1998 in Romania

← 1997 1996 1995 1998 in Romania → 1999 2000 2001
Decades:	1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s
See also:	Other events of 1998 History of Romania Timeline of Romanian history Years in Romania

Events from the year 1998 in Romania.

Incumbents

• President of Romania: Emil Constantinescu
• Prime Minister of Romania:
  • until 30 March: Victor Ciorbea
  • 30 March–17 April: Gavril Dejeu (interim)
  • starting 17 April: Radu Vasile

Events

January

• 18 January – Baia de Arieș is granted town status. ^[1]

March

• 30 March – Victor Ciorbea resigns from being prime minister. Gavril Dejeu replaces him as acting prime minister. ^[2]

April

• 2 April – President Emil Constantinescu appoints Radu Vasile to be the new prime minister. ^[3]
• 15 April – The Parliament grants the investiture vote to the Radu Vasile Cabinet ^[4] with 317 votes in favour and 124 against. ^[3]
• 17 April – The Vasile Cabinet takes its oath of office. ^[3]

October

• In October 1998, Romania imposed a 6% surcharge on all imports. Though this would be reduced to 4% starting from January 1999, then to 2% in January 2000, before being completely abolished by January 2001. ^[5]
• 26 October – The Romanian Supreme Court rehabilitates a member of Ion Antonescu's World War II-era Axis government, Toma Ghițulescu. ^[6]

Undated

• Euroinstal company is founded in Timișoara. ^[7]
• Radu Dinulescu, "the Eichmann of Romania", is rehabilitated by the Romanian Supreme Court. ^[8]

Births

• 2 October – Robert Asăvoaei, footballer. ^[9]

Deaths

• 9 January – Lia Manoliu, discus thrower and Olympian (b. 1932). ^[10]
• 1 July – Dumitru Berciu, historian and archaeologist (b. 1907). ^[11]
• 31 July – Ioan Ploscaru, bishop of the Greek-Catholic Church (b. 1911). ^[12]
• 1 October – Gabriel Sandu, football player (b. 1952). ^[13]
• 8 October – Anatol Vieru, music theoretician, pedagogue, and composer (b. 1926). ^[14]
• 14 October – Leopoldina Bălănuță actress (b. 1934). ^[15]
• 23 October – Silviu Stănculescu, actor (b. 1932). ^[16]
• 13 November – Ilie Văduva, communist politician, Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1985 to 1986 (b. 1934). ^[17]
• 2 December – Cleopa Ilie abbot (b. 1912). ^[18]

International Sports

• 1998 FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Cup final: Romania wins 3 Gold (2 by Simona Amânar and 1 by Marius Urzică) and 2 Silver + 1 Bronze (all three by Gina Gogean).
• 1998 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships: Romania wins 2 Silver (C-2 1000 m, C-4 500 m) and 1 Bronze (K-2 200 m).
• 15-16 May – 1998 Aerobic Gymnastics World Championships: Romania wins 1 Silver (Trio), and 2 bronze (Mixed Pair + Izabela Lăcătuș at Women's Individual).
• 10-30 June – 1998 FIFA World Cup: Romania tops Group G (notably besting England) and makes it to the Round of 16, where it loses to Croatia on 30 June. This remains Romania's last showing to the FIFA World Cup to date.
• 19 July-2 August – 1998 Goodwill Games: Romania wins 1 Gold, 3 Silver and 5 Bronze.
• 27-30 August – 1998 World Wrestling Championships (Greco-Roman): Romania wins 1 Silver (Marian Sandu at 54 kg)
• 9-18 September – 1998 World Rowing Championships: Romania wins 1 Gold (Women's W8+) and 3 Bronze (Men's M8+, Women's W2x and Women's LW2x).
• 27 September – 1998 IAAF World Half Marathon Championships: Romania wins 1 Silver (Women Team) and 1 Bronze (Lidia Șimon at Women's Individual).
• 6-11 October – 1998 World Fencing Championships: Romania wins 1 Silver (Women's Team Foil).

