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Nicolae Văcăroiu

Nicolae Văcăroiu (born 5 December 1943) is a Romanian politician, member of the Social Democratic Party (PSD), who served as Prime Minister between 1992 and 1996. Before the 1989 Revolution, he worked at the Committee for State Planning, together with Theodor Stolojan. He was the President of the Senate of Romania for almost eight years, during two legislatures (2000–2004 and 2004–2008).

Political activity
On November 20, 1992, he was appointed to the role of Prime Minister of Romania. His prime ministerial mandate began with some limited economic reforms in the areas of fiscal, budgetary, monetary, and industrial prices, which made possible the resumption of Romania's economic growth starting in 1993. Between 1993 and 1996, the GDP grew by 17.5%, after a contraction of 24.5% in 1990-1992 immediately after the fall of the communist regime. After a drop in industrial production of 49% between 1990 and 1992, there was an increase of 22% in the 1993-1996 period. However, this growth was not sustainable, with many enterprises remaining under the weak management of the state, and produced much in stock just to report rising production figures. At the same time, foreign investment was almost non-existent, as the government opposed any significant privatization in industry, although at that time many enterprises could still be sold at reasonable prices. These delays caused Romania to enter into recession at the end of Văcăroiu's tenure as well as Bulgaria. Instead, Văcăroiu opted for an inefficient privatization method: the distribution of some enterprises to the general population, with the option of subscribing to some state-owned companies, but without providing any real and relevant information on the economic situation of those enterprises. At the end of his term, the situation of most state-owned enterprises was disastrous, even in Bancorex (a foreign trade bank with a prospect of success), which made Romania close to unable to pay its debts.

Internationally, as regards the prospect of accession to the European Union, on 1 February 1993 the European Association Agreement with the European Community, which entered into force on 1 February 1995, was signed, and in June 1995 it obtained the agreement of all the forces policy on the objective of the country's accession to the European Union. Also, the first request for NATO membership was made. As far as relations with neighbors are concerned, the settlement of bilateral treaties has been delayed. As Yugoslavia was under international embargo because of its actions in Croatia and Bosnia, relations with it were frozen. Moldova and Ukraine accused Romania of irredentism, among other things because the coalition that supported Văcăroiu's cabinet included nationalist and conservative-communist forces (the Romanian National Unity Party, the Greater Romania Party, and the Socialist Party of Labour) and because it insisted that the bilateral treaties referring to the 1939 Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, which had led to territorial losses for Romania to the Soviet Union, from which Ukraine and Moldova had inherited their borders (those tensions diminished after Văcăroiu's and Oliviu Gherman's visits to Chișinău and Kyiv in the first half of 1995). Hungary, for its part, negotiated a basic treaty, but Romania refused to accept the inclusion in this treaty of a commitment to comply with Council of Europe's Recommendation 1201 on Minorities. The Treaty with Hungary was signed in September 1996, and in May 1996 the treaty with Yugoslavia could be signed after the Dayton Agreement and the lifting of the embargo on that country.

Following the suspension of President Traian Băsescu by the Parliament of Romania on 19 April 2007, Nicolae Văcăroiu became the interim president of Romania after the Constitutional Court of Romania acknowledged the vote of the Parliament, until the impeachment referendum results were announced on 23 May 2007. During his interim presidency, Văcăroiu, according to the Constitution of Romania had all the prerogatives of a president, minus three of them: he could not dissolve the Parliament, he could not address the Parliament, nor organize a public referendum.

On 14 October 2008, he was voted by the Parliament as President of the Court of Audit.

Professional activity
Văcăroiu obtained a bachelor's degree in economic studies from the Bucharest Academy of Economic Studies, Faculty of Credit and Finance (1964–1969).

