Romania revives restrictions as hospitals struggle, jabs lag

October 22, 2021

BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — Doctor Petruta Filip is working 100-hour weeks at a Bucharest hospital which, like hospitals throughout Romania, is struggling under an onslaught of COVID-19 patients in a country with worryingly low vaccination rates.

The European Union country of around 19 million has only 35% of its adults fully inoculated against COVID-19 compared to an EU average of 74%, and is the second-least vaccinated nation in the 27-nation bloc in front of Bulgaria. That's crippling Romania's creaking health care system, which is also facing record-high death and infection numbers.

In an attempt Friday to curb the deadly surge and relieve pressure on hospitals, authorities approved tighter restrictions set to take effect on Monday. Vaccination certificates will be required for many day-to-day activities, such as going to the gym, the cinema, or a shopping mall.

For everyone, there will be a 10 p.m. curfew, shops will be shuttered at 9 p.m., bars and clubs will close for 30 days, and schools will close for an additional week over half-term starting Monday. Masks will be mandatory for everyone in public.

“I would bring people (who don’t believe in the virus or vaccines) here for a day, and maybe they’ll change their opinion,” Filip told The Associated Press Friday. She works at the capital's Bucharest University Emergency Hospital in a COVID-19 ward packed with patients receiving oxygen treatment.

Romania on Tuesday registered record highs of nearly 19,000 infections and 574 deaths. More than 1,800 coronavirus patients are currently receiving intensive care treatment. Data from Romania's health authorities indicate that more than 90% of those dying of COVID-19 are unvaccinated.

“All the stories on TV are about morgues filled with dead people and relatives crying outside," said Filip, on a day that Romania registered 16,110 new COVID-19 infections and 448 deaths. It was a week in which dark scenes emerged of ambulances queued for hours outside hospitals waiting for beds to be made available. Romanian President Klaus Iohannis called it a “national drama of terrible proportions” and said there has been a “lack of concrete action” by authorities on preparing for the latest surge.

“A real catastrophe has been triggered in Romania and unfortunately until people convince themselves to get vaccinated, measures are needed,” he said Wednesday. Earlier this month, Romanian doctors issued an open letter to Romanians titled “a cry of despair” to highlight the plight they face and urged people to get vaccinated.

The rapidly deteriorating situation in Romania, which now has one of the worst COVID-19 death rates in the EU, prompted the World Health Organization to send a senior expert, Dr. Heather Papowitz, to assist in strengthening its pandemic response.

Papowitz attended on Friday the opening of a three-day round-the-clock vaccination ‘marathon’ in Bucharest, which authorities hope will stimulate jab uptake. In the first eight hours more than 13,000 people received a vaccine, authorities said.

“It's really exciting that we see so many people here," Papowitz told a press conference. “We've heard that a lot of people are getting vaccinated, that more are getting vaccinated.” For 51-year-old Emilia, who got inoculated at the vaccination marathon in Bucharest Friday, the population was not well-informed about vaccines — for which she blames the authorities.

“There was a great deal of ignorance, people were not well informed,” she said. Vaccination uptake in Romania has risen since the end of September, from around just 10,000 doses a day to a record high Friday of 128,000. But the WHO estimates that, at the current rate, it could take Romania nearly three years to pass the key 70% threshold of vaccination coverage.

“Romania has failed at vaccinating its population,” Dr. Marius-Ionut Ungureanu, director of the Center for Health Workforce Research and Policy at Babes-Bolyai University, told the AP. Ungureanu says that, while the new restrictions starting Monday are “vital” the response by the authorities during this latest deadly wave is “too little, too late.”

“The vaccination campaign, almost flawlessly organized and coordinated from a logistical perspective, has failed from a communication standpoint,” he said.

Stephen McGrath in Bucharest contributed to this story.

Marchers protest Romania's virus restrictions as cases soar

April 11, 2021

BUCHAREST (AP) — Marchers took to the streets Saturday in the Romanian capital of Bucharest to protest restrictive measures to fight the spread of COVID-19 even as new daily infections and deaths rose in the European Union nation.

About 1,000 people converged on Victory Square and University Square, expressing frustration with an earlier curfew and shop closures that took effect at the end of March. Many demonstrators waved tri-color Romanian flags and chanted “Freedom!” and “Down with the government!”

“We came to fight against this state of alert that buries all our rights and freedoms,” Dumitru Balan, leader of the civic movement Action for the Nation, told The Associated Press. “We do not agree with compulsory vaccination, with wearing a mask on our faces … the quarantine of cities, online schooling, the closure of churches, playgrounds, restaurants and shops," he said.

Romania does not have compulsory vaccinations. The protest was held on the same day that Romania passed the milestone of having 1 million confirmed COVID-19 cases. Hospital intensive care units are struggling to cope with the record demand of just under 1,500 COVID-19 patients and 12,000 others are in other wards.

