Restoration of the Monarchy in Romania

[Benjamin]

You are quite right, NGalatzine. It's either now or never, as far as the Romanian monarchist cause is concerned. If a restoration of any sort is ever going to happen, it will have to take place during the lifetime of King Michael.

According to the poll that was released last month, the King was the most trusted figure in Romanian public life, followed by the Queen and the Crown Princess.

The members of the Royal Family as they appeared in the rankings are:
King Michael (36.6%)
Queen Anne (27.8%)
Crown Princess Margarita (25.9%)
Prince Radu (21.9%)

President Traian Basescu obtained 8.6%. This is the lowest rating for the President since he took office. National Liberal Party leader Crin Antonescu received 25.4%, the most of any politician on the list.

So, per the poll, the Crown Princess was slightly more popular (or, rather, people had more confidence in her) than the most popular politician.

Source: Romanians trust the Royal Family

 

[Cory]

Crown Princess Margareta is very respected for the wonderful job of her Foundation. She is seen by many as the future queen of the country even if some politicians are against her husband.

 

[CSENYC]

What kind of staff does King Michael have?

I know he has a Director of Protocol (who is wonderful), but does he have other advisors, such as a speechwriter, a media director and others to help him through the process of getting back on the throne?

My background is somewhat in politics, and so I'm thinking that he should treat this situation as like a political campaign, with a staff (volunteer or paid) to help make it happen.

Or does he write his speeches himself, and handle political relationships on his own?

 

[NGalitzine]

I think Michael himself needs to be seen to remain outside of the political process. The tide could easily turn against him and he does not need to be seen as having tried to overthrown an elected government. Then he would be just another politician. If the monarchy is to be restored it has to be done by the popular will of the people and organized by those who want it restored.

 

[CSENYC]

I think Michael himself needs to be seen to remain outside of the political process. The tide could easily turn against him and he does not need to be seen as having tried to overthrown an elected government. Then he would be just another politician. If the monarchy is to be restored it has to be done by the popular will of the people and organized by those who want it restored.

Absolutely- I'd think that one reason for his popularity is that he's outside of the political process.

But to get his throne back, if it's just him and his family working to get it back, is that enough of a team to get a country's Constitution and political structure changed? I think not.

If, conversely, the King had an army of speechwriters, media coordinators, lobbyists, etc.- kind of like a candidate in the US who's running for office has- then that seems like a good first step.

(Did he write his own speech that he gave to parliament last year?)

 

[Cory]

HM King Mihai I has a very good team at Elisabeta Palace and the Royal Family is supported by many important popular figures in order to get back Monarchy.

 

[Benjamin]

Another poll released yesterday found that 62% of those surveyed favored a constitutional monarchy as opposed to 32% in favor of a parliamentary republic.

Foaia Transilvana - 62,16% din cititorii FTR.RO vor Monarhie Constitu

 

[Cory]

The poll reflects olny the opinions of the readers of this magazine.

 

[Benjamin]

Obviously. Regardless, that is still a very high showing in favor. Romanians had better be working actively to collect the 500,000 signatures necessary to petition the government for a referendum, or else they will be stuck with more Heads of State cut from the same cloth as Basescu.

 

[Cory]

I suppose the increasing number of royalists is a clear sign to the politicians to change the Constitution and abolish the republic.

 

[Benjamin]

It may be a clear sign to the politicians, but it does not seem to be a huge incentive for them to take any kind of action.

If the monarchy is going to be restored, the Romanian people are going to have to initiate the process themselves, and they had better do so as swiftly as possible.

 

[NGalitzine]

I suppose the increasing number of royalists is a clear sign to the politicians to change the Constitution and abolish the republic.

Or a clear sign to the current leadership that they need to discredit the former king and his supporters, and also do some face saving cosmetic changes to try and appease the opposition and the people.

 

[Benjamin]

Or a clear sign to the current leadership that they need to discredit the former king and his supporters

Basescu has been pursuing that route for quite some time, and it certainly has not been working well for him.

 

[Cory]

The Royal Family has the stronest popular support in the last 20 years.

 

[latinist]

Hopefully with the spring there will be much more people out in the streets, protesting against this political regime and its miserable tricks, like that with the change of the prime-minister, putting an ex young communist and chief of the SIE (one of the 7 special, or secret services that we, romanians "proudly" have) in charge.
For me, as a monarchist, it's a great news that people are more and more in favour of the monarchy, but there is still a long way to go, the civil society must react and debate the problem, in the media, television and so on. There has already been such a debate programmed to take place on wednesday this week, but unfortunately it has been postponed.
I think things must go from the base, from the bottom of the society up to the ones who can take decisions, the politicians. We have to force them to restore the monarchy, by organising a national referendum and then by adopting a new constitution.
The politicians alone, by their initiative, will never agree for something that would limit thier influence and source of power.

 

[monarhiero]

There has already been such a debate programmed to take place on wednesday this week, but unfortunately it has been postponed.

That is great news! When has it been postponed for??

Btw I agree that spring might bring more force to the movement

 

[latinist]

I don't know yet when it will eventually take place, I hope it will happen soon. One of the organisers of the event is Mrs. Aurora Martin, she only said to me that it was postponed and it will be anounced the date of this debate later. The article of presentation for the event was deleted from this site: EUROLINK - House of Europe / Fundatia EUROLINK - Casa Europei, until the new date shall be anounced. On facebook there's also information about the restoration of the monarchy, there are several groups.

 

[Cory]

The Romanian royalists very active on Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/permalink....&id=100002269125776#!/groups/140643149323636/

 

[Cory]

The newest poll shows 42% of the Romanians in favour of HM King Mihai I:

SONDAJ CCSB. Ungureanu se vede în sondaje. Cât

 

[CSENYC]

I'm still not understand the methodology of these polls. 42% in favor of King Michael- does that mean that 58% are either against him or are neutral?

 

[fearghas]

I think the important thing to take from these polls is the rapidly increasing support for the King. It wasn't that long ago when the figure was in the 20s

 

[NGalitzine]

It would be interesting to know the exact question that was asked? How many people polled? Age range of those polled? Was it a national poll or more local?

 

[Cory]

It was a national poll.

 

[Cory]

Every Monday people gather in Timisoara to show their support for Monarchy.
In Bucharest there is everyday a royalist gruop who gather in the University Square.

 

[monarhiero]

Nothing much happening on a larger scale though...

 

[Cory]

WE are full of hope in the near future Monarchy will be restored.

 

[Artemisia]

Nothing much happening on a larger scale though...

I was wondering, the minority of die-hard Monarchists notwithstanding, do ordinary people of Romania support the possibility of restoration? Or is it just another irrelevant topic no one seriously thinks about?

 

[Cory]

If the polls speak about 42 % of the population supporting the King things are very clear.

 

[Artemisia]

Not necessarily. I support the general idea of Monarchy as well; however, if tomorrow there was an actual referendum on restoration in my country, I would have probably voted against.

 

[Cory]

The royalists always vote for the abolition of the republics not otherwise.