, when it took in both Romania and Bulgaria as members in January. The social fabric of the capital seems so shorn apart, you wonder if it can ever be knit back together.

But here in Sibiu, about 250 kilometers northwest of Bucharest deep in the heart of Transylvania, you sense a social and cultural cohesiveness that immediately feels different and even sparks a glimmer or two of, well, euro-optimism. Maybe it's the anarchy that's the anomaly, and this is the real Romania.

That was probably the hope in Brussels when the Council of Ministers chose Sibiu to co-host, along with Luxembourg, the European Cultural Capital for 2007. At any rate, they couldn't have selected a more Europe-friendly introduction to the EU's newest member state. A visit here makes a fine weekend for anyone looking for an unexpected touch of architectural beauty and plenty of culture to go along with it.

Few people will have ever heard of Sibiu, but for centuries the city—known by its German name of Hermannstadt—played an important role in governing Transylvania, what the Germans called Siebenbürgen to refer to the region's seven fortified towns. German settlers were originally brought in by the Hungarian kings in the 12th century to secure the region from Tatar barbarians to the east.

By many measures, Sibiu was the most successful of these Saxon-dominated burgs. In the 15th century, the town's clannish Saxons repelled wave after wave of attack from the feared Ottoman Turks. Just 100 years later, Sibiu was hailed in travel books of the time as the biggest and most beautiful of the seven German towns. One account describes it as "only a hint smaller than Vienna," then the seat of the Hapsburg Empire.

Sibiu's lapse into relative obscurity began in the middle of the 19th century. The Compromise of 1867, establishing the dual Austrian-Hungarian monarchy, transferred Transylvania to Hungarian control. The Hungarians preferred to run their affairs from Kolozsvár (the modern Romanian city of Cluj-Napoca), Sibiu's rival to the north. By the end of World War I, when Transylvania was awarded to Romania, Sibiu had dwindled to the status of a prosperous county seat—essentially what it is today, with a population of about 170,000.

The 20th century wasn't kind to Sibiu's Germans. The Nazis dominated this area in World War II, and many of the ethnic Germans who survived the war were expelled in its aftermath. The rest fell victim to Nicolae Ceausescu's crushing version of Communism. Many eventually escaped to West Germany or were bartered by the regime like car parts in exchange for deutsche marks.

Today's ethnic-German population numbers only about 3,000, though it is the town's undeniable Saxon feel that visitors will notice first. The architectural styles -- a fusion of early Gothic with a later overlay of Hapsburg-inspired Baroque and Secession -- the faded pastel colors, and the rough-hewn textures of the walls and roofs all recall something of a prosperous German or Austrian provincial capital.

And the sheer scale of the historic core is shocking. The central Piata Mare, the Large Square, is one-and-a-half football fields long and another one wide. Unlike Prague's or Krakow's central square, this one is largely unadorned in keeping with more modest Saxon tastes, but it provides a dramatic backdrop to a leisurely stroll on a warm evening.

Sibiu's trademark feature has to be the evocative, eye-shaped dormer windows that stare down from ancient rooftops across the city. In the years before 1989, their relentless gaze must have felt more than a little sinister—like the watchful eyes of 1,000 Securitate informers. (This was not such a stretch in the 1980s, when Ceausescu's son Nicu lived here as a kind of village-idiot overlord). But these days the windows' upturned corners appear to be smiling.

The European Cultural Capital designation is one of those quaint bureaucratic honorifics for which Brussels is famous. Each year, the EU Council of Ministers chooses one or two cities to showcase its history as a way of parading Europe's cultural diversity. Being a cultural capital is a big deal for smaller cities like Sibiu. Curiously, Brussels doesn't provide any extra funding to the winners, but at the same time, the mere designation alone exerts a kind of "Olympics effect" on the hosts. It's a perfect excuse for city fathers to finally fix up the sewer systems and streetlights, to paint the facades and make sure all those glossy "Invest in Our Town" brochures are neatly stacked up at the tourist information office.

Sibiu has spent about $100 million on infrastructure and renovation, according to Cristian Radu, an energetic, young-looking man who's in charge of coordinating the year's events. That's big bucks in a country where a decent salary tops out at $10,000 a year, and many people make much less. Sibiu probably hasn't looked this good since the Compromise of 1867.

Sibiu's main attractions are clustered amid its three main squares – the Piata Mare, Piata Mica (Small Square), and Piata Huet (Huet Square) – and it's possible to take in the high points in an afternoon of dedicated strolling. The focus is the pedestrianized Piata Mare, the town's center for
the past 500 years. Just off the square, you'll find the respected Brukenthal museum, dating from the early 19th century and holding one of the country's best collections of European and Romanian art. Running the length of the square is a large Baroque Roman Catholic Cathedral and the impressive Council Tower. Scattered in and around all this highbrow masonry are literally dozens of cafés, bars and restaurants.