“There are now very severe patients admitted in our clinical ward that normally would require intensive care … we don’t have enough ICU beds available and patients are waiting with sub-optimal care,” Dragos Zaharia, a pneumologist at Marius Nasta Institute, told the AP. “We are at risk of being accused of malpractice."

The protesters halted outside Cotroceni Palace, where President Klaus Iohannis resides, and called for an early election. “I think Romania has a perfect storm of conditions that create this climate of anti-restriction protests,” Dani Sandu, a sociologist affiliated with the European University Institute, told the AP. “Romania is a society with low levels of trust in public institutions."

On Friday evening, authorities transferred patients in the middle of the night from Bucharest’s Foisor Orthopedic Hospital to other facilities as it was turned into a COVID-19 hospital. An official from the governing National Liberal Party, Ben Oni Ardelean, called the situation a “circus” and said he will urge that Health Minister Vlad Voiculescu be fired.

Romania has recorded 25,006 deaths in the pandemic.

Nicolae Dumitrache in Bucharest contributed to this report.

Pandemic leaves many Romanian patients without critical care

February 26, 2021

BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — Andrei, a 32-year-old Romanian man who has been HIV positive since he was a baby, began missing his regular medical check-ups when the coronavirus pandemic hit a year ago. “That was the first thing that led me to a general state of frustration and fear,” said Andrei. “After that, I got used to the idea of taking the antiretroviral treatment blindly without knowing if the parameters are OK or if the therapy works.”

A year ago this week, Romania reported its first case of COVID-19, prompting the country's strapped medical system to turn its focus to treating COVID-19 patients. As a result, many patients with other conditions — including cancer — have either been denied critical care or have stopped going to their regular appointments, fearful of becoming infected.

“Many of my close associates lost their battle against their diseases due to the loss of access to treatment, hospitals and specialists,” Andrei, who didn’t want his full name used due to the stigma surrounding his condition, told The Associated Press.

Romania's government is acknowledging the problem and has announced plans to reorganize the country’s hospitals so more non-COVID-19 patients can get access to health care. The attempts to reform the health care system come as a third virus surge looms and as a vaccine rollout is proceeding slowly across the 27-member European Union, to which Romania belongs.

“Patients who didn’t have COVID-19 didn’t seek medical care because they were afraid of becoming infected,” Dr. Andreea Moldovan, a state secretary in the Health Ministry, told the AP. Previously, she said, there was “a lot of pressure to have as many beds available for COVID-19 patients as possible."

With a population of over 19 million, Romania has reported 792,000 COVID-19 infections and over 20,000 deaths. Romania's Health Ministry says its hospital reorganization scheme will aim to create separate red and green zones in hospitals so both non-COVID-19 patients and those infected with the disease can be segregated yet receive the medical care they require.

In an interview at Bucharest’s Colentina Hospital, interim hospital manager Victor Cauni said health care services in the long term must adapt to life with COVID-19 and not “discriminate” against other patients.

“Whether we like it or not, we have more patients with many other illnesses compared to COVID patients," he said. “We need to open for them at least partially. We’re discriminating against patients with serious conditions.”

Highlighting the problem, Cauni noted that the hospital's urological ward used to perform from 400 to 500 medical interventions a month, but has barely had 50 in the past year. “For the last year, patients did not have access to this hospital, and they were supposed to be transferred to different hospitals — but not many managed to find the required solutions,” Cauni said.

“You cannot just function as a COVID-19 hospital," he said. “We have many important wards here.” The organizational changes in Romania’s hospitals come amid growing concerns about new virus variants, including the variant first found in the U.K., which scientists say is both more transmissible and more deadly.

Romania faces these challenges as the EU nation with the lowest health care spending relative to GDP — 5.2%, compared with almost 10% on average in the bloc. Romania already has the highest rate of avoidable deaths of under-75s in the EU, according to EU statistics.

Health Minister Vlad Voiculescu expressed his concerns in a video address last week to hospital managers and public health officials, explaining the hospital reorganization effort. “The pandemic has not wiped out all other chronic or acute health problems,” Voiculescu said. “We need to make sure that all other patients have access to the medical services they need."

Andrei, who became infected with HIV as a baby while being treated in a hospital, says he considers himself “one of the lucky ones." He has managed to pay privately for a few medical analyses in the past year. But he worries about his longer-term prospects if he doesn't return to the close monitoring of his illness.

“The situation is critical,” he said. “If I keep blindly taking my treatment without proper monthly visits and analyses to check if the treatment is working … there is only one outcome — the loss of life.”

Harvest workers among COVID world's last regular travelers

October 02, 2020

ROCCA DE' GIORGI, Italy (AP) — Her hands were hardly visible, so quickly did they press the clippers before dropping grape clusters into red plastic bins. Some distance behind her, in the next row over, Italian students subbing in due to a pandemic-fueled worker shortage tried vainly to catch up.

