Color Revolution: Is Bucharest on the Chopping Block?

The massive anti-government protests in Romania have grown from opposing a piece of legislation to demanding the resignation of the government, provoking fear of an imminent Color Revolution.

The origin of the unrest can be most directly traced back to the ruling Social Democratic Party’s initiative to decriminalize corruption worth less than $48,000, allegedly proposed on the grounds of freeing up the country’s prisons. This unprecedented move prompted hundreds of thousands of people to take to the streets in opposing the government, and some of the largest-ever protests seen since the end of communism in 1989 were controversially organized by NGOs. This has led to some voices drawing parallels between the ongoing events in Romania and what transpired in Ukraine a few years ago during EuroMaidan.

Adding credence to this argument is that both anti-government movements started off opposing the authorities’ decision relating to a piece of legislation – be it former President Yanukovich declining to sign the EU Association Agreement, or the current Romanian leadership pushing through its corruption decriminalization proposal – yet they quickly transformed into a regime change movement demanding the ouster of the government. Police have already had to respond to rioters with tear gas, and there’s always the chance that the demonstrations could spiral out of control just like they did in Ukraine. Unlike in the former Soviet republic at the time of its Color Revolution, the Balkan country is already a member of both the EU and NATO, and Bucharest has already committed to hosting an integral component of the US’ so-called “missile defense shield”.

This makes it difficult for some people to argue that the recent nationwide disturbances are a Color Revolution, since it doesn’t seem like there’s any obvious motive for the West to overthrow what visibly appears to be a very friendly government. Yet at the same time, however, it’s undeniable that many NGOs, some of them internationally linked, are playing an influential role in in the latest protest movement. In a sense, what’s happening in Romania looks a lot like what’s been going on in Poland over the past couple of months, where Western-linked NGOs have also tried to destabilize the pro-American government in Warsaw. In both cases, issues of economic sovereignty vis-à-vis Brussels, more so than geopolitical ones in regards to Moscow, might be what are driving the bedlam.

Bogdan Razu Herzog, Romanian author, founder of “Frontiera” think tank, and Adrian Ionescu, Romanian political commentator, commented on the issue.

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