A. Internally, during the period 1993–1996, as a result of the economic reforms in the field of prices, fiscal-budget, monetary and industrial, it was possible to resume Romania's economic growth as follows: A. Internally:
 * In 1969, after graduation, he was employed as a trainee economist at the State Planning Committee (C.P.S.), where he underwent all hierarchical stages from the position of economist to the director of the Finance Department. Coordinated financial, monetary and price activities, conducted tracking, control and reporting, analyzed and prepared annual proposals on performance indicators for state-owned productive enterprises, and participated on the drafting of the quarterly credit plans and cashflow charts, as well as drafting of normative acts in the respective fields.
 * Deputy Minister within the National Ministry of Economy (established through C.S.P.’s reorganization). In 1990, he participated in the implementation of normative acts adopted by the Provisional Council of the National Union. He was part of the team, which, under the coordination of academician Tudorel Postolache, elaborated the "Romanian Reform Strategy" to ensure the transition to democracy and the market economy.
 * State Secretary within the Ministry of Finance. Văcăroiu served as Head of the Prices Department position from which he coordinated the process of elaborating the strategy of gradual liberalization of prices in the Romanian economy. He participated in drafting laws on price liberalization. Subsequently, he was appointed Head of the Tax and Tax Department, coordinating the tax reform process in order to harmonize with European Union legislation, preparing the introduction of VAT instead of the tax on the movement of goods. Also in this position started preparations for the introduction of the global tax for individuals. In 1992 he was Chairman of the Interministerial Committee of Guarantees and Foreign Trade Credits.
 * Prime Minister within the Romanian Government. In November 1992, Văcăroiu was appointed Prime Minister of Romania, without being a member of any political party, at the proposal of the Party of Social Democracy of Romania (P.D.S.R.), a public office he exercised until December 1996. The main objectives of the Governance Program were: economic recovery and rebuilding the macroeconomic stability, undertaking the necessary reforms in all areas of activity in order to ensure their competitiveness and efficiency, ensuring stability and social balance, preparing for accession into European and Euro-Atlantic structures.
 * Romania's Gross domestic product (GDP) had increased by 17.4%, recovering by 71% of the economic decline from 1990 to 1992, when the GDP had decreased in real terms by 24.5%;
 * The industrial production has increased (since 1993) by 21.7%, recovering 40.2% of the decline registered at the end of 1992 (54%). The entire production increase was due to the increase in labor productivity by 52.8%. Industrial production has been marketed through:
 * increase in exports from $3.4 billion in 1992 to $4.2 billion in 1993 and $6.5 billion in 1996;
 * increasing the investment rate from 19.2% of GDP in 1992 to 23.0% of GDP in 1996;
 * increase in the population's consumption through measures undertaken to restore purchasing power.
 * The average general government deficit in the period 1993-1996 was -2.2% of GDP compared to the one in 1992 of -4.6% of GDP;
 * In order to significantly mitigate the inflation while accelerating the reforms, a mix of measures related to financial, monetary and price policies were required, as it follows:
 * the shock liberalization of prices whilst eliminating subsidies for products and services for the population since the 1st of May 1993;
 * the scope of the products and services whose prices were under supervision decreased from 112 positions to just 24 positions;
 * the number of imported products for the household consumption (bread, pork and poultry, dairy products, etc.);
 * some public services (urban passenger transport, rail transport, postal and communications services, etc.);
 * natural and organizational monopolies (electricity and heat, natural gas);
 * some subsidized products (human medicines, minerals);
 * the shock liberalization of prices led to an increase in inflation from 195.5% in 1992 to 295.5% in 1993. Effects:
 * reducing the general government deficit from - 4.6% of GDP in 1992 at -0.4% of GDP in 1993;
 * the current account deficit of the balance of payments decreased from 8% of GDP in 1992 to 4.5% of GDP in 1993;
 * the inflation decreased from 295.5% in 1993 to 61.7% in 1994 and 27.8% in 1995;
 * the introduction since the 1-st of July 1993 of the value added tax which replaced the old tax on the movement of goods. An 18% quota was set except for:
 * 9% VAT on products of strict necessity in the consumption of the population (bread, milk, meat, etc.), press and publications;
 * VAT rate 0 (zero) with right to deduct on the heat supplied to the population;
 * reduction of the profit tax rate from 45% to 38% and in agriculture to 25%;
 * 50% reduction of the tax on the profit from exports and the one used for technological modernization;
 * the system of customs duties has been revised by aligning it with the one applied in the Member States of the European Union;
 * gradual reduction of the production subsidies;
 * the excises’ system has been modified either by increasing it or setting it up for some import products that were not strictly necessary, with favorable effects of mitigating the country's commercial and currency deficit;
 * the application of measures leading to mitigation of the quasi-fiscal deficit from an average of 16.5% of the GDP over the 1990-1992 period to an average of 6.5% of the GDP over the 1993-1996 period;
 * budget's decentralization and strengthening the competences of local authorities in the field of taxation;
 * over the entire period, more than 8 billion lei were granted from the state budget for the establishment and development of small and medium-sized enterprises (lending credits with  bearing interest - 50% of the National Bank of Romania ‹NBR› reference interest rate);
 * the establishment of the Romanian Loan Guarantee Fund for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (with the participation of the state budget). By the end of 1996 there were 526,563 commercial companies with private capital - especially small and medium-sized ones, out of which 47,294 were trading companies with foreign participation;
 * Concurrently with the application of the prices’ shock liberalization and the abolition of subsidies in 1993; salaries, pensions and social allowances were increased by 3.1 times, covering the inflation rate of 295.5%. Basically, the purchasing power of the population has been restored. Subsequently, a periodical indexation (usually on quarterly basis) of pensions, wages and social allowances with the consumer price index was applied.
 * In 1993, the guarantee of payment of the gross minimum wage was introduced, obligatory for all economic agents, regardless of the form of ownership. In 1995 it was exempt from income tax.
 *  In the field of sectoral and privatization policies, it is worth mentioning:
 * 86 Restructuring and Development Strategies were developed aiming at a 2025 horizon, out of which 55 were industry strategies;
 * For the strategic areas (national security), the concerned issues related to: oil, natural gas, electricity and heat distribution, aluminum, cement, communications, actions were undertake in the sense of creating modern, performing, state-owned capital management privatization. The decision to privatize the capital will be taken after 2025.
 * The Petroleum Company (PETROM) was set up in the field of oil exploration, exploitation, production and distribution activities. It consisted of 10 entities (5 large combines with an oil processing capacity of about 4 billion tons of crude oil each and 5 (five) small refineries, which usually produced oils, aiming at keeping in the state portfolio three large plants (Petromin, Arpechim, Petrobrazi) and two (two) small special oil refineries. The rest of the entities will be sold through an international tender and the funds obtained will be used by Petrom to modernize the state-owned strategic entities (ENI - Italy). By the end of 2025, it was possible to act for the full privatization of the management. Following this strategy the state budget financed more than 300 million dollars for the three large plants, modernizing the primary refining part;
 * In the area of communications the state budget invested approx.600 million dollars, installing 7,000 km of optical fiber on the territory of the country. In 1996, Romtelecom's market value was 10 billion dollars. It was sold in 1997 to the Greek state with 335 million dollars (35% shares and 16% usufruct right);
 * The export of logs and scrap (despite all the pressure from IMF) was forbidden in view of processing (within the country) these raw materials in the metallurgical, furniture and other areas;
 * Institutionally strengthening of the National Strategic Reserve of the State by reviewing stocks of raw materials and products: 2 (two) million tons of wheat (to avoid importing in unfavorable agricultural years at prices two or three times higher than the market price), 10 thousand tons of block aluminum, cement, building materials, food, medicines, tents, blankets, fuels, etc.;
 * Legislation in the field of privatization, adopted in 1991–1992, provided for the distribution of 70% of the share capital of state-owned companies to the State Property Fund (FPS) for the purpose of privatization and 30% by free transfer to citizens who reached the age of 18 years. 15.5 million certificates were distributed to citizens which, until the transfer process ended, were under the administration of the five (5) Private Ownership Funds (PPF). The ownership certificate was not nominative and the transaction was not foreseen in the law. The process of converting ownership certificates into shares has not been achieved for years. Most of the citizens considered them worthless and began selling them on the unorganized market at symbolic prices, respectively 0.5-1% of the actual value of a certificate, which in 1995 was 1 million lei. As a result, a few „business people with initiative” bought (including through external credits) approximate 4 million property certificates. In order to eliminate this speculative phenomena, the Văcăroiu Government issued a special law whereby nominative coupons for privatization were issued instead of certificates. A coupon was worth 1 million lei, out of which 25,000 lei was the old certificate of ownership. A total of 17 million privatization coupons have been issued and distributed through the Romanian Post Office. At the same time, a list of 3,000 companies was issued and published to which citizens were obliged to opt for the company to which they submitted the coupon and received the shareholder certificate instead. Under the law, citizens could also deposit coupons with the State Property Fund. The whole process took place in 1995;
 * Privatization of commercial companies from the State Property Fund  practically began in 1993. During 1993-1996 2,700 companies were privatized, out of which 750 medium and large companies. Privatization revenues amounted to a total of more than $900 million;
 * At the end of 1996, the private sector participated in a percentage of 54.9% of GDP compared to 26.4% of GDP in 1992;
 * In the field of privatization, the Văcăroiu Government encountered difficulties due to the measure undertaken in 1992 to pass the State Property Fund from under the Government's subordination to that of the Parliament;
 *  In the field of monetary policy,  the NBR carried out an intensive reform program in 1993–1996 in close correlation with the Government's economic, financial and price policies. Main achievements:
 * since 01.04.1994 the foreign exchange market was liberalized and the exchange rate was established based on the relationship between supply and demand;
 * changing the volume and structure of the minimum reserves of commercial banks set up by the NBR in order to ensure an optimal level of liquidity in the banking system;
 * improving the financing mechanism of the budget deficit and putting into operation of the State Treasury general account mechanism;
 * introduction of new payment instruments (check, promissory note, bill of exchange);
 * establishment of the Compensation House;
 * establishment of Incident Payments Center;
 * the establishment in August 1996 within the banking system of the Deposits Guarantee Fund, which ensures the payment of the savings  to the natural persons within a ceiling.
 *  In the agricultural field:
 * intensification of the process to reestablish the ownership right in agriculture area, by the assignment of ownership titles;
 * recommissioning approximate half of the areas to be used for irrigation (about 765 thousand ha in 1996);
 * subsidizing part of the irrigation costs to the state budget;
 * adjusting the price for milk, bread, pork and poultry, depending on the evolution of production costs. These four products were declared to be of national interest, benefiting from the application of minimum guaranteed purchase prices by the State;
 * the introduction of incentives in the form of producer premiums, reference prices for imports, etc., to stimulate domestic agricultural producers;
 * establishment of the Farm Guarantee Fund for farmers: low-interest credit lines (50% of the NBR's reference interest rate);
 * restart of works at Siret-Danube channel, financed by the state budget;
 * completion of irrigation systems in the Covurlui area.
 * A priority of the Văcăroiu's Government, for the entire period 1993–1996, were the investments made in upgrading industry, communications, national and local road infrastructure, etc., in health and education. Sources of funding: state budget and external loans.
 * For example, the National Road Rehabilitation and Modernization Program has been developed and works over 1,000 km have been completed. The works on the Bucharest-Constanta highway were reassumed, etc.  The achievements in the field of investments by sectors of activity during 1993-1996 are contained in the " White Book of the Văcăroiu’s Government", drafted and disseminated at the end of 1996.
 * On June 1, 1995 the macro-economic stability in Romania was restored. The applied reform measures have been well seen by the international bodies (IMF, World Bank) and the European Community;
 * international rating agencies of the EU have rated in 1995 Romania with BB +, respectively at the level of Poland and Hungary;
 * in the second half of 1995, Romania succeeded (for the first time since 1990) to access successfully the private foreign market through the NBR;
 * the country's foreign currency reserves increased from $80 million in 1992 to $750 million at the end of 1996.
 * B. Internationally, during the period 1993–1996, the Văcăroiu Government continued and intensified contacts with the European Union, the Council of Europe and NATO, as well as bilateral relations with various countries by signing basic political treaties and trade agreements:
 * February 1, 1993 – Romania signed the Free Trade Agreement with the Free Trade Association (EFTA);
 * May 1, 1993 – the EU Interim Association Agreement entered into force;
 * February–June 1995, the "National Strategy for Preparing Romania's EU Accession" was drafted and adopted;
 * June 1995 – there was a consensus of the political forces in the country for EU membership, by signing the joint declaration by their respective presidents;
 * June 22, 1995 – Romania submitted the official application for EU accession, approved by the EU Council;
 * March 12, 1995 – created management mechanism for  EU accession  preparations;
 * Establishment of the Inter-ministerial Council for EU Integration;
 * Establishment of the Department for European Integration, subordinated to the Government.
 * December 1993 – Romania was accepted as a member of the Francophone movement;
 * January 26, 1994 – Romania was the first country to sign the Framework Document for the acceptance of the Partnership for Peace;
 * March 6, 1994 – At the meeting of NATO's Political and Military Steering Committee, the Romania Individual Partnership Program for 1996-1998 was adopted;
 * April 2, 1994 – The Supreme Defense Council of the country adopted the Document on the Individual Dialogue on Accession between Romania and NATO;
 * May 1994 – Romania becomes an associate partner of the Western European Union;
 * October 4, 1994 – Romania was accepted as a full member of the Council of Europe;
 * March 1995 – Romania has actively participated in the negotiation and finalization of the Stability Pact in Europe, adopted at the Paris Conference, which aims to strengthen stability on the continent by creating a zone of good neighborhood and cooperation in Central and Eastern Europe;
 * June 1, 1996 – Romania became a full member of the Central European Initiative;
 * September 13–14, 1996 – Prime Minister Nicolae Văcăroiu attended the high-level CEFTA (High-Level Free Trade Agreement) meeting in Jasna (Slovakia). The member countries agreed to receive Romania in CEFTA at the beginning of 1997. To this end, a declaration was signed at the end of the meeting by all prime ministers of the CEFTA's member countries;
 * September 16, 1996 – Prime Minister Nicolae Văcăroiu signed the Treaty of Understanding, Cooperation and Good Neighborhood between Romania and Hungary. Prior to that, from the draft version of treaty the article providing for the granting of collective rights to the Hungarian minority (supported by Hungary on the basis of Council of Europe Recommendation 1201) was removed;
 * 5 March 1996 – Romania became the 25th member of the Council of Europe Social Development Fund;
 * In period 1993-1996 the external credits received by Romania (from the IMF, IBRD, EBRD, G-24, PHARE) were of approximate $12 billion and used in a percentage over 95% for investment.
 * Vice President of the Romanian Commercial Bank. Between December 12, 1996 and October 1, 1998, Văcăroiu coordinated the modernization and development process of the bank.
 * President of the Investment and Development Bank (October 1, 1998 – December 8, 2000).
 * Senator from Argeș County within the Romanian Parliament (1996-2000), and in this capacity as Chairman of the Permanent Commission for Privatization in the Senate (1996-1999) and Vice-President of the Romanian Senate (1999-2000).
 * President of the Senate of Romania, Senator from Argeș County (2000-2008). During these two consecutive mandates, the following points are highlighted:
 * The increase of the quality and efficiency of the legislative activity as a result of the proposed measures adopted by the Permanent Bureau and approved by the Plenum of the Chamber through the Decision for amending and supplementing the Regulation on organization and functioning;
 * Keeping track of compliance with the procedures set out in the Regulation;
 * Regular meeting with the leaders of the parliamentary groups in order to ensure consensus on important drafted laws;
 * Ensuring good collaboration with the President of Romania, the Chamber of Deputies, the Government, the Constitutional Court and the other state institutions and authorities;
 * Organizing the anniversary of the 140th anniversary of the Senate's establishment (1864-2004), attended by representatives of the main institutions and state authorities, as well as delegates from the Senates of Europe. A homage volume „History of the Romanian Senate in the period 1864-2004” and a jubilee medal were issued. B. External:
 * The parliamentary activities of the Senate – during the 2001-2008  period – have experienced a continuous ascendant evolution and a diversification from the point of view of the content and modalities of the interparliamentary cooperation:
 * Strengthening the parliamentary political dialogue between Romania and the European Union;
 * Developing bilateral relations with the Senates from the European Union and from all over Europe. Being an active participant in the Association of Senates in Europe, established in 2001 (annual rotating meetings in the member states – in Romania, the Association's meeting took place in 2007);
 * Active participation in EU interparliamentary cooperation forums and structures;
 * Parliamentary support, through the participation in the NATO Parliamentary Assembly and bilateral relations with the member countries, of the process of Romania's integration into NATO;
 * Promoting the parliamentary dimension of international cooperation under UN auspices;
 * Developing parliamentary processes associated with regional and sub-regional organizations;
 * In June 2003, the President of the Senate took over the Presidency of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation. The main actions:
 * participation in the Black Sea Energy Summit, held in Bucharest;
 * meetings with Ambassadors of BSEC's member countries, accredited in Romania;
 * participating in the working visit to the International PABSEC Secretariat in Istanbul, where he attended the Reunion of the Committee of Senior Officials and met with members of the BSEC's Business Council.
 * Between 2001 and 2008, the President of the Senate had numerous international meetings, as it follows:
 * 70 meetings with Heads of State from Europe, America, Asia and Africa;
 * 192 meetings with Presidents and Vice-Presidents of the Foreign Parliaments;
 * 40 meetings with Prime Ministers from the same areas;
 * 26 meetings with Leaders of International Organizations.
 * The President of the Senate, Nicolae Văcăroiu, carried out official visits in 40 states during 2001–2008. The objectives pursued were the following:
 * development of bilateral parliamentary relations;
 * focus on economic component, mainly:
 * development of commercial relations;
 * expanding the selling markets for the Romanian products;
 * attracting foreign investments in the Romanian economy;
 * the official visit program included meetings with Prime Ministers, Foreign Ministers, Ministers of Economy, Finance, Justice, Chambers of Commerce and Industry, etc.

