
Romanian Prime Minister Admits He Has No Idea Why Romania Signed ACTA - sirwitti
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20120205/14043517663/romanian-prime-minister-admits-he-has-no-idea-why-romania-signed-acta.shtml
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JanezStupar
I am really glad that eastern European people are so vigilant about censorship
and government control.

It should still be known, that a lot of bad stuff has crept into EU law. But
people are starting to gain awareness on these issues. And East EU people have
no enthusiasm about reliving the Iron Curtain days.

~~~
moonchrome
>I am really glad that eastern European people are so vigilant about
censorship and government control.

Ironic that they are "worried" about "government control" given how often
their governments control huge chunks of the economy, private sector and the
general distrust and vilification of capitalism (you think the OWS is bad,
wait till you hear the ex-commies and philosophy professors talking about
social justice to the plebs, these guys are in the government here). It's more
about them being pissed off about piracy prevention which is common not only
for personal use but also in businesses.

~~~
paganel
I don't downvote stuff on HN (I think you're just my third or fourth
downvote), but I had to do it because you're factually wrong, and spreading
misconceptions.

I'll just give you my country's example, Romania. Our biggest company, Petrom
(it's an oil company) has been privatized just before our entry into the EU.
Its new owner? The Austrians from OMV, which has the Austrian Government as
its main shareholder. Also, there are only 2 or 3 Romanian banks, which I
don't think that control more than 10% of the market taken together, the rest
of the banking sector is controlled by foreign-owned banks (some of them also
having their Governments as major shareholders). And I could go on and on.

~~~
Maro
The poster wrote "huge chunks", not "all".

I can give an example very close to home about gov't influence here in
Hungary, and that is the tech/IT sector. A huge chunk of tech/IT SMBs are
directly or indirectly living off government contracts, grants, gov't
companies or companies that have been privatized but retain close ties to the
gov't (and are dumb). A new thing here in Hungary is EU grants, which is the
same, dumb money.

The first question I routinely get as an entrepreneur is "what grant did you
win?". When I say "none" and that I'm trying to bootstrap off the market they
think I'm crazy or lying. (Not kidding.) Also, most SMBs that I've come in
contact with over over the last 3-5 years fit the above description well.

Without going into the details of the problems with money from the gov't or
the EU, this effect precludes any kind of real R&D or innovation to take place
around here. In fact the word "innovation" has been hijacked here in Hungary
to mean "grant money". You have gov't officials saying "there's a lot of
innovation in the IT sector" which means "there's a lot of grant money given
out in the IT sector". Unfortunately there are no results to show for it, it's
a cargo cult culture. The succesfull tech companies we do have (LogMeIn,
Prezi, IndexTools, Graphisoft) are all companies that to my knowledge stayed
the hell away from gov't money.

~~~
bad_user
government influence != influencing the government to throw shit-loads of
money at you

~~~
moonchrome
They don't, it's "development programs" and "helping the economy". Startups
don't have the money to lobby. It's not corruption per se, at least on the
highest levels, it's simply buying votes and pretending you are accomplishing
something. Technocracy at it's finest.

------
ck2
Funny how all the regrets are AFTERWARDS.

Much easier to beg forgiveness than ask permission.

"Oh well our bad, we'll just have to be plagued by these pesky rights-
stripping laws."

~~~
nknight
Signing a treaty is not the same as ratifying it. Ratification is necessary
for it to go into force, and that hasn't happened yet. Countries fail to
ratify treaties all the time.

~~~
bane
But it does represent a "convenient" and yet bizarre disconnect between the
policy makers and the foreign service.

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savramescu
I'm not surprised at all at Boc. I'm glad he resigned, but I don't think there
will be a big improvement any time soon. For the rest of HN: there were mass
demonstrations lately requesting his resignation; even the President asked him
and he kept refusing. In the end it looks like he left.

~~~
bad_user
1\. People still don't realize that the Boc administration was the best thing
that could happen to us.

