Romania commemorates nighclub fire tragedy

Several thousand people gathered in Bucharest on Sunday to commemorate the 64 victims of the fire in the Colectiv night club one year ago. In the aftermath of the tragedy protests that went on for days eventually brought down prime minister Victor Ponta's government last November. Has this changed the country's corrupt political class?

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Biziday (RO) /

Politics really could be different

Politicians of a different type are starting to emerge, writes Moise Guran in his blog Biziday:

“When we look back at those tense days when tens of thousands of people called for political change and seemed to be waiting for a messiah to appear, we see that President Klaus Iohannis made one of the best decisions possible. For sure, there was nothing messianic about Dacian Ciolos, whom he appointed prime minister back then, and his technocrat government wasn't able to implement much of what it had proposed. But at least the people, who were calling for different politicians, got a government that actually does politics a little differently. And I don't just mean Ciolos but also many of his ministers in the cabinet: they have shown us that a different class of politicians might be possible.”

Ziare (RO) /

Change still a long way off

All hopes of political change have been dashed, Ziare comments in resignation:

“The changes, the reforms that were demanded so vigorously, and the fresh start a large section of the population had hoped for, won't come. At least not now. We must come to terms with this. A look at the parties shows why all the expectations and hopes for a renewal of the political class must be shelved indefinitely. The list of candidates for the parliamentary election [on December 11] shows what a helpless and chaotic state the parties are in. This is the first lesson to be learned - in particular for those who hoped that a tragedy would trigger the transformation of an entire political class, no matter how entrenched and corrupt it might be. … We should all learn this lesson as quickly as possible to avoid a trauma.”