The countries where official visits were made include Japan, China, South Korea, India, Turkey, Philippines, Mexico, Chile, Peru, Colombia, and Lebanon. In most of the visits, the official delegation was accompanied by businessmen (between 80 and 120 people), representatives of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Association of Employers, and the media. The meetings between the Romanian and the Romanian businessmen were organized with the participation of the President of the Senate.

 * Interim President of Romania (April 20-May 23, 2007) while the elected head of state was suspended by the Parliament of Romania.
 * President of the Court of Accounts of Romania (October 15, 2008 to October 15, 2017)
 * The activity of the Romanian Court of Accounts in the nine years of the Văcăroiu's mandate is presented in the "White Paper", published on the Court of Accounts' website.
 * The 150th Anniversary of the Establishment of the Romanian Court of Accounts (1864-2014), attended by more than 1,200 people:
 * Delegations led by the heads of the Romanian institutions and authorities: the President of Romania, the President of the Chamber of Deputies, the Deputy Speaker of the Senate, the Prime Minister and members of the Government, the President of the Constitutional Court, the President of the High Court of Cassation and Justice, the Prosecutor General, National Bank of Romania, Association of Banks, President of the Romanian Academy, Academy of Scientists, Patriarch of Romania, Presidents of Political Parties, etc.
 * External delegations from 30 countries, led by the Chairmen and Deputy Chairmen of the Supreme Audit Institutions: President of the Court of Auditors, President of INTOSAI and EUROSAI, and those of several countries: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Greece, Hungary, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain, Slovenia, Albania, Algeria, Argentina, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Croatia, Finland, Kazakhstan, Malta, Republica Moldova, Montenegro, Nigeria, Russia, and South Africa. The General Controller of the United States National Audit Office has submitted a video message that was presented to the participants. The jubilee volume "History of the Court of Accounts of Romania in the period 1864-2014" and jubilee medals, distributed to the guests, were issued and published.
 * Romania mass-media.

Teaching, research and publication activity
Between 1975 and 1984 Văcăroiu was an associate professor at the Bucharest Academy of Economic Studies and at the University of Bucharest, in the Faculty of Economic Sociology. He was also a first degree research associate within the Central Institute for Economic Research of the Romanian Academy. He attended conferences, meetings and scientific seminars organized domestically and internationally, and published numerous articles in newspapers and magazines in economic, financial, price and monetary matters. Together with journalist Gheorghe Smeureanu, he co-authored the book "Romania, Games of Interest", published by Intact Publishing House, Bucharest, 1998.

Awards and degrees
A. Internally:

 * Order of the Star of Romania, Officer rank, conferred by the President of Romania by Decree no 421/26.05.2014 on the occasion of the 150th Anniversary of the Court of Accounts’ Establishment - for excellence demonstrated at the national level in coordinating the act of control, contributing to the efficient use of the state's financial resources.
 * Order of the Star of Romania, Knight rank (2002).
 * Degree "University Merit with Virgil Madgearu Gold Medal" awarded by the Senate of the Bucharest Academy of Economic Studies for excellence in all professional and scientific activity and outstanding performances in the evolution of Romanian society (2017).
 * Obtaining the quality of Associate Researcher, 1-st degree, with all rights and duties under the Statute of the Institute and its Rules of organization and functioning of the Scientific Council of the National Institute of Economic Research, granted under Romanian Academy Presidium Decision no 91/20.02.2004.
 * Doctor Honoris Causa of Andrei Șaguna University in Constanța (2007).
 * Degree of Excellence awarded by the Academy of Economic Studies in Bucharest, for the prodigious professional-scientific activity and the contribution to the affirmation of the Higher Schooling in Economics;
 * Degree of "Honorary Member of the Senate of the University of Pitești" (2000).
 * The "Jubilee Medal", awarded by the West University Vasile Goldiș from Arad, (2005).
 * The degree of "Honorary Member of the National Union of Notaries Public" (2001).
 * Jubilee degree awarded by the National Association of Exporters and Importers in Romania (2015).
 * Degree of Excellence awarded by the Romanian Investors' Association (2002).
 * Patent of the General Union of Industrialists in Romania - UGIR 1903, for remarkable contribution to the reconstruction of the Romanian economy (2003).
 * Degree of Excellency awarded by the Rural Credit Guarantee Fund.
 * Honorary degree Dimitrie C. Butculescu, awarded by the ARTIFEX-UCECOM Foundation (2004).
 * The patent conferring the decoration "Badge of Honour" of the Romanian Army.
 * Degree of Excellency awarded by the National Veterans Association (2002).
 * Honorary Member of the National Union of Military Staff in Reserve and Withdrawn (Decision 108/27.10.1994), awarded for the support given to the objectives and tasks set out in the Union Program (1994);
 * Honorary Title "Charitable Man of the Year 1998", awarded by the Archdiocese of Argeș and Muscel for work in the service of the Christian community;
 * More than 120 degrees of excellence or honor awarded by public institutions, associations, foundations, universities, public administration councils, etc;
 * 25 degrees conferring the status of "Citizen of Honor" awarded by County Councils (Argeș, Hunedoara) and towns and cities (Pitești, Craiova, Mioveni, Câmpulung, etc.).

B. Externally:
 * National Order of Merit, Grand Cross, awarded by the President of Paraguay.
 * The Renaissance Order, First Order awarded by the King of Jordan.
 * Columbus Congress Order Grade Grand Extraordinary Cross Gold Plated.
 * Gold Medal Pericles, conferred by the President of Hellenic Parliament.
 * The Gold Medal of the French Senate, conferred by its president;
 * Grand Decoration, awarded by the Senate of Chile.
 * Degree and Medal awarded by the President of the Senate of the Czech Republic.
 * Order of cultural merit, Knight rank awarded by the Brazilian Academy of Arts, Culture, and History.
 * The Plaque of Honor, conferred by the President of the National Assembly of the Republic of Bulgaria, for assistance and support in the process of European Integration.
 * Degree of Honor and Merit with Gold Medal, awarded by the Universidad Nacional de Asunción, Paraguay.

title: Nicolae Văcăroiu


text:
The Owl Service

The Owl Service is a low fantasy novel for young adults by Alan Garner, published by Collins in 1967. Set in modern Wales, it is an adaptation of the story of the mythical Welsh woman Blodeuwedd, an "expression of the myth" in the author's words.

Garner won the annual Carnegie Medal from the Library Association, recognising the year's best children's book by a British author. It was named one of the top ten Medal-winning works for the 70th anniversary celebration in 2007, selected by a panel to compose the ballot for a public election of the all-time favourite. Garner also won the second annual Guardian Children's Fiction Prize, a similar award that authors may not win twice. Only six books have won both awards in the 45 years from 1966 to 2011.

The mythical Blodeuwedd is featured in the Fourth Branch of the Mabinogi. She is a woman created from flowers by the king of Gwynedd, Math, and the magician and trickster Gwydion, for a man who was cursed to take no human wife. She betrays her husband Lleu in favour of another man, Gronw, and is turned into an owl as punishment for inducing Gronw to kill Lleu. In Garner's tale three teenagers find themselves re-enacting the story. They awaken the legend by finding plates from a dinner service with an owl pattern, which gives the novel its title.

Henry Z. Walck published the first US edition in 1968.

Characters

 * Alison
 * Roger
 * Gwyn
 * Huw Halfbacon
 * Clive (Roger's father)
 * Margaret (Alison's mother, mentioned but never seen)
 * Nancy (Gwyn's mother)
 * Bertram (Alison's deceased cousin, mentioned)
 * Blodeuwedd (Welsh mythical figure)
 * Lieu Llaw Gyffes (Welsh mythical figure)
 * Grojiw Pebyr (Welsh mythical figure)

Plot summary
Roger and Alison are stepbrother and sister. Alison's father died and her mother Margaret has married Clive, a businessman and former RAF officer. Clive's former wife was notoriously unfaithful, bringing shame to the family and a particular kind of pain to his son, Roger. To bond the new family together they are spending a few weeks of the summer in an isolated valley in Wales, a few hours' drive from Aberystwyth. They occupy a fine house formerly owned by Alison's father, subsequently transferred to her to avoid death duty. He in turn inherited it from a cousin, Bertram, who died there in mysterious circumstances around the time Alison was born.

With the house comes Huw Halfbacon, also known as Huw the Flitch, a handyman and gardener. He is the last of the original domestic staff to remain at the house. The former cook, Nancy, had left to live in Aberystwyth but is offered a substantial amount to come and resume her duties. With her comes her son Gwyn. He has never seen the valley before but knows everything about it, courtesy of his mother's stories. Someone else who knows a lot about the place is Huw, but he is very mysterious about it. Oddly, Nancy has told Gwyn nothing about Huw.

Alison hears scratching noises in the attic above her bed and persuades Gwyn to investigate. He finds stacks of dinner plates with a floral pattern. When he picks one up, something odd happens. He almost falls through the ceiling while simultaneously Roger, lounging by a large flat stone near the river, hears a scream and seems to see something flying through the air toward him. The stone is known as the Stone of Gronw. It has a hole neatly bored through it, and legend says that Lleu killed Gronw by throwing his spear clear through the stone that Gronw was holding to shield himself.