Though from a Romanian region famed for its wine, Alexandra Ichim had never worked in vineyards before traveling to Italy's Lombardy region for the September grape harvest, known in Italian as the vendemmia — the pay is too low in Romania and the working conditions too harsh, she says. For the Italian work, the 20-year-old came on a 12-hour bus ride and returned by plane to her native Arad region when the harvest was done.

Eastern European seasonal workers, led by Romanians, are considered essential to getting food on the table throughout the continent. Their willingness to work hard in uncertain jobs for lower wages is sought after abroad, and their income is desperately needed at home. At a time when travel for work is seen as dangerous for everyone, they are among the world’s last regular border-crossers. Unlike the farms that so desperately need them, there are no subsidies from the European Union or special protection should they fall sick.

Around one in five Romanians works abroad. In Italy, 1.2 million of them have made a home, with thousands of others traveling back and forth for temporary jobs. France and Spain are not far behind as destinations for work. And when coronavirus struck, around a million people from around Europe returned to Romania, ignoring the Romanian president’s plea to stay in place and avoid bringing the virus already raging in Western Europe. For many, it was the longest homecoming of their adult lives.

Workers can make around 1,200 euros a month working eight-hour days during the vendemmia in Italy, versus around 700 euros for a month of 10-hour days in Romania. Ichim has lived off and on in Lombardy with her mother since 2006 and speaks flawless Italian. She was in Romania with her father when the coronavirus outbreak first struck Italy earlier this year, working in a steering wheel factory, which later sent her home during Romania's virus lockdown. She left to join her mother nearly as soon as the borders reopened. At the time, Romania’s infection rate was low and no quarantine was required, but within a few weeks, a 14-day quarantine was required in Italy for travelers from Romania and Bulgaria.

One province, Trento, allowed farms and vineyards to put in place “working quarantines,” where masked seasonal laborers could work outside in their own clusters and stay in housing on site. “A company cannot afford to keep a foreigner for 14 days without putting him to work. This is obviously an unsustainable cost,” said Roberto Caponi, of the Italian agriculture confederation. Nor can the fruit itself wait, as Ottavia Gorgi di Vistarino knows well.

Her family’s land spans four hillsides in Rocca de’ Giorgi, a tiny commune about 60 kilometers (37 miles) south of Milan. The harvest starts with Pino Nero for Spumante, then comes the Chardonnay and Pinot Grigio, followed by more Pino Nero for red wine.

Ichim joined a crew for the first Pino Nero harvest in mid-September, speeding through the cone-shaped clusters at a breathtaking pace. The winery’s full-time foreman, Christian Florisan, also is Romanian from the Arad region, as are many of the men who work the presses.

“Corona has brought the agriculture business to its knees more than any others. Everywhere, at home in Romania and here in Italy, we are having difficulties finding people,” said Florisan, who has lived in Italy for 14 years. “They are not coming because they are afraid of COVID, and they are afraid that they will have to do two weeks of quarantine and when they go home, their pockets will be emptier than they were before.”

He estimated more than half his workers are Romanian, but the numbers are down by 25% this year. Across the country, wineries are down 36,000 workers, which means not all the fruit will be harvested in time and many will stay home, unpaid.

All who came from Romania had medical checkups, Florisan said, but he said not everyone had the nasal swab test. As many as a million seasonal workers cross EU borders every year, according to the guidelines put in place in July by the European Commission. When the virus first broke out, Romania’s president asked citizens not to return from their jobs abroad but was widely ignored by people who either needed or wanted to return home for what promised to be weeks of confinement. Back in Romania, suspicious neighbors called authorities to report returnees from Italy or Spain or France.

Romania’s first coronavirus case was traced to Lombardy, the northern Italian region that suffered Europe’s first devastating wave of death, according to Gabriel Hancean, a sociologist who led a team of researchers that traced the country’s early infections. Now it’s eastern Europe where the virus is spiking to unprecedented highs, with Romania enduring the continent’s highest weekly death rate after Spain.

Hancean said few seem to care now about travelers from elsewhere in Europe, Romanian or not. “You have community spread of the virus, and it doesn’t matter who is entering the country or not,” he said.

Ichim and her boyfriend, Dennis Sirca, were already planning the trip back to Arad, not knowing if they would face quarantine there. It didn't really matter to either of them, because they made two to three times as much during the harvest as they could have in their “real” jobs. She’d do it again.

“In Romania we do not make money, we cannot make money working so we came here to do the grape harvest," she said. Back in Romania, her factory job evaporated and no prospects for work in sight, Ichim has no intention of doing the harvest there, although farms face similar labor shortages as their Western European counterparts.

