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Vintilescu, Razvan Mihai
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3 articles of this author have been cited in the European Press Review so far.
Industrial disputes shelved for now
Cotidianul newspaper comments on the statistics published by the International Labour Organisation (ILO): "The Romanians are not exactly a people who feel called to demonstrate solidarity with their jobs. Between 1996 and 2006 only 326 industrial disputes were registered in the country, most of them in 1999: there were 85 in that year alone, while in 2006 there were only two. ... In that same period of time over 11,000 disputes were registered in Denmark. ... And one certainly can't claim Romanian employees are better off than Danish employees. ... But other types of solidarity have manifested themselves in the mean time. One is the result of widespread dissatisfaction ... and the other the result of inherent pessimism. I refer here to the community the government holds responsible for everything that goes wrong in the country. ... But denouncing an institution that one could basically change democratically incites the citizens to revolt against the politicians. ... The effect of such behaviour is more than visible: it is obvious in their absence from any kind of elections."
» full article (external link, Romanian)
More from the press review on the subject » Economic Policy, » Romania
Outdated maps for areas prone to flooding
In 2005 Romania was struck by heavy floods which lasted for months. Razvan Mihai Vintilescu complains that the country is completely unprepared for new floods: "Now the National Water Authority has sent maps dating back to the 1970s to the mayors of communities that are vulnerable to flooding. The director of the water authority recommended that the mayors turn to the old people living in their communities for advice because the maps don't contain information about changes in the course of rivers caused by the floods. So the idea is that before they grab the sandbags to secure river embankments, people should get as much information as possible out of the old folks. No satellite, no computers, no GPS, no Internet - only the old people know what's what. The situation is absurd. ... But in this case, even more ridiculous than the situation is the catastrophic state of the administration."
» full article (external link, Romanian)
More from the press review on the subject » Environmental Policy, » Romania
The hooligans of the Orthodox Church
For centuries, the Orthodox Church has held a festival in celebration of the miraculous recovery of a blind man after Easter. Razvan Mihai Vintilescu writes that he has no patience with the yearly spectacle of hundreds of thousands of believers clamouring and sometimes fighting each other for holy water in Romania's churches and monasteries. "This is where tradition ends and hypocrisy begins. The holy water washes blood from elbows, makes the dark circles around eyes disappear and soothes the pain of punches in the stomach. Because this is what the faithful have to endure to get a mouthful of the holy drink. Year after year, they beat each other up for this - as if it were some kind of barbaric ritual. This is where religion ends and self-betrayal begins. You're not a true believer it you don't wipe the soles of your shoes on another man's back in your fervour to obtain the sacred drink. ... These are religious hooligans: like at football games, the faithful are prepared to throw torches onto the pitch and start fights for a team shirt that is passed up to the stands."
» full article (external link, Romanian)
More from the press review on the subject » Religion, » Weltanschauung, » Romania
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