Alison begins behaving peculiarly. She traces the pattern on the plate onto paper and folds the result to make an owl. Finding out that Gwyn has been in the attic, Nancy demands that Alison give up the plate. Alison asserts she has no right to it, and eventually produces a blank white plate. She maintains that the pattern disappeared from the plate. Alison becomes obsessed by the plates. One by one she traces them and makes the owls, and one by one the plates become blank. The owls themselves disappear, though no one cares at first about some folded paper models.

In the house's billiard room part of the wall has been covered with pebble-dash. Bit by bit this begins to crack and fall away, exposing first a pair of painted eyes, and then an entire portrait of a woman made of flowers. Tensions between the occupants of the house began to rise. Gwyn is intelligent and wants to further his education, but Clive expresses a stereotypical clannish closed-ranks attitudes of the upper middle class towards him. Roger begins to feel hostile despite his initial friendliness. Eventually he takes to ridiculing Gwyn's efforts to improve himself with elocution lessons on gramophone records, calling them "improve-a-prole." Alison seems friendly to Gwyn and the two go on long walks together. She has visions where she sees herself next to him, even though he is some distance away. Margaret, her mother, never appears but the need to keep her happy affects everyone else.

As the holiday slides into disaster, the British attitude of "seeing it through to the end" prevails, even though Clive could pay off all the staff and leave at any time. Nancy repeatedly threatens to quit, and is repeatedly mollified with crisp banknotes. She constantly warns Gwyn to stay away from the others, lest he be taken out of school and forced to work in a shop to earn some money. Nancy gradually reveals her resentment of Margaret and Alison, as she once expected to marry Bertram and should have been mistress of the very house she toils in.

Competition between the boys for Alison is, at most, a subtext here, although Garner's television script is much more overt about Gwyn's attraction to her, despite his poverty. Alison, notwithstanding any attraction to him, would rather keep her privileges, such as her tennis club membership, than cross her mother. This is something she eventually admits to Gwyn.

The mysterious Huw presides over this like some ringmaster at a circus, making strange pronouncements. There is a background of odd comments from the villagers, noises of motorcycles in the distance, sounds of birds, and mysterious noises from locked buildings.

Gwyn follows Alison on one of her inexplicable midnight walks. She is completing her tracing of the plates somewhere in the woods. Gwyn is harassed by columns of flame, which he tries to convince himself are merely marsh gas. He finds Alison when she has made the final owl, then escorts her back to the house. Huw is waiting, and greets them with the remark "She's come."

By this time the connection between the legend and the events is becoming clear. Gwyn tries to see things rationally. He attempts to run away, walking up the sides of the valley as the weather worsens, but is chased back by a pack of sheepdogs. Stealing Roger's hiking gear, he tries the other side of the valley, only to find Huw waiting for him. Huw tells him of the power that exists in the valley, how those of the blood have to re-enact the legend each time, and how Blodeuwedd always comes as owls instead of flowers because of the hatred. Huw, of course, is Gwyn's real father, so Gwyn is the next generation. Huw was responsible for Bertram's death, sabotaging the old motorcycle Bertram liked to ride around the garden, not realising he would take it out on the dangerous hill road. The dinner plates and the wall painting were done by Huw's ancestors, trying to lock up the magic in their creations, but Alison has let it loose again.

Huw directs Gwyn to a crack in an ancient tree where he finds various things, including a spear head. All the men of Huw's line come to this tree, where they leave something and take something. Gwyn removes a carved stone, leaving a cheap owl-decorated trinket. He tells Huw to give the stone to Alison. Gwyn is going to return to the house and leave with his mother, who has finally and irrevocably quit.

In a locked room, Roger discovers a stuffed owl, which Bertram shot in his own attempt to lay the ghost of Blodeuwedd, along with all the paper owls that have traced intricate patterns in the dust of a storeroom. He also finds the sabotaged motorcycle. Nancy charges in and wrecks the place, destroying the owl and then attempting to knock the very feathers out of the air.

Alison, having been given the stone by Huw, collapses and is brought into the kitchen, where she writhes in the grip of some force that makes claw marks on her skin. Huw begs Gwyn to comfort her, but Gwyn by now feels totally betrayed by Alison and can say nothing. A storm rages outside, branches smashing through the windows and skylight, a sound of owls and eagles pressing in on them. Feathers swirl in the room and trace owl patterns on the walls and ceiling.

Roger is desperate, abasing himself before Gwyn, but to no avail. "It is always owls, over and over and over," says Huw. Then Roger shouts that it's not true, that she is flowers. He yells this at Alison until abruptly all is peaceful, and the room is filled not with feathers but with petals.

Writing
Garner spent four years researching and writing the book. He learned Welsh "in order not to use it" in the dialogue—nor to use dialect, as in what he calls the "Come you here, bach" school of writing—because he believed that doing so would only superficially express what it is to be Welsh.

Themes
John Rowe Townsend cited the theme of ancient but living legend, which also appears in Garner's earlier books, saying that in this book "Garner added to his gift for absorbing old tales and retransmitting them with increased power a new grasp of the inward, emotional content of an incident or situation."

Another fellow reteller of Welsh material in English, Susan Cooper said that the novel can be called "true fantasy", "subtle and overwhelming". Penelope Farmer wrote, "I doubt if you could find any piece of realistic fiction for adolescents that says a quarter as much about adolescence as Alan Garner's The Owl Service."

Gillian Polack notes that although “Alan Garner doesn’t explore the Middle Ages deeply in The Owl Service”, he deftly utilises “one small legend to build a modern study of class and personality” which indicates that “where you come from and what opportunities your life gives you can open and close life choices”.

Inspiration

According to his Postscript included in the 2017 HarperCollins (London) edition, pp216–219, Garner had "The sensation of finding, not inventing, a story .... It was all there, waiting, and I was the archaeologist picking away the earth to reveal the bones". He described 4 key inspirations leading to, and directly providing key elements of, the story, in both book and video forms.

First, (p216)

 * It began when I read an old Welsh legend about Lleu, and his wife Blodeuwedd who was made for him out of flowers.

Second, (p217)

 * The legend stuck in my mind for several years, and then one day my mother-in-law showed me an old dinner service. She had noticed that the floral pattern round the edge of the plates could be seen as the body, wings, and head of an owl.  My wife, Griselda, traced the pattern, juggled it a bit, folded the pattern together and there it was, a model paper owl, which she perched on the back of a chair.

Third, (p217)

 * But even so, for a long time nothing else would come. Then, by chance, we went to stay at a house in a remote valley in North Wales.  Within hours of arriving I knew that I had found the setting for the story, or the setting had found me.  Its atmosphere fitted both the original legend and the nature of the dinner service.  Ideas began to grow. [...] The story took shape.  I looked around for more ideas.  The lie of the land fitted the descriptions in the legend.  Everything was where it ought to be.  The legend could have happened here.  As I stood on the doorstep at night, thinking these things, an owl brushed its wings in my face.

Fourth, he cited a local's key contribution: (pp217–218)

 * Dafydd Rees was eighty-one years old. He was known in the valley as Clocydd, "bell-ringer", because he had rung the church bell for sixty-five years, after his uncle retired from the same job after seventy years.  Dafydd had worked as the caretaker and gardener of the house since 1898.  He was the greatest help to me, since he let me in to his knowledge of the valley, its history, its traditions, its folklore.  Everything that Gwyn, in the book, tells Alison about the valley, is what Dafydd told me. [...]

In its re-telling in video form, Garner described (p219) the later making of the television series, filmed in the valley itself, as "a kind of magical madness", saying it "had made the story...more real than reality".

 * I found the experience hard to bear, because characters —who had lived in my head for so many years— were now really in the valley and really speaking the words that I had written. What had been a thought was now happening in front of me.

The abrupt and entire removing of crew, kit, and actors left him with mixed emotions and he closed with:

 * For me, in the valley where I had set the story, it was a sense of loss. The valley had not changed.  It was as it had been before I ever knew it. For a few hectic weeks my thoughts had taken on shapes, and moved as people in the landscape where I had imagined them.  But now they had gone, and all was as it had always been.
 * "It was a good time," Dafydd wrote in a letter afterwards. "I have been to the stone.  She is lonely now."

The dinner service
The pattern of the dinner service, a floral design in which some "flowers" can be read as "owls" when upside down, was designed for Old Hall by Christopher Dresser (died 1904). Garner sought to identify the designer for more than forty years.

Peter Plummer, the producer and director of the television adaptation, described in 1979 a nationwide search for surviving dinner services with the same owl/flower pattern, conducted in association with TV Times during 1969:

 * "I only know now that there are precious few of these sets in circulation ... (we) only managed to turn up three other copies, one of which, curiously enough, had been accompanied by very unpleasant associations of disaster in the family which had owned it (and one of the other families suddenly woke up to what it was they were eating their tea off while watching the transmission of the first episode)."

In 2012 Garner mentioned that he had only ever seen five plates with the design.

Television adaptation
The Owl Service was made into a Granada Television television serial of the same name in 1969. It was dramatised for BBC Radio 4 in 2000.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: The Owl Service


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Victor Ciorbea

Victor Ciorbea (born on 26 October 1954) is a Romanian jurist, politician, and civil/public servant. He was the Mayor of Bucharest between 1996 and 1997 and, after his resignation from this public dignity/position, Prime Minister of Romania from 12 December 1996 to 30 March 1998. He had also served as the Ombudsman between 2014 and 2019.

Biography
Born in Ponor, Alba County on 26 October 1954, Ciorbea trained as a jurist, graduating from Babeș-Bolyai University in Cluj-Napoca in 1979. He worked for the municipal tribunal in Bucharest, as well as lecturing in Law at the University of Bucharest. He was awarded a doctorate in Law by the University of Bucharest, and later specialized in management at Case Western Reserve University in the United States (1992).

Originally a trade unionist (between 1990 and 1996, he was leader of the Federation of Free Trade Unions in Education, FSLI, and, between 1990 and 1993, leader of the nationwide National Confederation of Free Trade Unions of Romania – Brotherhood) and member of the National Peasants' Party (PNȚ-CD). He was backed for the premiership by the Romanian Democratic Convention (CDR) after the elections of 1996. Ciorbea enforced several measures in order to advance Romania's transition toward a market economy, including an austerity budget, following a program known as Contractul cu România ("Contract with Romania").

He resigned following a conflict with PNȚ-CD leader Ion Diaconescu, moving on to found the minor Alianța Natională Creștin Democrată (the National Christian Democratic Alliance, ANCD), which merged back into the PNȚ-CD after the latter lost the 2000 elections, and soon after became leader of the reunited party.

