România Liberă - Romania | Wednesday, July 20, 2011
No money for fake revolutionaries
A string of revolutionary groups in Romania have written an open letter criticising Prime Minister Emil Boc, who plans to put an end to the perks enjoyed by the revolutionaries of 1989, such as supplementary pensions and free train travel. Over 20,000 Romanians have a revolutionary certificate, much to the disgust of the daily România Liberă: "Only four categories of revolutionaries deserve our respect: the dead, the wounded, their children and revolutionaries without certificates. ... How can people use their freedom to secure a pension because they were part of the revolution? ... Lots of the qualified revolutionaries are clearly good-for-nothings who purchased their certificate just to get a better pension - in a system in which all papers are for sale, including heroic credentials. But this also goes for revolutionaries who were genuinely involved in the revolution: they've had their hour of glory, but now that they are demanding money for it they deserve our contempt! ... They want our recognition? We can decorate them with medals, sing a hymn about them. But no money, no certificates and no free train travel."
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