What they lack is the flexibility of their own government, said Carmen Avram, a Romanian member of the European Parliament who has been an advocate for seasonal workers. Even as borders closed last spring, there came the dawning realization in Western Europe that without them, there wouldn’t be enough people to bring in the fruits and vegetables or work the slaughterhouses. The rules that governed movement around Europe melted away. German and British companies chartered planes for Romanian workers.

Avram said the Romanian government never offered that kind of chance for farms and factories at home — or the money. She described last spring as a brief window when Romania could have retained its young.

“We could start all over again and have them here, and make this country thrive,” she said. “But we lost that moment. It’s a national tragedy.”

Trisha Thomas contributed.

No election fever in Romanian village thriving with EU funds

May 24, 2019

LUNCAVITA, Romania (AP) — In 2014, the Romanian village of Luncavita had one of the lowest voter turnouts in the country for the European Parliament election — all of 19.3%.  But the southeastern village has increasingly figured out how to draw in exceptional amounts of European Union money for development projects. When the polling stations open again Sunday for this year's European Parliament vote, more residents say they will be there.

The village's turnout was hardly an exception in Romania's Tulcea County, where just 27.5% of eligible voters cast ballots, the second-lowest figure in Romania, according to the Permanent Electoral Authority.

"You can find this effect across Eastern Europe," said Sorin Ionita, a political analyst with Expert Forum, a Bucharest-based think-tank. "People think Europe is so big and runs so well that they don't need us to tell them what to do."

Voter turnout across the continent has been declining for decades in the European Parliament elections, falling to an all-time low of 42.5% in 2014. That included a range from 13% in Slovakia to 90% in Belgium, where voting is compulsory. Last month, the EU launched a three-minute video to inspire more Europeans to vote.

Since 2004, Luncavita has attracted more than 55 million euros ($61.3 million) in European funds, or almost 12,000 euros ($13,345) for each of its 4,600 residents. The man responsible for turning the village into an EU money magnet is Marian Ilie, who was preparing for the priesthood before a 2002 accident landed him in a wheelchair. Ilie then found a new vocation as project manager for the use of European Union funds allocated to his hometown.

Among other projects, EU money has financed the local drinking water and sewage system, a water treatment plant, roads and a school renovation. For Mayor Stefan Ilie, Marian's brother, the EU "is fundamental to our development."

"If Romania were to exit the EU tomorrow, it would return to communism within five years," Stefan Ilie said. Marioara Banea, a 63-year-old local retiree, remembers tying a rope from her home to the backyard outhouse so her blind mother could find it.

"The EU changed my life," Banea said. "Now we have water. We used to queue at the well for hours ... and we have indoor plumbing too!" Despite the EU-related benefits, she didn't vote in the EU elections in 2009 or 2014.

"I didn't know what the EU was, but now that I see how much money they gave us, I'm going to," Banea said, hoping some new EU funds will help build a home for the elderly. While some 3.6 million Romanians — most under the age of 40 — have left the country since it joined the EU in 2007, European money is also helping to bring some of them back to Luncavita. After working for six years in Italy, Radu Canepa, 34, came back to Romania and started a small farm with 30,000 euros ($33,420) in EU funding, buying some land and five cows.

The milk he sells to a local processing plant brings about in 1,000 euros ($1,115) a month. Canepa hopes to apply for an addition 10,000 euros ($11,180) to expand his business. "Without EU funds, I'd still be in Italy right now," Canepa said.

Valentina Radu also worked in Italy, but when her husband lost his job there, they struggled to pay the rent and decided to come home. They also used EU funds to buy a small farm, which now has 25 cows.

But Radu wanted to have a second business, and after talking with Marian Ilie, she settled on opening a tailor's shop. She bought machinery and raw materials with the help of the 70,000 euros ($78,000) she received from the EU and her traditional Romanian blouses and skirts are now in high demand.

For Romania, Sunday's vote will also be a test run for the country's presidential election this fall, with political parties trying out messages on voters now. "People do appreciate the support they get from the EU, but their feeling is that the EU works with or without them," said Ionita, the analyst.

Still, Radu is very appreciative of the EU's role in her successful enterprises, saying the bloc has "changed my life for the better." "I will definitely vote this time around," she added. "I want to expand my business and EU funds are the way to go."

Nicolae Dumitrache and Vadim Ghirda contributed to this report.

EU leader concerned about Romania holding bloc presidency

December 29, 2018

BERLIN (AP) — The head of the European Union's executive branch has questioned whether Romania is ready for the political give-and-take of holding the EU presidency, though he says the country is "technically well-prepared" for the role.

EU countries take turns occupying the presidency for six-month terms. The position involves setting the bloc's agenda and acting as a diplomatic go-between among the 28 members. Romania takes over the rotating role on Jan. 1 amid deep political divisions at home and a contentious domestic judicial overhaul.

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker was quoted Saturday as telling Germany's Welt am Sonntag newspaper that Romania is "technically well-prepared" in part thanks to the Commission's help.