Faced with the task of regaining voter confidence, Ciorbea resigned his party office in 2004, in favour of Gheorghe Ciuhandu, the Mayor of Timișoara. Following the latter's nomination, the party became the Christian Democratic National Peasants' Party (PNȚ-CD).

In 2012, as a member of National Liberal Party (PNL), he was elected as senator. In April 2014, without the support of his own party colleagues, but with the help of the ruling PSD, he became Ombudsman.

National honours

 * 🇷🇴 Romanian Royal Family: Knight of the Royal Decoration of Nihil Sine Deo

title: Victor Ciorbea


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Mary McDonnell

Mary Eileen McDonnell (born April 28, 1952) is an American film, stage, and television actress. She received Academy Award nominations for her roles as Stands with a Fist in Dances with Wolves and May-Alice Culhane in Passion Fish. McDonnell is well known for her performances as President Laura Roslin in Battlestar Galactica, First Lady Marilyn Whitmore in Independence Day, and Rose in Donnie Darko. She was featured as Captain Sharon Raydor during seasons 5–7 of the TNT series The Closer and starred as Commander Sharon Raydor in the spin-off series Major Crimes on the same network. In 2023, she played Madeleine Usher in miniseries, The Fall of the House of Usher on Netflix.

Early life and education
Mary Eileen McDonnell was born April 28, 1952, in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, one of six children born to Eileen (née Mundy) and John "Jack" McDonnell, a computer consultant. She is of Irish descent and was raised Roman Catholic. As a child, McDonnell relocated with her family to Ithaca, New York, where she spent the remainder of her upbringing.

She attended the State University of New York at Fredonia.

McDonnell's father died when she was 21 years old.

Career
McDonnell appeared off-Broadway in two separate productions of Buried Child in 1978 and 1979, both times in the role of "Shelly". She won an Obie Award for Best Actress in 1981 for her work in the play Still Life. On Broadway, she has performed in productions of Execution of Justice, The Heidi Chronicles, and Summer and Smoke.

After more than 21 years of theater and television work, McDonnell made her film breakthrough in 1990 as the daughter of American settlers raised by Sioux Indians named Stands with a Fist in Kevin Costner's Dances with Wolves. Portraying the adopted daughter of Graham Greene's character Kicking Bird, McDonnell, then 37, was only 10 months younger than Greene and less than two years younger than Tantoo Cardinal, who played Black Shawl, her adoptive mother. She was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for the role.

McDonnell's role in Passion Fish (1992) brought her another Academy Award nomination, this time for Best Actress in a Leading Role. Her other notable films include Grand Canyon (1991), Sneakers (1992), Independence Day (1996), and Donnie Darko (2001). McDonnell also starred with Patrick Swayze in the 1988 movie, Tiger Warsaw. In 1997, she played the judge in the film 12 Angry Men.

On television, McDonnell had her first regular part in 1980 on the soap opera As the World Turns. She starred in 1984 on the short-lived CBS medical comedy E/R. Coincidentally, she guest-starred in 2001 on the NBC medical series of the same name ER. She was nominated for an Emmy Award for her role on the show as Eleanor Carter. She played Dr. Virginia Dixon, a surgeon with Asperger syndrome for three episodes of Grey's Anatomy in 2008 and 2009.

In 2003, McDonnell starred in the miniseries  Battlestar Galactica as Laura Roslin. The miniseries led to the weekly series, with McDonnell's reprising her Laura Roslin role. The series ended in March 2009. McDonnell received worldwide recognition for her performance in the show, part of which was shown when she was invited to the United Nations for a retrospective and discussion with Edward James Olmos (Admiral Adama).

McDonnell took part in a special session entitled Battlestar Galactica at the 2009 World Science Festival. The session also included Michael Hogan, as well as scientists Nick Bostrom and Kevin Warwick.

In 2011, she appeared in the role of Kate Roberts, the mother of Emma Roberts's character in Scream 4.

From 2009 to 2012, McDonnell had a recurring role in The Closer as Capt. Sharon Raydor, a police captain in the Force Investigation Division, who often butts heads with Kyra Sedgwick's Golden Globe and Emmy award-winning character. McDonnell received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series in 2011 for the role.

After The Closer wrapped up its final season 2012, McDonnell's character continued as the lead in the spin-off, Major Crimes, which debuted August 13, 2012 and ended in  January 2018.

Personal life
McDonnell married actor Randle Mell in 1984. They have two children, Michael and Olivia. The couple separated in December 2021.

Awards and nominations
In 1992 McDonnell received an Outstanding Achievement Award from Fredonia's alumni association.

title: Mary McDonnell


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Saint-Ouen-l'Aumône station

Saint-Ouen-l'Aumône is a railway station in Saint-Ouen-l'Aumône, a northwestern suburb of Paris, France. It is served by Transilien regional trains from Paris to Pontoise and from Pontoise to Creil, and by RER rapid transit.

title: Saint-Ouen-l'Aumône station


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Charles Batteux

Charles Batteux (6 May 1713 – 14 July 1780) was a French philosopher and writer on aesthetics.

Biography
Batteux was born in Alland'Huy-et-Sausseuil, Ardennes, and studied theology at Reims. In 1739 he came to Paris, and after teaching in the colleges of Lisieux and Navarre, was appointed to the chair of Greek and Roman philosophy in the Collège de France. His 1746 treatise Les beaux arts réduits à un même principe (translated into English as The Fine Arts Reduced to a Single Principle, trans. James O. Young, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015) was an attempt to find a unity among existing theories of beauty and taste on "a single principle", and its views were widely accepted, not only in France but throughout Europe. According to P. O. Kristeller, "the decisive step towards the system of the fine arts [thereby to the modern idea, 'fine art'] was taken by the Abbé Batteux in his famous and influential treatise ... [making him] the first to set forth a clearcut system of the fine arts in a treatise devoted entirely to this subject."

The reputation thus gained, confirmed by his translation of Horace (1750), led to Batteux's becoming a member of the Académie des Inscriptions (1754) and of the Académie française (1761). His Cours de belles lettres (1765) was afterwards included with some minor writings in the large treatise, Principes de la littérature (1774). His philosophical writings were La morale d'Épicure tirée de ses propres écrits (1758), and the Histoire des causes premières (1769). In consequence of the freedom with which in this work he attacked the abuse of authority in philosophy, he lost his professorial chair. His last and most extensive work was a Cours d'études à l'usage des élèves de l'école militaire in forty-five volumes.

In Les Beaux Arts, Batteux developed a theory influenced by John Locke through Voltaire's sceptical sensualism. He held that the fine arts are arts ("assemblages of rules for doing well"), for producing fine or beautiful things ("which please" of themselves), always "in imitation of la belle nature" and requiring genius. Applying this principle to the art of poetry, and analysing, line by line and even word by word, the works of great poets, he deduced the law that the beauty of poetry consists in the accuracy, beauty and harmony of individual expression. His Histoire des causes premières was among the first attempts at a history of philosophy, and in his work on Epicurus, following on Gassendi, he defended Epicureanism against the general attacks made against it.

For his work "La Morale d'Épicure" 1758 see A. Toscano,“La Morale d’Épicure” di Charles Batteux ed il principio del “secondo natura”, in “Scienze e Ricerche” n. 42, 1 dicembre 2016, ISSN: 2283-5873, pp. 20–29.

Strictly in Aesthetics terms Batteux sets the single principle for fine arts in imitation of nature, and this in terms of ideal of perfection to make a harmonious whole: "let's choose the most beautiful parts of nature, to make an exquisite whole, more perfect then nature, but never ending to be natural". In this concept, clearly, Batteux follows a long tradition, present at least in Leon Battista Alberti; as well as for the expression of fine arts, present in Giovanni Battista Armenini and more back in Sebastiano Serlio.

title: Charles Batteux


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Talk:Flameless ration heater

not about FRH
This article is about MREs which is on another wiki page. This article should be about FRH and the technology not about how one product for the US military uses FRHs. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 198.103.184.76 (talk) 14:20, 21 July 2020 (UTC)

Comments
Took the liberty of moving this back to FRH. I'd go with "flameless ration heater" if FRH were a disambig page, but for now I think it's best to go with "most common name in English." - Hephaestos|§ 15:49, 6 Mar 2004 (UTC)

Just a head's up, it's very easy to make what are commonly called MRE bombs. The powder is added to either a 20oz or 1L bottle and the bottle is half filled with warm water. You shake the bottle then step back about 10 feet and wait for the bottle to expand before finally exploding. It's pretty fun to watch. Not sure if it's relevant, but a quick google search brings up a bunch of websites. http://www.instructables.com/id/MRE-%22Decompression%22-Aka..-Bombs/ —Preceding unsigned comment added by 192.172.8.13 (talk) 21:24, 25 August 2009 (UTC)

Temperature conversion sanity check 100F to 56C not 38C Am643602 (talk) 06:07, 19 November 2019 (UTC)

Valence electrons
''The role of iron in the heater is most likely as a catalyst, since it is used in a small amount. In this case, the iron is initially oxidized, and then reduced back to its elemental form as the magnesium is oxidized and sends its two valance electrons to iron''

Wouldn't the two valence electrons from the magnesium atom go to the oxygen atom? - KingRaptor 06:34, 8 August 2006 (UTC)

How long has the FRH been around? I don't remember it from MREs in the early 90's, but I only had them a few times and may have just not used it.

WikiProject Food and drink Tagging
This article talk page was automatically added with WikiProject Food and drink banner as it falls under Category:Food or one of its subcategories. If you find this addition an error, Kindly undo the changes and update the inappropriate categories if needed. The bot was instructed to tagg these articles upon consenus from WikiProject Food and drink. You can find the related request for tagging here. Maximum and careful attention was done to avoid any wrongly tagging any categories, but mistakes may happen... If you have concerns, please inform on the project talk page -- TinucherianBot (talk) 21:03, 3 July 2008 (UTC)
 * I've upgraded it to start-class... it's definately way too comprehensive to be a stub.  bahamut0013  words deeds  13:59, 5 July 2009 (UTC)

Bias?
I'm not a regular Wikipedia contributor, but it seems to me that this article is biased (or something is up), since so much space is devoted to refuting the results of one negative report on MRE heaters. Thoughts? --68.32.37.109 (talk) 03:29, 26 January 2010 (UTC)

Environmental Impact & Toxicity
Please would someone knowledgeable add information about the chemical toxicity and environmental issues resulting from the disposal of FRHs ? Darkman101 (talk) 13:13, 13 November 2021 (UTC)

History
I've added a History section, which I think is pretty comprehensive, but relies heavily on a single source, "Development of the Flameless Ration Heater for the Meal, Ready-to-Eat." If anyone has any reliable sources we can reference to confirm some of the details of this section, it would significantly improve the article. Mokadoshi (talk) 18:29, 6 February 2024 (UTC)

title: Talk:Flameless ration heater


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Wikipedia talk:Welcome boilerplate

I think this should redirect to Standard user greeting as there are already a number of options there. Having just one style of welcome message makes it too boilerplatey and looks like it is just an automated message. At least Standard user greeting has more variety. Angela. 15:56, Mar 6, 2004 (UTC)

title: Wikipedia talk:Welcome boilerplate


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1983 in India

Events in the year 1983 in the Republic of India.

