Best news from Romania

This is going to be a weird post, but I must talk about it. Let's face it, I like to be up to date with the news and spend probably too much time browsing the net in search of cool news. What I am about to write here is by far the most positive piece of news I have heard since the recent elections in Romania.

My story's main characther is the cop Nistor Carbunaru from my hometown Piatra Neamt, who came out a few years ago and revealed the corruption and utter lack of professionalism that infused the state police. After making public his criticism to the press and to his superiors, instead of starting an investigation the Department of Interior sacked him. He was deposed of his ranking and assigned some dirty ground work although his qualification was penal investigation. He was moved to a different unit in a different town and prosecuted under military law for some b.s. charges. After a few legal terms he won in the regional appelate courts, the police appealed and the trial moved to the Supreme Court. After two years of trials, in December 2004 he won his job and rank back, giving a severe blow to the entire corrupt system that believed his resistence was futile and naive.

The story gets even better. After the centrist alliance D.A. won the Romanian elections last fall, the newly elected president Basescu vowed that fight against corruption would be number one on his priority list. Sure enough, the new governement fired all the state police heads and organized professional job applications with interviews, computer and English language tests and required a portfolio with a project proposal for reforming the state police system. The GREAT news is that yesterday Mr. Nistor Carbunaru passed all the tests and won the position of state police head. YES, he is now the boss of his old "friends" who sacked him for denouncing their acts of corruption. It sounds cliche, almost cheesy, but for Romania this is unheard of. I will be looking forward to his first actions.

December news. Yesterday's news.