"But I think the government in Bucharest hasn't yet fully understood what it means to take the chair over the EU countries," he added. "For judicious negotiations, you also need a readiness to listen to others and the firm will to put your own wishes aside. I have some doubts there."

Juncker also pointed to Romania's domestic divisions. There are long-running differences between President Klaus Iohannis and Liviu Dragnea, the chairman of the governing Social Democratic Party. Iohannis last month said Romania wasn't up to the presidency. Dragnea then asked party colleagues to find a way to prosecute him for treason over those remarks. The president has since struck a more optimistic note.

Juncker was quoted as saying that Romania's domestic situation means it can't present itself as a "compact unit" in Europe. "There needs to be a united front at home to foster unity in Europe as well during the presidency," he said.

Romania succeeds Austria in the EU presidency. Its six months at the helm will include Britain's planned exit from the bloc in March and elections to the European Parliament in May. Maria Grapini, a European Parliament lawmaker with Romania's Social Democrats, said Juncker was being "duplicitous."

She told the private Mediafax news agency that, during a recent meeting with Romanian officials in Brussels, Juncker had said it was "clear ... that Romania was up to the presidency." "You can't say it's black today and tomorrow it's white," she said.

6 Romanian ministers fired as party leader seeks more power

November 19, 2018

BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — Romania's ruling Social Democratic Party fired six ministers on Monday as the beleaguered party chairman sought to tighten his grip on the government. Social Democrat chairman Liviu Dragnea has come under fire for his management style and corruption convictions, but has vowed to continue as party leader even though he can't be prime minister because of a conviction in 2016 for vote-rigging.

During a meeting, the party voted to fire the transport, economy, labor, culture, development, sports and communication ministers. Dragnea ally Lia Olguta Vasilescu switched from the labor to the transport ministry, while the others lost their ministerial posts. The defense minister resigned earlier Monday.

Premier Viorica Dancila said the changes were necessary because "we have to respond to new challenges ... both in the government and also as we (prepare) to take over the European Union presidency on Jan. 1."

Dancila, who has little executive power, thanked the previous ministers and explained why the party's new ministerial proposals were suitable. Dragnea who effectively runs the government said Monday's decisions were "political and managerial."

He was handed a 3½-year sentence in June for abuse of power in office, which he has appealed. In a boost for Dragnea, the party approved his ally, Codrin Stefanescu, as the new party secretary. He has been extremely critical about European Union commissioner Corina Cretu, a Romanian Social Democrat who has castigated the government for failing to absorb EU funds.

Earlier, Defense Minister Mihai Fifor and Bucharest Mayor Gabriela Firea resigned their positions to avoid being fired. Fifor said he would dedicate himself to helping the party win the 2020 parliamentary election.

Victor Ponta, a former prime minister and the party chairman before Dragnea, called the new government "a combination of professional incompetence, no backbone and unclean business with public money."

Firea, who has accused Dragnea of running the party in an underhand and arbitrary manner, resigned as acting leader of the party's Bucharest branch following reports that the party was poised to remove her. She later said she no longer held two other executive positions in the party.

"It is revenge," she said. "Dragnea wanted to get rid of me."

Romanians vote on putting gay marriage ban in constitution

October 06, 2018

BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — Two days of voting on a constitutional amendment that would make it harder to legalize same-sex marriage have gotten started in Romania. A conservative group initiated the referendum being held on Saturday and Sunday, and the influential Romanian Orthodox Church is backing it.

The proposed amendment would revise the definition of family in the Constitution of Romania to make marriage "a union between a man and a woman" instead of "a union between spouses." Romanian law already prohibits same-sex marriages. Opponents say the new constitutional language is a mean-spirited attempt to make LGBT people feel more like second-class citizens and also could marginalize households led by single parents or unmarried couples raising children.

The referendum requires a 30 percent turnout of registered voters to be valid. The proposed change would prevent any attempt to legalize same-sex marriage through legislation. The vote came about after the Coalition for Family submitted a petition with 3 million signatures proposing for the constitution to be amended. The group said it was concerned young Romanians were learning about so-called "non-traditional" family arrangements in school.

Gay rights groups say the constitutional revision could encourage homophobia by further promoting the view that only opposite-sex marriages are legitimate and same-sex relationships are unworthy of recognition or protection.

At a rally this week in southern Romania, Orthodox Bishop Sebastian Pascanu told believers that homosexuality was an "abnormality that first appeared in Western countries." "This abnormality needs therapy, treatment rather than special laws like the ones that have different sexual orientations would like to have."

But others, like Marcel Badea, an electrician who lives in a southern Romanian village on the River Danube, said he'd boycott the vote. "I am (already) a husband, a father and grandfather, I have nothing to vote for," he said. "I don't need this referendum. Even if I vote 'no,' I will help the referendum get the turnout it needs."