Our national debt is less than 40% of the GDP in a time of a global economic
crisis. Of course it grew since 2009 from 25% so the trend is a little
worrying, which is why the government implemented austerity measures, because
3 million people (the employees of private companies that pay taxes) cannot
pay the bills for the rest without making cuts ... and all the money that came
from privatization have been eaten by PSD.

During Boc our economy was stable without drowning us in debt (compare with
Greece's debt at 173% of GDP, or with Italy's and Ireland's which are at over
100%). Also take the stability of our national currency which historically has
never been so stable.

2\. I sympathize with the couple of hundred people that went to the streets. I
would have gone myself, but instead of bitching about it I just work my ass
off and make my own money, instead of begging for it.

There's a reason why Germany recovered after 2 world wars in which they were
bitch-slapped, plus the fall of the Berlin wall which left them in recession.
And now they are again amongst the biggest economies (first in Europe, fourth
world-wide) ... they aren't beggars, while we are.

~~~
jakeonthemove
->2\. I sympathize with the couple of hundred people that went to the streets. I would have gone myself, but instead of bitching about it I just work my ass off and make my own money, instead of begging for it.

This. I know there are people who believe they have no opportunities, but most
of the times they're wrong. There's ALWAYS an opportunity to make money and
take care of yourself. Blaming the government and demanding that they take
better care of you is just irresponsible.

------
rprime
Romania (its administration) has proved many times that it cannot think by
itself, it just fallows others, with the mentality if others say so who are we
to say otherwise.

PS: I am romanian.

~~~
jan_g
Sadly, the same is true for majority of governments in European countries.

~~~
nodata
For the majority of European countries? Can you give some examples?

~~~
yread
Czech republic sometimes does things its own way and it's even worse...

~~~
afterburner
Staying out of the Euro (for now) hasn't been so bad. They're on track to be
admitted eventually, but their euro-skeptic government probably slows that
down...

~~~
yread
well, that's debatable. It annoys normal folks (who have to exchange money
when going abroad) and businesses (who have to hedge against exchange rate
changes). And in the end when shit goes down in Hungary it takes CZK down too.

~~~
afterburner
The upside is they can devalue their currency to address trade balance and
solvency issues. Something Ireland, Greece, and Spain can't do. It beats the
pants off trying to lower wages.

~~~
yread
Sure. Devaluation is a whole lot of pain and a political suicide, though

~~~
afterburner
The value of currencies goes up and down according to much more than political
whims. It's also good for exports, which the Czech Rep is strong in.

------
Nate75Sanders
This is so absurd that it sounds like a headline from The Onion. Truth is
stranger than fiction, I guess.

~~~
InclinedPlane
Absurd, but not unusual today. Members of the US congress have admitted freely
that they have voted for bills without having read them. Indeed, our speaker
of the house even once said that it was necessary to "pass the bill to find
out what's in it", because apparently reading it was out of the question:
<http://youtube.com/watch?v=KoE1R-xH5To>

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mtarnovan
Is the article really suggesting that there might be a connection between ACTA
and Boc's resignation ? Because that would be hilarious. (He resigned for an
entirely different reason)

~~~
miahi
No, there is no link between ACTA and the resignation. The resignation is a
political move trying to calm down the Romanian revolts started in January.

~~~
MichaelApproved
Yes, but I think the OP is saying that the article added an update to the end
in a way that makes it seems like ACTA and his resignation are associated.

 _"Update: And... um... just like that, he's no longer Prime Minister,
offering up his resignation today."_

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bad_user
Just a note: the resignation of the prime-minister had nothing to do with
ACTA.

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hexagon
Romania has lobbyists, and i'm sure that RIAA or some Motion Picture
association paid for someone's car or vacation or something. Of course, they
didn't have to work as hard as in the US for SOPA, because as it was said
before, our politicians are little copying puppets.

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hurrycane
The Prime Minister actually quit yesterday so it's the "former" Prime
Minister.

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mariusmg
He signed because he was a puppet.

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rsanchez1
It happens when a treaty is drafted in secret and the leading countries behind
it don't have open debate on it before signing it.