Incumbents

 * President of India – Zail Singh
 * Prime Minister of India – Indira Gandhi
 * Vice President of India – Mohammad Hidayatullah
 * Chief Justice of India – Yeshwant Vishnu Chandrachud

Governors

 * Andhra Pradesh – K. C. Abraham (until 15 August), Thakur Ram Lal (starting 15 August)
 * Assam – Prakash Mehrotra
 * Bihar – Akhlaqur Rahman Kidwai
 * Gujarat – Sharda Mukherjee (until 6 August), K.M. Chandy (starting 6 August)
 * Haryana – Ganpatrao Devji Tapase
 * Himachal Pradesh – A. K. Banerjee (until 15 April), Hokishe Sema (starting 15 April)
 * Jammu and Kashmir – B. K. Nehru
 * Karnataka – Ashoknath Banerji
 * Kerala – P. Ramachandran
 * Madhya Pradesh –
 * until 20 September: B. D. Sharma
 * 20 September-7 October: G. P. Singh
 * starting 7 October: B. D. Sharma
 * Maharashtra – Idris Hasan Latif
 * Manipur – S. M. H. Burney
 * Meghalaya – Prakash Mehrotra
 * Nagaland – S. M. H. Burney
 * Odisha – Cheppudira Muthana Poonacha (until 17 August), Bishambhar Nath Pande (starting 17 August)
 * Punjab –
 * until 7 February: Marri Chenna Reddy
 * 7 February-21 February: Surjit Singh Sandhawalia
 * 21 February-10 October: Anant Prasad Sharma
 * starting 10 October: Bhairab Dutt Pande
 * Rajasthan – Om Prakash Mehra
 * Sikkim – Homi J. H. Taleyarkhan
 * Tamil Nadu – Sundar Lal Khurana
 * Tripura – S. M. H. Burney
 * Uttar Pradesh – Chandeshwar Prasad Narayan Singh
 * West Bengal – Bhairab Dutt Pande (until 10 October), Anant Prasad Sharma (starting 10 October)

Events

 * National income - ₹2,250,742 million
 * February – Bandit queen Phoolan Devi surrenders.
 * January - Rail Mazdoor Union formed by George Fernandes.
 * 18 February – Nellie massacre: over 2,000 people, mostly Bangladeshi Muslims, were massacred during the Assam agitation.
 * 25 June – India wins the cricket World Cup for the first time.
 * November - The first Ekatmata Yatras held by Vishva Hindu Parishad.

Arts and literature

 * Ardh Satya wins Filmfare Best Movie Award.

Sport

 * 25 June – India wins the First Cricket World Cup at Lords under Kapil Dev.

Births
27 November- Suresh Raina [Cricketer]
 * 24 January – D. Imman, film composer and singer.
 * Simbu At The Inimey Ippadithaan Audio Launch.jpg]]3 February – T.R. Silambarasan, Actor and Filmmaker
 * 6 February – Angad Bedi, actor, model and cricketer.
 * 6 February – Sreesanth, cricketer.
 * 19 March – Karthik Subbaraj, film director and producer.
 * 30 March – Nithiin, actor and producer
 * 4 May – Trisha Krishnan, actress.
 * 15 May – Santhosh Narayanan, music composer and singer.
 * 20 May – N. T. Rama Rao Jr., actor.
 * 25 May - Kunal Khemu, Actor
 * Katrina Kaif in 2018.jpg July – [[Katrina Kaif]], actress
 * 28 June – Jaiveer Shergill, politician.
 * 7 July – Rishab Shetty, actor and director.
 * 19 July – Sindhu Tolani, actress
 * 27 July – Soccor Velho, footballer (died 2013).
 * Dhanush at VIP 2 Success Meet.jpg July – [[Dhanush]], actor, producer, lyricist and playback singer.
 * 14 August – Jennifer Kotwal, actress.
 * 31 August – Ira Singhal, Indian Administrative Service officer.
 * 17 September- Sanaya Irani, actress.
 * 2 November – Nitin Menon, cricket umpire
 * 16 November – Thaman S, music composer and playback singer.
 * 23 November – Karan Patel, actor.
 * 30 November – Nisha Kothari, actress.

Deaths

 * 11 June – Ghanshyam Das Birla, businessman (born 1894).
 * 17 November – E. P. Poulose, politician (born 1909).

Date unknown

 * Fatima Begum, actress and India's first female film director (born 1892).
 * V. Ishwaraiah, pharmacology professor (born 1898).

title: 1983 in India


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Dimitrie Brătianu

Dimitrie Brătianu (1818–1892) was the Prime Minister of Romania from 22 April to 21 June 1881 and Minister of Foreign Affairs from 10 April 1881 until 8 June 1881. He was the son of Dincă Brătianu and the older brother of Ion C. Brătianu. As mayor of Bucharest, he witnessed a major event in Romania's history: the arrival of King Carol I of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, the first king of Romania. Brătianu received Carol I near the Baneasa forest, where he gave a speech to over 30,000 people. Brătianu was a member of the Macedo-Romanian Cultural Society.

title: Dimitrie Brătianu


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Petru Groza

Petru Groza (7 December 1884 – 7 January 1958) was a Romanian politician, best known as the first Prime Minister of the Communist Party-dominated government under Soviet occupation during the early stages of the Communist regime in Romania, and later as the President of the Presidium of the Great National Assembly (nominal head of state of Romania) from 1952 until his death in 1958.

Groza emerged as a public figure at the end of World War I as a notable member of the Romanian National Party (PNR), preeminent layman of the Romanian Orthodox Church, and then member of the Directory Council of Transylvania. In 1925–26 he served as Minister of State in the cabinet of Marshal Alexandru Averescu. In 1933, Groza founded a left-wing Agrarian organization known as the Ploughmen's Front (Frontul Plugarilor). The left-wing ideas he supported earned him the nickname The Red Bourgeois.

Groza became Premier in 1945 when Nicolae Rădescu, a leading Romanian Army general who assumed power briefly following the conclusion of World War II, was forced to resign by the Soviet Union's deputy People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs, Andrei Y. Vishinsky. During Groza's tenure, Romania's King, Michael I, was forced to abdicate as the nation officially became a "People's Republic". Although his authority and power as Premier was compromised by his reliance upon the Soviet Union for support, Groza presided over the onset of full-fledged Communist rule in Romania before eventually being succeeded by Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej in 1952 and became the President of the Presidium of the Great National Assembly until his death in 1958.

Early life
Born as one of the three sons of a wealthy couple in Bácsi (now called Băcia), a village near Déva (today Deva) in Transylvania (part of Austria-Hungary at the time), his father Adam was a priest. Groza was afforded a variety of opportunities in his youth and early career to establish connections and a degree of notoriety, which would later prove essential in his political career. He attended primary school in his native village, then in Kastély (now Coștei) and Lugos (now Lugoj) in the Banat. In 1903, he graduated from the Hungarian Reformed high school (now the Aurel Vlaicu High School) in Szászváros (now Orăștie). That autumn, he began his law and economics training in Hungary, studying at the University of Budapest. In 1905, he took courses at the University of Berlin, heading to Leipzig University in 1906. He obtained a doctorate from the latter institution in 1907.

Career
After completing his studies, Groza returned to Deva to work as a lawyer. During World War I he served as a soldier in the 8th Honvéd Regiment. In 1918, at the war's end, he emerged on the political scene as a member of the Romanian National Party (PNR) and obtained a position on the Directory Council of Transylvania, convened by ethnic Romanian politicians who had voted in favour of union with Romania; he maintained his office over the course of the following two years.

Throughout this period of his life, Groza established a variety of political connections, working in various Transylvanian political and religious organizations. From 1919 to 1927, for example, Groza obtained a position as a deputy in Synod and Congress of the Romanian Orthodox Church. In the mid-1920s, Groza, who had left the PNR after a conflict with Iuliu Maniu and had joined the People's Party, served as the Minister for Transylvania and Minister of Public Works and Communications in the Third Averescu cabinet.

During this period in his life, Groza was able to amass a personal fortune as a wealthy landowner and establish a notable reputation as a prominent layman within the Romanian Orthodox Church, a position which would later make him invaluable to a Romanian Communist Party (PCR) that was campaigning to attract the support of Eastern Orthodox Christians who constituted the nation's most numerous religious group in 1945.

Rise to power
Despite having briefly retired from public life in 1928 after holding a series of political posts, Groza reemerged on the political scene in 1933, founding a peasant-based political organization, the Ploughmen's Front.

Although the movement originally began in order to oppose the increasing burden of debt carried by Romania's peasants during the Great Depression in Romania and because the National Peasants' Party could not help the poorest peasants, by 1944 the organization was essentially under Communist control. The Communist Party wished to seize power but was too weak to seize it alone – post-communist historiography would later claim that in 1944 it had only about a thousand members. Accordingly, the Romanian communist leaders decided to create a broad coalition of political organizations.

This coalition was composed of four major front organizations: the Romanian Society for Friendship with the Soviet Union, the Union of Patriots, the Patriotic Defense, and, by far the most widely backed by the Romanian populace, Groza's Ploughmen's Front. Being a chief political actor in the largest of the Communist front organizations, Groza was able to assert himself in a position of eminence within the Romanian political sphere as the Ploughmen's Front joined the Communist Party to create the National Democratic Front in October 1944 (it also included the Social Democrats, Mihai Ralea's Socialist Peasants' Party and the Hungarian People's Union, as well as other minor groups). He was first considered by the Communist Lucrețiu Pătrășcanu for the post of Premier in October 1944.