Romanian ex-prison chief sentenced to 20 years dies in jail

September 26, 2018

BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — Ion Ficior, who was incarcerated for the deaths of 103 political inmates while in charge of a communist-era labor camp in Romania, has died. He was 90. Ficior died Wednesday at Jilava prison hospital, according to Bianca Filote, spokeswoman for the government Institute for Investigating the Crimes of Communism. The institute began to pursue Ficior and other former prison guards in 2013 in a bid to make them finally accountable for wrongdoing during the communist era, handing over evidence to prosecutors.

Prison hospital spokeswoman Denisa Ene confirmed to The Associated Press that a prisoner, suffering various chronic medical conditions, had died Wednesday morning, but declined to provide further details, citing privacy rules.

Ficior was serving a 20-year sentence there for crimes against humanity. He was imprisoned in March 2017, but denied wrongdoing and said he was merely following orders. But Andrei Muraru, who initiated the investigation of Ficior, said he "showed a complete lack of mercy toward his victims, who endured prolonged suffering, were skeletal inmates, or defenseless elderly people," he told the AP.

"They were subjected to a diabolic program of extermination through exhausting work, hunger and physical torture," said Muraru, now an adviser to President Klaus Iohannis. Ficior was commander at the Periprava labor camp from 1958 to 1963. During his trial, former detainees accused him of beatings, a lack of food and medicine, overwork and unheated cells.

In an interview with the AP in 2013 before he was charged with more than 100 deaths, Ficior claimed "two or three had died" while he was prison commander. Romania had about 500,000 political prisoners under the Communist regime, about one-fifth of whom died while in detention, according to historians. Many were locked up for merely falling afoul of the communist regime. A general amnesty was granted to political prisoners in 1964.

Ficior is survived by a son.

Romania ruling party endorses embattled party chief

September 21, 2018

BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — Romania's ruling Social Democratic Party on Friday endorsed its chairman despite his recent conviction for abuse of power. Colleagues had called for Liviu Dragnea to step down, but party members voted in support of Dragnea, who is barred from becoming prime minister because of a 2016 conviction for electoral fraud.

There were conflicting figures about the vote tally Friday, which came after an eight-hour meeting. Dragnea later vowed he would do all he could to "destroy... this odious system" of what he calls "the parallel state," which he thinks has too much power. Those institutions include an anti-corruption movement, Romania's secret services, the anti-corruption prosecutors agency and President Klaus Iohannis, a political rival.

However, Dragnea indicated that he would allow more autonomy for the Romanian government, which has been under party control. In June, Dragnea was convicted of abuse of power in office and sentenced to 3½ years in prison. Party colleagues say he should be considered innocent pending a final ruling.

One ally, Marian Oprisan, said he didn't recognize that conviction, labeling it "political." Despite that conviction and the court case, Dragnea retains a tight grip on the party he has ruled since 2015.

In a letter this week, three leading party officials, including Bucharest mayor Gabriela Firea, urged him to step down. Tensions have grown in the party since an anti-corruption protest directed against the Romanian government last month left 450 people injured.

Romanians have held many anti-corruption protests since the Social Democrats won power in 2016 and embarked on a contentious judicial overhaul that critics say will make it harder to prosecute cases of high-level corruption.

Romania parliament votes in favor of man/woman marriage only

September 12, 2018

BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — Romanian Senators approved a measure that could pave the way for the constitution to be changed to explicitly state that marriage is a union of a man and a woman. Senators on Tuesday voted 107-13 with seven abstentions to allow a referendum that could change the constitution, which currently states that marriage is a union between "spouses." The vote comes after Parliament's Chamber of Deputies last year overwhelmingly approved the same measure.

The vote comes after 3 million Romanians signed a petition demanding that the constitution be changed to redefine marriage as a union between a man and a woman. Social Democrat chairman Liviu Dragnea has indicated Romania will hold a referendum on the issue in October.

A senator for the ruling Social Democratic Party, Serban Nicolae, said the vote was on religious grounds: "we've been a Christian nation for 2,000 years." Accept, a Romanian group that fights for equality for same-sex couples, condemned the vote, accusing the Senate of "raising homophobia to state value and sacrificing constitutional protection for many families."

While the ruling could limit the definition of marriage, it would not preclude a law that would recognize same-sex civil partnerships. Romania, along with Poland, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Lithuania and Latvia, doesn't recognize same-sex marriage or offer legal protection to same-sex couples.

Romanians protest corruption a month after violent demo

September 10, 2018

BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — Hundreds of Romanian protesters have vented their anger a month after an anti-corruption protest degenerated into violence leaving 450 people injured. Demonstrators gathered Monday outside government offices, holding Romanian, European Union and U.S. flags. They shouted "Resign!" and "We won't give in!" There were smaller protests in other cities.

