PNL and USR-PLUS candidate for Bucharest City Hall, Nicușor Dan, came under heavy fire this week over an old audio recording in which he offers to assist an alleged underworld figure abused by the authorities. The PSD continues sabotaging the government’s drive to keep debt at bay, while thousands of Romanians signed a petition to demand swift action against high-level graft. And Romania became the first country in the Black Sea region to install US Patriot missiles to deter Putin from further westwards adventures. All this and more in this week’s Romanian Dispatch.

Romanian Dispatch #6 (September 12-18, 2020)

Incumbent Gabriela Firea (PSD) and mayor hopeful Nicușor Dan (“candidate of the right”) are in a tight race for Bucharest City Hall, currently only separated by two percentage points. If elected, Dan promises to get rid of the capital’s six administrative sectors. Manufacturing is picking up again after the lockdown and other coranavirus measures, with a Norwegian maritime crane company opening up shop in Sfântu Gheorghe and the German Daimler Group increasing production of transmission gearboxes in Sebeș, Alba county. And according to a new study, the average download speed in Romania has tripled since last year, meaning you can read this week’s issue of Romanian Dispatch while simultaneously streaming audio and downloading a whole library in the background…

Romanian Dispatch #5 (September 4-11, 2020)

PSD leader Marcel Ciolacu gambled and lost. He did not manage to bring down the Orban government due to a low turn out of his own PSD deputies and subsequently blamed pretty much everyone for his failure and the high COVID-19 infection rates. Fortunately, there is lots of EU money coming to Romania to absorb the negative impact of the corona pandemic. And investigators determined the cause of death of the fugitive Iranian judge who was found dead in a Bucharest hotel in June. You will find out about these developments and more in this week’s Romanian Dispatch.

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Romanian Dispatch #4 (August 29-September 4, 2020)

With daily coronavirus infection rates continuing to hover around 1,200, no one really knows what September will bring. If it is up to the newly elected PSD’s leader Marcel Ciolacu we will not have a government as of next week. But COVID-19 is unlikely to interfere with the local elections elections on September 27. There is a hotly contested mayoral race in Târgu Mureș. Smart mobility options keep expanding in Romania while new data show that Romanian migrant workers seem to be reluctant to return to Western Europe after they got back to Romania during the lockdown this spring. You will find out about these developments and more in this week’s Romanian Dispatch.

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Romanian Dispatch #3 (August 22-28, 2020)

Romania is gearing up for local elections on September 24 and mayoral races around the country promise to be full of suspense. Schools are getting ready to re-open too, although the high rate of COVID-19 infections may be a spoiler. That and more in this week’s Romanian Dispatch.

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Romanian Dispatch #2 (August 15-21, 2020)

This is the first official issue of Romanian Dispatch, after we launched our zero issue last week. Thank you for all your positive feedback and congratulatory messages!

Romanian Dispatch will arrive in your mailbox each Saturday morning and provides you with a summary of the main news of the week, highlights particularly important developments and provides context and analysis — from politics to pop culture. Starting in September we will also be offering a weekly podcast.

Please do not hesitate to forward Romanian Dispatch to others you think might be interested in weekly news and analyses from Romania.

Romanian Dispatch #1 (August 8-14, 2020)

This is the zero issue of Romanian Dispatch, a weekly English-language newsletter, and soon also a podcast, about developments in Romania — from politics to pop culture.

Every week we plan to compile the main news of the week, highlight particularly important developments and provide context and analysis.

This is an experiment and we very much like to hear from you if this newsletter is useful to you, what is missing, redundant, etc. Please do not hesitate to forward Romanian Dispatch to others you think might be interested in weekly news and analyses from Romania.

Romanian Dispatch #0 (August 1-7, 2020)