Groza's prominent status within the National Democratic Front afforded him the opportunity to succeed General Nicolae Rădescu as premier when, in January 1945, top Romanian communist leaders, namely Ana Pauker and Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej rebuked Rădescu with allegedly failing to combat "fascist sympathizers". With the help of Soviet authorities, the Communists soon mobilized workers to hold a series of demonstrations against Rădescu, and by February many had died because the demonstrations often led to violence. While the communists claimed that the Romanian Army was responsible for the deaths of innocent civilians, Rădescu weakened his own popular support by stating that the communists were "godless foreigners with no homeland". In response, Andrey Vyshinsky, the Soviet vice commissar of foreign affairs, traveled to Bucharest and allegedly gave King Michael an ultimatum—unless he sacked Rădescu and replaced him with Groza, Romania's independence would be at risk. The king had hoped that General Gheorghe Avramescu, who commanded the Romanian 4th Army in the fight to liberate Transylvania and Hungary, would be designated the next prime minister, but, while Michael was waiting on 2 March for Avramescu to return from the front to Bucharest, the NKVD arrested Avramescu in Slovakia, and he died the next day. Faced with mounting Soviet pressure, Michael complied, and Groza became prime minister on 6 March 1945.

The Groza cabinets
Groza gave key portfolios such as defence, justice, and the interior to the Communists. It nominally included ministers from the National Liberals and National Peasants as well, but the ministers using those labels were fellow travellers like Groza, and had been handpicked by the Communists.

Despite the annoyance of the two powers, the Communists constituted only a minority in Groza's cabinet. The leading figures in the Romanian Communist Party, Pauker and Gheorghiu-Dej, wanted the Groza government to preserve the façade of a coalition government and thus enable the Communists to win the confidence of the masses, since right after the Second World War the communists enjoyed very little political support. For this reason top communist figures like Pauker and Gheorghiu-Dej did not join Groza's cabinet. They planned to gradually impose an out-and-out Communist regime under the veil of the existing coalition government. By conflating the successes of the regime with their Party, Pauker and Gheorghiu-Dej hoped to win support for the party and lay the foundations for a one-party state. Accordingly, Groza maintained the illusion of a coalition government, appointing members of diverse political organizations to his cabinet and formulating his government's short-term goals in broad, non-ideological terms. He stated at a cabinet meeting on 7 March 1945, for example, that the government sought to guarantee safety and order for the population, implement desired land reform policies, and focus on a "swift cleanup" of the state bureaucracy and immediate prosecution of war criminals, i.e., officials of the Fascist wartime regime of Marshal Ion Antonescu (see Romania during World War II and Romanian People's Tribunals).

To confirm Groza in office, elections were held on 19 November 1946. The count was rigged in order to give an overwhelming majority to the Bloc of Democratic Parties, a Communist-dominated front that included the Ploughmen's Front. Years later, historian Petre Țurlea reviewed a confidential Communist Party report about the election that showed the BPD had, at most, won 47 percent of the vote. He concluded that had the election been conducted honestly, the opposition parties would have won enough votes between them to form a coalition government—albeit with far less than the 80 percent support long claimed by opposition supporters.

In the mind of the Groza government, the 1946 election confirmed it in office. This claim was made in the face of protests by the United States and the United Kingdom who held that, pursuant to the agreements reached at the Yalta Conference in 1945, only "interim governmental authorities broadly representative of the population", should be supported by the major powers. As a result, Groza's government was permanently estranged from the United States and the United Kingdom, who nominally supported the waning influence of the monarchist forces under King Michael I.

As Prime Minister
Within days of becoming premier, Groza delivered his first major success. On 10 March 1945, the Soviet Union agreed to return to Romania Northern Transylvania, a territory of over 45000 km2 that had been assigned to Hungary through the 1940 Second Vienna Award sponsored by Germany and Italy. Groza promised that the rights of each ethnic group within the restored territory would be protected (mainly, as a reference to the Hungarian minority in Romania), while Joseph Stalin declared that the previous government under Rădescu had permitted such a large degree of sabotage and terrorism in the region that it would have been impossible to deliver the territory to the Romanians. As a result, only after Groza's guarantee of ethnic minority rights did the Soviet government decide to satisfy the petition of the Romanian government. The recovery of this territory, nearly fifty-eight percent Romanian in 1945, was hailed as a major accomplishment within the formative stages of the Groza regime.

Groza continued to improve the image of his own government while strengthening the position of the Communist Party with a series of political reforms. He proceeded to eliminate any antagonistic elements in the government administration and, in the newly acquired Transylvanian territory, removed three city prefects, including that of the region's capital, Cluj. The prefects removed were immediately replaced by loyal government officials directly appointed by Groza, so as to strengthen loyalist elements in local government in the region. Groza also promised a series of land reform programs to benefit military personnel, which would confiscate and subsequently redistribute all properties in excess of 125 acre in addition to all the property of traitors, absentees, and all who collaborated with the wartime Romanian government, the Hungarian occupiers during Miklós Horthy and Ferenc Szálasi's régimes, and Nazi Germany.

Despite giving the appearance of liberal democracy by granting women's suffrage, Groza pursued a series of reforms attempting to clamp down on the prominence of politically dissident media outlets in the nation. During the first month of his premiership, Groza acted to close down Romania Nouă, a popular newspaper published by sources close to Iuliu Maniu, leader of the traditional National Peasants' Party who disagreed widely with Groza's attempted reforms. Within a month of his assumption of the premiership, Groza shut down over nine provincial newspapers and a series of periodicals which, Groza declared, were products of those, "who served Fascism and Hitlerism". Groza soon continued this repression by limiting the number of political parties allowed within the state. Although Groza had promised to purge only individuals from the government bureaucracy and diplomatic corps immediately after assuming power, in June 1947 he began to prosecute entire political organizations, as, after the Tămădău Affair, he arrested key members of the National Peasants' Party and sentenced Maniu to life in prison "for political crimes against the Romanian people". By August of that year, both the National Peasants' Party and the National Liberal Party had been dissolved and in 1948, the government coalition incorporated the Romanian Workers' Party (the forced union of communists and Romanian Social Democrats) and the Hungarian People's Union, effectively minimizing all political opposition within the state.

Royal strike and political crisis
On August 18, Roy Melbourne presented to Foreign Minister Gheorghe Tătărescu a verbal note showing that the American government "wants the establishment of a representative regime made up of all democratic groups in this country". Consequently, the United States will only sign a final peace treaty with a fully recognized democratic government. Both Groza and Tătărescu rejected the note, declaring it null and void. They argued that the US could not address a government it did not recognize. British diplomats also sent such a note, but the government had the same attitude.

Faced with Groza's refusal to resign, King Michael instituted, on August 21, the royal strike and no longer agreed to countersign the government's documents. At the December 1945 Conference, it was decided that the situation should be resolved by appointing one PNL and PNȚ member each to the government, after which free elections would be organized and freedom of "press, speech, religion and association" would be ensured. Maniu warned that without the neutrality of the Ministries of Interior and Justice, free elections could not take place in Romania, but the decision had to be followed. On January 7, 1946, Emil Hațieganu, from PNȚ, and Mihail Romniceanu, from PNL took the oath as ministers. Basically, the decisions in Moscow represented the victory of the Soviet point of view, the government of Petru Groza being recognized by the USA and Great Britain on February 5, 1946.

During his term as premier, Groza also clashed with the nation's remaining monarchist forces under King Michael I. Although his powers were minimal within Groza's regime, King Michael symbolized the remnants of the traditional Romanian monarchy and, in late 1945, the King urged Groza to resign. The King maintained that Romania must abide by the Yalta accords, allowing the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union to each have a hand in post-war government reconstruction and the incorporation of a broader coalition force he had already organized. Groza flatly rejected the request, and relations between the two figures remained tense over the next few years, with Groza and the King differing on the prosecution of war criminals and in the awarding of honorary Romanian citizenship to Stalin in August 1947.

Early on the morning of 30 December 1947, Groza summoned Michael back to Bucharest, ostensibly "to discuss important matters"; the king had been preparing for a New Year's party at Peleș Castle in Sinaia. When Michael arrived, Groza presented the king with a pretyped instrument of abdication and demanded that Michael sign it. According to Michael's account,    when he refused, Groza threatened to launch a bloodbath and arrest thousands of people. Michael eventually signed the document, and a few hours later parliament abolished the monarchy and declared Romania a republic.

The elections of November 1946
After the failure of the royal strike, Mihai adopted a more cautious position with the government. In view of the elections, the governmental political forces constituted, on May 17, 1946, the Bloc of Democratic Parties to submit joint lists for the elections. BPD consisted of PCR, PSD, PNL-Tătărescu, PNȚ-Alexandrescu, FP, and PNP. Instead, the democratic parties, PNȚ, PNL, and PSDI, failed in their attempt to create a common opposition front. The government also amended the electoral law, so that for the first time in history, women could also participate in the electoral process. The election campaign was carried out by numerous and serious abuses by government forces and exacerbated opposition attacks against them. Although Washington and London repeatedly gave Maniu guarantees that the elections to be held would be free and supervised by the Western powers, the government did not hesitate to use Stalin's dictum in the electoral process: "It doesn't matter who votes with whom, it matters who count the votes". The elections took place on November 19, 1946, with a massive turnout. The official published results were: BPD – 69.81%, PNȚ – 12.88%, UPM – 8.32%, PNL – 3.78%, PȚD – 2.36%.

Immediately, the opposition accused the government of fraud, with Maniu claiming that the results had been reversed, so that in fact the PNȚ had won. Instead, the governing parties claimed that the election results reflected the citizens' adherence to the BND program, and the minor incidents that occurred were provoked by the opposition. In fact, it was the same Romanian electoral tradition that the government declared that the elections were fair, while the opposition accused them of fraud.

The same divergence existed between Moscow and the British and American officials. Reports arrived in Washington from the diplomatic mission of the Western powers and from the Ministry of the Interior in Bucharest, which had the same divergent content. The US and Great Britain limited themselves to some formal declarations, the agreement on the division of spheres of influence having been taken a long time ago. The memoirs prepared by Maniu and Brătianu were not taken into account, and on December 1, 1946, King Michael delivered the Opening Message of the Assembly of Deputies: "I am happy to be among the representatives of the country, gathered today for the first time, after a long interruption of parliamentary life."

On February 10, 1947, Romania signed the Peace Treaty with the Allied and Associated Powers, so the regime of the Armistice Convention officially ended. This fact meant that Great Britain and the USA no longer had any leverage to intervene in favor of the opposition, Romania passing under the exclusive control of the USSR.