A 54-year-old technician, Nicolae Badea, said he received medical help after he inhaled pepper spray squirted by riot police during the Aug. 10 protest. He said "we have to stand together. They want to pass an amnesty to help" people convicted of corruption.

Protesters have held anti-corruption rallies regularly since the left-wing Social Democrats won Romania's 2016 election and embarked on a contentious judicial overhaul. Government critics say the changes will make it harder to prosecute high-level graft.

Romanians stage anti-government protest for 3rd evening

August 12, 2018

BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — Thousands of Romanians have gathered for the third consecutive evening to demand the resignation of the government. Protesters waving Romanian, NATO and European Union flags assembled Sunday evening in a square outside the government offices, where clashes with riot police left more than 500 seeking medical treatment two nights before.

Protesters shouted "Resign!" and called the ruling Social Democratic Party "the red plague." There were fewer police present than previous evenings, especially Friday when police used force to break up the crowds.

Critics say Romania has lost ground in fighting corruption since the Social Democrats won elections in 2016. They are urging the government to resign and call a new election.

Romanians protest govt corruption for 2nd straight day

August 11, 2018

BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — Tens of thousands of Romanians held another anti-government protest Saturday a day after a previous demonstration turned violent, leaving 455 people in need of medical treatment.

Protesters carrying Romanian, European Union and other flags rallied Saturday outside government offices in Bucharest, the capital — the same place where the protest Friday had degenerated into violence.

"Have no fear! Romanians will rise up!" and "You thieves!" they yelled. Protesters blew vuvuzelas and shone the words "Down with the government" on the government offices. Critics say Romania has lost ground in fighting corruption since the ruling Social Democratic Party assumed power in 2016. They are urging the government to resign and call a new election.

Sorin Radu, who works in IT, said he was protesting "because we have a government where many are corrupt. "The people who rule have no connection with ordinary people. I'm here to try and change something," he said.

"We want to return to Romania, but there's too much corruption and the health care is dismal," said Isabela Conduruta, a 45-year-old who's worked as a cleaner for 12 years in Germany. Earlier Saturday, Romanian riot police defended their use of force at Friday night protest in which 70 people, including 11 riot police, had to be taken to the hospital. Dozens of others were treated at the scene.

Riot police spokesman Marius Militaru said police are pursuing charges against eight people for the violence. Militaru said officers were ordered by Bucharest officials to evacuate Victory Square late Friday after an hours-long protest in front of government offices that drew tens of thousands demanding the government's resignation.

Another police spokesman, Georgian Enache, said "the legitimate state violence" was justified because protesters had been warned several times to leave the square. Riot police fired tear gas and water cannons to quell protesters. Some people lobbed rocks, bottles and smoke bombs at riot police.

Interior Minister Carmen Dan said the riot police hadn't "intervened against peaceful protesters but against dangerous hooligans who attacked the state's authority." But President Klaus Iohannis, a critic of the left-wing government, condemned "the brutal intervention of the riot police."

Three journalists also said they were roughed up by police. Austrian public broadcaster ORF said Saturday that a cameraman covering the protest was hit by police with truncheons and the TV presenter with him was shoved up against a wall. A journalist filming the rally for Romania's Hotnews online website said he was kicked and shoved by riot police.

Violent Romania protest leaves 440 needing medical treatment

August 11, 2018

BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — A total of 440 people, including two dozen riot police, received medical treatment after an anti-government protest turned violent. Romanian authorities said Saturday. The Bucharest-Ilfov Emergency Service said that, of those, 65 people including nine riot police were taken to the hospital. There are no immediate reports of life-threatening injuries.

Some people sustained head and other injuries, while others were overcome by tear gas, the service said. The anti-government protest in Bucharest Friday drew tens of thousands Romanians from abroad and local residents who demanded the government resign over moves to change laws that critics say would make it harder to prosecute corruption.

It turned violent late Friday after riot police fired tear gas and water cannons to quell protesters. Some individuals lobbed rocks, bottles and smoke bombs at riot police. There were accusations that soccer hooligans had infiltrated the largely peaceful protest and deliberately committed acts of violence.

President Klaus Iohannis, a critic of the left-wing government, condemned "the brutal intervention of riot police."

Romania probes anti-Jewish graffiti on Elie Wiesel's house

August 04, 2018

BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — Romanian police began an investigation Saturday after anti-Semitic graffiti appeared on the house of late Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel in northwest Romania. The probe was launched after comments in bright pink paint were scrawled overnight on Wiesel's small house— a protected historical monument— in the town of Sighetu Marmatiei. One of the comments said Wiesel was "in hell with Hitler."

The Romanian group for Monitoring and Fighting Anti-Semitism called it an act of vandalism against the "memory of Elie Wiesel, the memory of the Holocaust victims and the souls of the Holocaust survivors."

