Romanians sceptical of anti-corruption success

BUCHAREST, May 8: Max Schibinschi believes he cannot get a job without paying someone off, or take an exam without competing against students who paid for their grades.

Like millions of other Romanians, the 20-year-old student blames politicians who governed his country after the 1989 fall of communism for allowing corruption to spread and cripple the difficult transition to democracy and free markets.

Experts say graft is endemic in Romania, a poor Black Sea state of 22 million, marring public services such as health and education as well as courts, government projects and business.

''How can you take an exam if you know that people who know nothing will get a good grade? You want to do something in Romania, you pay,'' Schibinschi said.

''There is corruption to get jobs. You pay and you get a job. Or you need relatives in the right places. There are people who are nice, who study, who have ideas. But they have no chance.'' Faced with the threat that European Union membership could be postponed by a year until 2008 unless it shows progress in fighting corruption, Romania's centrist government has taken major steps to tackle graft, particularly among top politicians.

Its efforts have won praise from Brussels, which will decide on May 16 whether Romania and its southern neighbour Bulgaria are ready to join in 2007 or only in 2008.

But even as anti-corruption prosecutors, with beefed up powers, investigate charges against prominent politicians such as former Prime Minister Adrian Nastase, ordinary Romanians see little progress.

''Nastase may be gone but now other people are strong and steal money. People we don't know yet,'' said Andrea Batir, a 21-year-old student, as she shared a cigarette with Schibinschi on a concrete path among dreary apartment blocs in Bucharest.

''This government is a bit better. They are a little more open-minded. But we don't know how to stop corruption.''

WEIGHING THE CHANGE

Western observers say the investigation against Nastase, who denies charges of shady real estate deals, will be a litmus test of Romania's ability to root out corruption.

The coalition came to power in late 2004 on an anti-graft ticket, ousting Nastase's ex-communist Social Democrats (PSD), accused by many observers of allowing graft to fester.

It increased the independence of courts, gave prosecutors more power to chase senior officials and forced politicians to regularly reveal their wealth.

''We did the most we could in a short time,'' said Justice Minister Monica Macovei, a civil rights lawyer widely praised by Western observers. But she added there was still resistance from some parliamentarians to real change.

Without a single top-level politician behind bars, many observers question Romania's determination to enforce the new laws.

''There is a suspicion it's all for show, until they start putting people in jail,'' said one Western diplomat in Bucharest.

''It's too early to say if the recent reforms have made corruption less of a turn-off to Western investors.'' Romanian officials say they are doing all they can.

''Since I took over the prosecutors' office, we have opened cases related to deputies, government members, judges, heads of state companies,'' said chief anti-graft prosecutor Daniel Morar.

TRANSFORMATIONS

Many observers say the eruption of high level corruption had roots in the wide-reaching web of the Securitate secret police and its hold on power after the bloody 1989 revolution. Local media repeatedly accuse the ex-communists who ruled Romania for the first seven years after dictator Nicolae Ceausescu's fall of corrupt deals, particularly in privatisation and real estate. Newspapers call top politicians by nicknames such as 'Nastase of the Seven Houses'.

''Many politicians could cover their tracks through regulation when graft was systemic and approved by the state,'' said Renate Weber, head of the Open Society Foundation in Romania. ''They used state authority to cover corrupt activities.'' One city mayor has been accused of giving out costly plots of land during the restitution of property confiscated by the communist regime, costing the state budget 40 million euros.

In March, prosecutors began investigating a former minister accused of using his position to obtain 11 hunting rifles worth 7,000 euros from a man who got a government position in return.

''People pay money to get an appointment with a government official ... while town mayors are deprived of funds unless they join a political party,'' said Weber.

Experts say corruption has done vast damage to the economy as Romania struggles to improve living standards after decades of spartan life under communism.

The country is riddled with poverty and lags far behind many of its former Soviet bloc peers in economic development.

Graft watchdog Transparency International says according to some estimates Romania lost a third of its economy when billions of dollars were sent abroad after 1989 in rigged privatisation deals and engineered bankruptcies of profit-churning companies.

For students, bribes are a fact of life. And free market competition is persuading more to buy success, experts say.

A passing grade in a university exam costs 200-300 euros, roughly the average monthly wage and twice the price in the final years of communism. Students say teachers often ask the whole class to pay 50 euros a person to ensure everyone passes.

''My friends who didn't pay had to go through a very tough chemistry exam. Most failed, even if they studied hard,'' said Andrei, an engineering student who did not give his last name.

''My parents agreed to pay. They understood the situation.''

REUTERS