Gabriel Giurgiu
A longtime economy specialist, Gabriel Giurgiu is also famous for having brought the talk show format to Romanian TV. Focussing these last four years on EU subjects for the print press, he also hosts a programme entitled Eurobiz on TVR (Romanian national television).
Updated: 8 July 2009
The European Citizens’ Initiative process, launched in 2011, aims to reflect grassroots political aspirations. If they collect one million signatures, committees of European citizens can instigate changes to EU policies. But Dilema Veche wonders if they will make the right choices. 
European citizens are sure to have opinions on topics such as the regulations that cover finance or those that cover fruits and vegetables, and even notions of what the EU will be in 2020. And now, on a website launched by the European Commission, they can express those views. However, their views are not always very illuminating, writes a Romanian journalist. 
Initially thought to be a gimmick invented to occupy the Romanian commissioner Leonard Orban, newly arrived in Brussels in the wake of the 2007 enlargement, the portfolio of Multilinguism turned out to be surprisingly useful. Sadly, it will not be continued under the Barroso II Commission. 
Romania is notorious for incompetent politicians and corruption scandals, which have resulted in repeated warnings from the European Commission in Brussels. But before assuming the moral high ground, other EU member states would do well to put their own houses in order, argues Bucharest weekly Dilema Veche.