The Elie Wiesel National Institute for the Study of the Holocaust in Romania called for a thorough inquiry. It said Romania's president and government have pledged to fight anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial in Romania, where some have denied or downplayed the country's role in the Holocaust.

Along with 14,000 Jews, Wiesel and his family were deported in May 1944 to the Nazi death camp of Auschwitz from the town, formerly called Sighet. His mother and younger sister died there while he and his two older sisters survived.

Wiesel died in 2016. His classic book "Night" drew on his experiences in the death camps of Auschwitz and Buchenwald, becoming a testament to Nazi crimes. He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1986. Romania deported 150,000 Jews and 25,000 Roma to Nazi concentration camps in a part of the Soviet Union that was controlled by the Axis powers from 1942 to 1944, when the country was run by pro-Nazi dictator Ion Antonescu.

Romania has about 19.5 million people now, including about 6,000 Jews.

Romanian president to seek new term, backs corruption fight

June 23, 2018

BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — Romania's president said Saturday he would seek a new term in office, pledging to fight corruption after the leader of the ruling Social Democratic Party was convicted for abuse of power in office.

President Klaus Iohannis said he decided to make the announcement after Social Democratic leader Liviu Dragnea was given a 3½-year jail sentence this week. The president, whose mandate expires in 2019, said public confidence in the Romanian government is very low.

Later Saturday, thousands of Romanians once again held anti-corruption protests outside the government offices in the capital of Bucharest, while thousands more assembled in cities around Romania including Sibiu and Cluj. They waved Romanian flags called for the government to resign and for an early election to be held.

After the sentencing, the Social Democrats reiterated their support for Dragnea, saying he should be considered innocent pending a final verdict. They promised to implement new laws that critics say will weaken the nation's fight against corruption.

Iohannis, a centrist, said during a visit to his native city of Sibiu that the Social Democrats were lobbying "for a criminal." Later, supporters rallied outside his home in Sibiu, yelling: "Iohannis, don't give up!"

Romania's president considers referendum on justice system

June 12, 2018

BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — Romania's president says he is considering a referendum on the justice system amid a contentious overhaul of the country's laws and ongoing anti-corruption protests. President Klaus Iohannis spoke Tuesday about a May 30 constitutional court ruling ordering him to dismiss chief anti-corruption prosecutor Laura Codruta Kovesi after the justice minister said she hadn't done her job properly.

Iohannis said the ruling raised questions about the roles of the president, the prosecutors and the justice minister. He accused the ruling Social Democratic Party of trying to diminish the role of the president with its overhaul of the justice system, which has sparked regular protests because of fears it would threaten judicial independence.

Romania: Thousands stage anti-corruption, government protest

May 12, 2018

BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — Thousands of people have gathered in Romania's capital to protest a contentious judicial overhaul they say will make it harder to prosecute senior officials for graft. Romanians of all ages assembled in Bucharest's Victory Square on Saturday for the protest held under a motto of "We want Europe, not a dictatorship!"

They blew whistles, waved flags and yelled "Resign!" Police ringed part of the square. Anti-corruption demonstrations have been held regularly in Romania since the current left-wing government came to power in 2016 and starting pursuing legal changes that critics fear will weaken the fight against corruption.

Gabriel Vasilache, a 35-year-old manager attending Saturday's demonstration, said: "This government is dragging us away from Europe," adding: "We are here for our future and our children's future."

Thousands of Romanian health workers protest salary cuts

April 26, 2018

BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — Thousands of Romanian health care workers on Wednesday protested wage cuts outside the government offices in the capital. Traffic was restricted in downtown Budapest as up to 10,000 health care workers from all over the country traveled to Bucharest for the protest. They threatened to go on strike next month if the government doesn't resolve their salary issues. Demonstrators blew whistles and vuvuzelas, jeered and yelled "Thieves, thieves!"

Romania's left-wing government recently approved substantial salary hikes for some state health workers, with some medics seeing their wages more than doubled. However, Leonard Barascu, heads of the Sanitas health union, said that at the same time some employees lost up to 1,100 lei ($290) of their net monthly pay.

Several protesters told The Associated Press they were angry that the government has cut compensation they get for working in dangerous or risky conditions. They said doctors had seen big salary increases, while some nurses and health assistants had lost out.

Psychiatric nurse Catalin Magda, who had traveled from the central city of Alba Iulia, said he had seen his monthly wage of 5,100 lei ($1,345) reduced by 10 percent. "We are not satisfied; we want the salary the government promised us."

Gheorghe Pop, 46, who carries out disease control at a hospital in northern Romania, said he had personally seen his salary doubled, but was demonstrating to show his solidarity with colleagues whose wages went down.

Barascu said unions would hold talks with the government on May 2. Health Minister Sorina Pintea met hospital chiefs this week and called on them to manage their resources better to cover wage losses.