2012 month by month in Romania- April: Cupru Min privatization fails, government falls and another conviction for Nastase

The short lived Ungureanu government fell in April, but the vote of no confidence that sealed its fate only came at the end of the month. Before that there was the failed Cupru Min privatization, which was one of the reasons given by the then opposition Social Liberal Union (USL) for calling the vote of no confidence. Right at the beginning of the month, AP ran a story which at once exposed serious problems in the Romanian health service and highlighted the dedication many doctors have to their patients. A Romanian doctor at a specialist unit in the Bucharest Children's Hospital found he couldn't get staff to work without bribes. Instead he sent babies to Western Europe for treatment. AP: Romanian doctor flies babies to Western Europe to save lives and escape bribes If anybody needed it, more evidence emerged in April of just how venal and corrupt former Prime Minister Adrian Nastase was. This time he was found guilty of blackmail and was put on probation for three years. It was Nastase's second conviction in 2012 and the fourth case he had faced since 2010. Ex Romanian PM Nastase gets second conviction this year: 3 years probation for corruption There's something heartening about big companies being held to account and having to face charges when they bend the law too far or flout it altogether. McDonald’s got into trouble with Romania's Consumer Protection Authority (ANPC) in April over the 'McDonald's fries remind you of your grandparents' advert. Presenting McDonald’s fries as made by traditional grandma style methods from market bought potatoes was apparently too much for the Consumer Protection Authority to stomach, so a fine was imposed and the audio visual watchdog advised to take action. The ingredients, according to McDonald's, are potatoes, vegetable oil, natural beef flavor (which contains wheat and milk derivatives), citric acid, dextrose, sodium acid pyrophosphate and salt. The fries are prepared, by an industrial process according to the ANPC, in vegetable oil (Canola oil, corn oil, soybean oil, hydrogenated soybean oil with TBHQ, citric acid and dimethylpolysiloxane added). Rather a mouthful and with some ingredients probably not found in a typical grandma's store cupboard. Romanian Consumer Protection fines McDonald’s for misleading French fries TV commercial The Cupru Min privatization appeared to be going fairly well. Four international companies had participated in the bid for the state owned Romanian copper mine. The winning firm was Roman Copper, which had been set up in Canada by Baywater Capital to take part in the bid. So far, so good. But problems started during the negotiations over the terms of the contract, which eventually failed despite the apparent efforts of the Roman Copper company.