Bucharest
Romania became part of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom Southeast Europe’s sub-region in the early 1990s. The regional SEE office was already established 1999 in Bucharest when in 2006, the entire central coordination of FNF’s work was moved to Sofia. In 2014 FNF re-opened a bureau for Romania and its sister-country of Moldova in Bucharest. In over 20 years of ceaseless activity, the FNF has worked with all the local liberal parties, forces and NGO’s, and by doing so, made thousands of young people interested in liberalism. Today the main political partner is the USRPLUS party. The FNF is also in contact with all the local NGO’s who fight for the ideal of freedom.
News
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Strategic Decoupling: Phasing out russian economic influence in Germany
The study by the Center for the Study of Democracy (CSD) examines the continuing entanglement between the German and Russian despite Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine. The Russian corporate presence in Germany is highly concentrated in around 40 larger firms, which specialize in oil refining, natural gas supply and distribution, metal and plastic products manufacturing, glass production, and transport. Russia’s war upended European peace and security and intensified global power competition. The study shows that the Kremlin's long arm extends far beyond Germany's misguided Ostpolitik.
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Human Rights Defenders: Journalists
The UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders was adopted 25 years ago. The third edition of the publication "Human Rights Defenders" portrays media professionals who often accept personal threats to expose injustice and thus become human rights defenders in their home countries. „Our freedom, too, is only as secure as we ourselves are willing to stand up for it. Freedom of media and opinion was, is and will remain a definite indicator of how free the people in a country really are", says Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger, Deputy Chairwoman.
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Bringing Europe Closer to Citizens via EU Institutions
The third edition of the Future of Europe Youth Summit took place this year in northern Romania. It is the largest youth event in Eastern and Southeastern Europe and had a special format this year: it hosted the FNF ESEE regional hackathon. Participants discussed the future of Europe in the context of the war in Ukraine and the increasing impact of phenomena such as fake news and disinformation on young people.
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Historic Rally in Chișinău: Europe is Moldova, Moldova is Europe
"Moldovans are Europeans, and Moldova must become an equal member of the European Union by 2030." With these words, Moldovan President Maia Sandu addressed more than 75,000 people who came to a pro-European rally on Sunday. The President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, had also arrived, having announced to the crowd already in her speech in Romanian: "I have come to deliver a message: Europe is Moldova, Moldova is Europe".
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Blitz action: President Maia Sandu replaces prime minister
The Republic of Moldova has had a new head of government since Friday. This was triggered by a lightning action of the popular President Maia Sandu. In the morning, Sandu had invited the government cabinet to a meeting behind closed doors, which led to the resignation of Prime Minister Natalia Gavriliță at noon. Then, in the afternoon, the new Prime Minister Dorin Recean, former Minister of Interior (2012-2014) and until then a close confidant and advisor to the President on defense and national security, as well as Secretary of the Supreme Security Council of the Republic, was presented at the Presidential Office.
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Reshape Europe Conference: ‘Building Resilience, Ensuring Stability, Harnessing Welfare’
The International Security Forum ‘Building Resilience, Ensuring Stability, Harnessing Welfare’ focused on Ukraine's resistance to Russian aggression, military and security challenges in Eastern Europe, potential assistance to Moldova in the joint effort to resist Russian aggression in Ukraine, building economic and institutional resilience and building energy security in Eastern Europe. The Reshape Europe Conference was organised by FNF and IDIS Viitorul.
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BLACK BOOK of public money waste in Republic of Moldova
"The Black Book of Public Money Waste" is an annual publication that provides truthful information about how public money is used in the Republic of Moldova. The first edition was published in Chisinau in 2019, following the example of the Bulgarian investigative journalists. The Black Book is now one of the best known regional projects investigating the embezzlement of European funds.
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Dream Big and #BEFREE
The Festival of Arts, initiated 4 years ago by the FNF, united this year nine performances from Moldova, Romania, Austria and Germany. On the Theatre Satiricus' stage in Chisinau, during one week, the artists expressed "The Power of Freedom" through theater, music, dance, movie. Our new partners are the Goethe-Institute, the Romanian Cultural Institute; National Cultural Institutes of the EU, Swiss Cooperation Office; Austrian Embassy; UNHCR-Moldova.
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Women's Representation in Romanian Politics
This report provides a brief description of women’s representation in the Romanian parliament, government and the local councils and is founded on an extended data collection. The final sections provide the reader with a comparative analysis of women’s political representation in order to contextualize Romania’s situation.
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Champions of Change
Champions of Change is a project organized by LID Moldova in cooperation with FNF Romania and Moldova, which rewards people with innovative ideas, outstanding initiatives and impactful actions, who despite all the challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and regardless of circumstances or political contexts, have managed to continue developing projects in their fields of activity.
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Journalism in 2021: an obstacle course with fewer and fewer winners
The new report released by The Center for Independent Journalism, supported by FNF Romania, reveals the true price of the profession of journalist, but also the cost society has to pay when lacking credible sources of information. The report may be read in full here.
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Trans in Romania
This report describes, through multiple research methods, how the lives of trans people in Romania have been affected by discrimination in a multitude of contexts: family, professional, medical, legal, bureaucratic. It also brings us closer to trans people’s lives, very different from each other, but striving for the same thing: for their identity to be accepted and respected in society.
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What do Romanians think about same-sex marriage?
This sociological research was carried out in 2021 and it gives exact numbers and statistical data on what Romanians think about same-sex marriage. The results are surprisingly satisfying. They show that the public opinion in Romania has changed, especially among young people. You can download the brochure here.
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Expressing Civil and Political Liberties in Times of Crisis
This research on the limitation of civil and political rights in Bulgaria, Greece, North Macedonia, and Romania during the first wave of the pandemic focuses on three main pillars: it gives a first-hand insight into the context in which the various governmental measures were introduced; the extent to which those individual rights were affected; and the shape and strength of the citizen’s response to the government-led measures.
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Illiberal discourse in Romania: the year of exception 2020
This report published by the Center for Independent Journalism, presents the elements of the illiberal discourse practiced in Romania during the coronavirus pandemic, how this discourse is being disseminated in public and by whom, sets the health crisis management and the results of the 2020 parliamentary elections.