Removal of opposition
After the parliamentary elections, the essential political objective of the Groza government was to seize all power in the state and liquidate any forms of opposition. The plan was drawn up by the Minister of the Interior, Teohari Georgescu, and Panteley Bodnarenko, a Soviet intelligence officer. Since the beginning of 1947, the communist authorities have carried out numerous arrests against political opponents by committing serious abuses. On July 14, 1947, the Home Office authorities managed to set a trap for the main peasant-national leaders, who were preparing to leave for Great Britain to inform Western diplomats about the real situation in the country. The Tămădău affair was labeled as an act of national treason and turned into a major political case.

In order to allow the involvement of PNȚ and Iuliu Maniu, the authorities extended the charges from fraudulent attempt to leave the country to activities of a political nature. On July 30, 1947, through a journal of the Council of Ministers, it was decided to dissolve the National Peasant Party. On the same day, the Assembly of Deputies was convened, during which, based on a report drawn up by Teohari Georgescu, the dissolution was approved with 294 votes for and one against. The diary stated: "The National-Peasant Party under the presidency of Mr. Iuliu Maniu is and remains dissolved on the date of publication in the Official Monitor of this Journal. The same dissolution decision also includes all county, network and communal organizations of the aforementioned party, military, youth, women's organizations and any other organizations or associations led by this party".

On November 1, the National Liberal Party decided to cease its activity. Five days later, the Assembly of Deputies adopted a motion of no confidence in Gheorghe Tătărescu, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the vice-president of the Council of Ministers. The following day, PNL-Tătărescu representatives resigned from the government. The trial of the PNȚ leaders took place between October 29 and November 4.

The sentence was established in advance, based on accusations without material cover, based not on evidence, but on political indications coming from Moscow and presented in legal form in Bucharest. Iuliu Maniu and Ion Mihalache were the only ones sentenced to hard prison for life.

Proclamation of the Republic
On November 12, King Michael and Queen Mother Elena went to London to witness the marriage of Princess Elizabeth, the heir to the British Crown. Here, he met Princess Ana de Bourbon-Parma. The two went to Lausanne, Switzerland, where they unofficially got engaged on December 6, 1947. Asking for the approval of the Romanian government, the answer that came 10 days later states that the marriage was not opportune at that time.

The international press was already starting to speculate that the Romanian sovereign would stay abroad for a woman, abandoning his constitutional prerogatives. To refute the speculations, on December 18, Michael boarded the train in Lausanne and arrived in Bucharest three days later. After a meeting with Petru Groza, where no conclusion was reached, Michael and his mother went to Sinaia for the winter holidays. On Christmas Eve, Emil Bodnăraș (who, according to some information, had just arrived from Moscow, where he had received from Stalin the instructions regarding the organization of the abdication of King Michael), was inaugurated as Minister of National Defense.

At around 20:30 on the evening of December 29, King Michael was informed about Groza's formal request to grant him an audience the next day, at 10:00. Initially, he assumed it was about his marriage. In the morning of December 30, 1947, the king, together with the queen-mother and some people from the Court moved to Bucharest, and around 12:00 they arrived at the palace on Kiseleff road. In 15 minutes Petru Groza also arrived, who was accompanied by Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej. Groza was the first to address, "Well, Your Majesty, the time has come to arrange an amicable parting." Surprised, Michael asked what he meant by these words. "The problem of ending the monarchy. After all, I warned you that you need to prepare for something like this. You must understand that there is no place for a king in Romania anymore," Groza declared. The king retorted, "It is not you who can tell me to go. This matter must be decided by the people".

Groza states that the government will arrange the material problems so that the royal family can lead a comfortable life. Also, Gheorghiu-Dej alluded to a possible lawsuit that could be filed "His Majesty". At that moment, Michael declared that "your proposal raises serious constitutional issues". "We've thought of everything," Groza replied, pulling out a sheet of white parchment paper from the folder he'd been holding since the audience began. "I will study this paper," declares the king, hoping to buy more time. Precise horror: "You must read now. We are not leaving this house until the paper is signed, even if we have to stay here until tonight. Our people are waiting for the news of the abdication. If we don't have your signature, there will be trouble."

At that point, the king went into the next room, where the Palace Marshal informed him that the guard had been changed, the palace was surrounded by troops, and telephone communications were down. When he returned to the room, Michael asked why all these measures were taken. "The people are impatient Sire, we have been here for quite a long time," answered Groza. "What if I refuse to sign"?, asked the king. Groza resorted to a last threat: "You saw, everything was foreseen. A civil war may break out. We cannot be responsible for anyone's security. And you will bear the responsibility".

In a report from December 1990, Michael claimed that Groza and Gheorghiu-Dej resorted to blackmail: "They told me that the members of the government, that is, the communists, would have to, in order to counteract any form of opposition, execute over a thousand of students among those who had been arrested in the last year". He also stated that Groza "came up to me and asked me to feel his waistcoat near the pocket. He said to me: Touch! And he had the gun in his pocket, giving the explanation: So that what happened to Antonescu doesn't happen to me." After this, Michael sits down at the table and signs the abdication document.

At 15:30 the Council of Ministers met. Petru Groza announced the act of abdication and a government proclamation was issued to the country. This informed the king's abdication and appreciated that "Thus, the Romanian people acquired the freedom to build a new form of state — the People's Republic". At 19:10, under the presidency of Mihail Sadoveanu, the extraordinary meeting of the Assembly of Deputies opened.

Two bills were unanimously approved. The first took note of the abdication of King Michael I, for himself and his descendants, the Constitution of Romania was abrogated, and the new official name of the state became the Romanian People's Republic. It was also specified that the legislative power will be exercised by the Assembly of Deputies until its dissolution and the meeting of a Constituent National Assembly, which will be held at a date fixed by the Assembly of Deputies. It will adopt the new Constitution of the RPR. Through the second project, the members of the Provisional Presidium of the RPR were appointed: Constantin Ion Parhon, president, Mihail Sadoveanu, Ștefan Voitec, Gheorghe Stere, and Ion Niculi, vice presidents. The meeting ended after only one hour.

President of the MAN presidium
On February 24, 1948, the Assembly of Deputies was dissolved. Three days later, the People's Democracy Front was established, an electoral alliance formed by the Romanian Workers' Party (the new name adopted by the communists following the merger with the PSD), the Plowmen's Front, PNL-Bejan, and the Hungarian People's Union. On March 28, the elections were held for the Great National Assembly, the unicameral legislative forum of the RPR. The first objective of the Great Assembly was to draft a new fundamental law. The Constitution of the Romanian People's Republic was promulgated on April 13, 1948.

Groza kept his mandate as prime minister until June 2, 1952. Ten days later he replaced Constantin Ion Parhon as president of the presidium of the Great National Assembly, the institution that symbolically ensured the leadership of the RPR. He remained in this position until the end of his life. Starting from 1948, the communist authorities began to impose the Stalinist model of organization and management of society. On June 11, 1948, the Groza government passed the law for the nationalization of industry. This measure aimed at the destruction of private property and generalized public ownership in industry, banking, and transport. The State Planning Committee was created, which ensured economic development on a planned basis, based on economic centralism. Starting from 1951, the economic organization plan was for five years (the five-year plans).

Also following the Soviet model, the Collective Agricultural Farms and the State Agricultural Farms were established, which indicated the types of crops and fixed the prices of agricultural goods. Peasants were allowed to keep small plots of land, but which did not exceed 0.15 ha. On the international level, Romania was a founding member of Comecon (1949) and of the Warsaw Pact (1955).

Old and sick, Groza was forced to accept, on February 7, 1953, the dissolution of the Plowers' Front, a competitor and thorn in the side of the communists. However, he did not join the PMR, thus achieving the political feat of placing himself in leading positions within the regime without ever having been a party member. One explanation may be the ability with which he managed to attract the support and trust of Stalin, recalled in one of his political notes:"I approached him. He was sitting on a kind of shack, slightly higher than the floor. I threw myself on my knees, kissed his feet, and said to him: At last I have attained my ideal of a little child. This day will be the most beautiful day of my life. Stalin, obviously impressed, took me by the arm, lifted me up, hugged me. My circus made a special impression on him and I won him over. I was an unparalleled theatrical artist!"

Death
Groza stepped down as premier in 1952, and was succeeded by Gheorghiu-Dej. He was then named president of the Presidium of the Great National Assembly (de jure head of state of Romania), a post he held until 1958, when he died from complications following a stomach operation. He was buried at Ghencea Cemetery; his remains were later moved to the Carol Park Mausoleum, and finally to the cemetery in his native village, Băcia.

His daughter Maria Groza, who had served as his personal secretary, was later active in her own right as a diplomat and politician.

Legacy
The mining town of Ștei in Bihor County was named Dr. Petru Groza after him, a name it kept until after the Romanian Revolution of December 1989. After his death in 1958, Transylvania Boulevard in Bucharest was renamed Dr. Petru Groza Boulevard; it is now named after Gheorghe Marinescu. There are streets named after Groza in Cluj-Napoca, Galați, and Medgidia.

A 4.5 m bronze statue of Groza, placed on a red Carrara marble pedestal, was unveiled in Deva in 1962. The monument, designed by sculptor Constantin Baraschi, was removed in 1990, and replaced in 1999 by a statue of Trajan; in 2007, Groza's statue was transported to Băcia. Another statue of him, sculpted by Romulus Ladea, was inaugurated in the Cotroceni neighborhood of Bucharest in 1971; this statue was taken down in 1990, and replaced in 1993 by a monument to the Artillery Heroes. As of 2010, it lies in an open field near the Mogoșoaia Palace, next to a statue of Vladimir Lenin that used to be in front of Casa Scînteii.

Literature

 * Adrian Cioroianu (2005) Pe umerii lui Marx. O introducere în istoria comunismului românesc ("On the Shoulders of Marx. An Incursion into the History of Romanian Communism"), Editura Curtea Veche, Bucharest, ISBN 978-973-669-390-8

title: Petru Groza


text:
Pulaski County

Pulaski County is the name of seven counties in the United States, all of which are named for Casimir Pulaski:

 * Pulaski County, Arkansas
 * Pulaski County, Georgia
 * Pulaski County, Illinois
 * Pulaski County, Indiana
 * Pulaski County, Kentucky
 * Pulaski County, Missouri
 * Pulaski County, Virginia

title: Pulaski County