Just off the Piata Mare, the much smaller Piata Huet is dominated by the enormous Evangelical Cathedral, a late-Gothic masterpiece that happens to hold the country's largest pipe organ. Connecting the Piata Huet and the Piata Mica is a local wrought-iron oddity known as "Liar's Bridge." Lore has it anyone telling a lie on the bridge will send it crashing down – a dubious claim given Romania's deceptive political culture of recent decades and the fact the bridge is still standing, as good as the day it was built 150 years ago. The Piata Mica is home to the city's trendiest bars and restaurants, as well as some beautifully restored arcaded storefronts and, naturally, those smiling rooftop "eyelids" overlooking it all.

A 10-minute walk to the periphery in nearly any direction brings you to what's left of the medieval town walls and towers that served the townspeople so well in their struggles against the marauders from the east. The defense plan called for building concentric circles that in the end
proved impregnable. Much of this original fortification system is still in surprisingly good shape.

Six kilometers south of Sibiu stands a unique open-air museum, the Astra Museum of Traditional Folk Culture, dedicated to the country's rural heritage. Here you'll find kilometers of handsomely laid-out wooded paths among lakes, streams and rolling hills, dotted here and there with exhibitions showing the skill and industriousness of the country's villagers. Come for the education or simply for a few hours respite from the crowded core.

In the end, cultural capitals are about, well, culture. And anyone who braves Romania's dilapidated rail network -- or worse, its roads -- to make the journey here to Sibiu (see accompanying article for tips on how to get here) will be rewarded by an uncommonly rich program. In addition to the city's already well-known international theater and jazz festivals, there will be classical music, live theater, performance art and film throughout the year. A complete listing can be found at the main event Web site: www.sibiu2007.ro.


Things to do in Old Sibiu

How to Get There

Tarom (www.tarom.ro1), Romania's national carrier, now flies directly to Sibiu from Munich and Vienna, and the number of flights to Sibiu is expected to grow as budget carriers, like Romania's Carpatair (www.carpatair.com2), continue to expand. For most travelers the easiest way to get here is still to fly to Bucharest and catch a connecting flight to Sibiu or continue onward with the bus or train (figure on five to six hours by train) or a rental car (about four hours depending on traffic and weather). Tarom operates regular air service to Bucharest's main Otopeni airport from many European cities, with several-times-weekly connections to Sibiu. Romania-based Blue Air (www.blueair-web.com3) flies from Madrid, Paris, Rome and several other European cities to Bucharest's Baneasa airport. Similarly, Bratislava-based SkyEurope (www.skyeurope.com4) offers regular service to Baneasa from many European cities, usually with a stopover in the Slovak
capital. Check rail timetables at the Romanian national railroad's Web site, www.cfr.ro5 (note the departing train station is Bucuresti Nord). Train and bus prices are cheap at about $25 each way. Expect to pay about $50 to $60 a day for a rental car.

Where to Stay

No less than three four- and five-star projects are in the works, including a new Ramada Inn and a luxury renovation involving the Hilton Hotel group. At press time, all were promising a mid-2007 opening but still looked a long way from completion. For the moment, that leaves two decent hotel options and a bunch of smaller, pension-style properties that usually book up quickly once warm weather comes. The Continental is a Communist-era high-rise that has been retrofitted with better plumbing and thicker mattresses and is decent value for money. Doubles start at about $120 a night (40-269-218-100, www.continentalhotels.ro6). A classier option is the Imparatul Romanilor (the "Roman Emperor's" hotel), a renovated 18th-century inn down the street from the main square, the Piata Mare, with quirky two-floor rooms filled with period furnishings. Doubles run $130 a night and up (40- 269-216-500).

Where to Eat

Sibiu is a coffee town, and you'll have no problem finding places with excellent espresso. There are fewer choices, though, for more adventurous appetites. Crama Sibiul Vechi, just off a side street near the main Piata Mare, is an absolute must. It's a Transylvanian-themed cellar restaurant with inventive traditional dishes, such as Shepherd's Bag -- a grilled chicken breast stuffed with spicy sausage and a tart dollop of sheep's cheese (40-269210-461). Reservations recommended. Expect to pay about $15 per person without wine. La Piazzetta, an authentic pizzeria just off the Small Square, the Piata Mica, may have the best pizza in Romania. That's a bold claim, given that there appears to be a pizzeria in every village, town and city in this country. But rarely do you find ingredients like fresh arugula and real mozzarella, and all served with friendly, family-style Italian flair. Reservations recommended. Expect to pay $10 to $15 per person without wine (40-269-230-879).

What to See

Don't miss the three main squares, the Piata Mare, Piata Mica and Piata Huet; the Evangelical Cathedral; the Brukenthal Museum; Liar's Bridge; the remaining town walls; and if you get good weather, the Astra open-air museum. Sibiu has two decent tourist offices. The municipal-run Tourist Information Center (Str. Samuel Brukenthal 2, 40-269-208-913, www.sibiu.ro7) hands out a great free map, and can suggest accommodation options if you turn up without a bed. Kultours (Piata Mica 16, 40-269-216-854, www.kultours.ro8) is an energetic private travel agency that can also find rooms, and is a good source of info on more adventurous pursuits like hiking and biking.