Romanian Parties Ready For European Elections

With less than two months to go before European elections, the parties in Romania have designated their candidates for the elections on 25 May, offering most of the positions to standing MEPs.

Romania will have 32 mandates in the future European Parliament, compared to 33 at present.

Among the names running for posts in the Parliament are former prime ministers Theodor Stolojan and Mihai Razvan Ungureanu and three former ministers Monica Macovei, Ecaterina Andronescu and Iuliu Winkler.

One current MEP, Elena Basescu, daughter of President Traian Basescu, on Monday announced that she would not run for another term in Strasbourg. Basescu, 33, has been criticized for her apparent inactivity in the Parliament.

Analysts say the lack of a clear agenda on the part of most candidates, as well as a perception of clientism and corruption, is likely to contribute to a lack of interest by voters.

European elections are marked by a high degree of absenteeism in Romania.  Only 27 per cent of Romanians voted in the European elections of 2009, compared to a European average of 43 per cent.

Romania is to spend about 34 million euro on organizing the elections for the European Parliament this year, 50 per cent more than was spent in 2009. Funding for this year’s elections has already been approved by the government.