Economic data for 1998

• Romania's 1998 nominal GDP was the country's largest throughout the 1990s, and the only one in the decade to exceed $40 billion. ^[19]
• 1998 was the first year in Romania's post-Communist history when the country's external debt decreased, down to $9.7 billion from $10.4 billion in 1997. ^[20] The latter was greater than the Ceaușescu-era peak of $10.2 billion in 1981. ^[21]
• 1998 was the last year in which the state had a majority share in any of Romania's main economic sectors: industrial output (54%), exports (51.1%), imports (51.7%) and investment (59.5%). ^[22]
• In 1998, more than 98% of the tractors used in Romania were Romanian-made. ^[23] UTB Braşov produced 9,436 tractors in 1998, though the vast majority of these were for export. ^[24]
• In 1998, Romania produced 6.4 million metric tons of steel, slightly above the country's average for the 1994-2000 period. The country had the 3rd largest steel output within the former Warsaw Pact, behind only Russia and Ukraine. Romania's 1998 steel output accounted for most (53.3%) of the output of the entirety of Central and Eastern Europe, as well as more than the combined output of all non-Russian and non-Ukrainian CIS member states. ^[25]
• Among the 9 ex-Warsaw Pact countries that became members of the EU and NATO, Romania ranked as follows in 1998:
  • Lowest penetration of foreign capital in the economy as percentage of GDP - 10.4% ^[26]
  • Lowest external debt as percentage of GDP - 24.0% ^[27]
  • Highest asset share of state-owned banks - 74.6% ^[28]
  • The only country out of the 9 where non-performing loans accounted for a majority of bank portfolios - 59% ^[29]
  • The only country out of the 9 that maintained an independent float of its national currency, not linking its exchange rate to any foreign currency ^[30]

See also

• Romania in the Eurovision Song Contest 1998
• Romania at the 1998 Winter Olympics

References

1. Website of the Baia de Arieș town hall (in Romanian)
2. "Băsescu, în 1998: Ciorbea este un "biet profitor"". Adevărul (in Romanian). 27 October 2011. Retrieved 5 September 2022.
3. "Guvernele României \ GUVERNUL RADU VASILE". Rompres (in Romanian). 11 February 2007. Archived from the original on 11 February 2007. Retrieved 5 September 2022.
4. "Emil Constantinescu îl acuză pe Radu Vasile". BBC Romanian (in Romanian). 24 August 2006. Retrieved 5 September 2022.
5. OECD, OECD Publishing, 29 Sept 2000, OECD Review of Agricultural Policies: Romania 2000, p. 122
6. Henry F. Carey, Lexington Books, 2004, Romania Since 1989: Politics, Economics, and Society, p. 75
7. "Continuă igienizarea pe cursurile râurilor din Banat! Au fost adunate tone de deșeuri până acum". gazetadinvest.ro. 21 June 2019.
8. [Alexandru Florian, Indiana University Press, Jan 24, 2018, Holocaust Public Memory in Postcommunist Romania, pp. 73 and 102]
9. Robert Asăvoaei at RomanianSoccer.ro (in Romanian)
10. Frank Litsky (11 January 1998). "Lia Manoliu, 65, Olympian And Romanian Sports Figure" . The New York Times . p. 1 28. Retrieved 25 August 2023.
11. "Dumitru Berciu". data.bnf.fr (in French). Bibliothèque nationale de France . Retrieved 16 June 2022.
12. "Arhiepiscopul Ioan Ploscaru". www.bru.ro (in Romanian). Romanian Greek Catholic Church . Retrieved 26 August 2023.
13. Gabriel Sandu at WorldFootball.net
14. Anderson, Martin (28 October 1998). "Obituary: Anatol Vieru". The Independent . Retrieved 26 August 2023.
15. Șchiopu, Ana-Maria (15 October 2019). "Portret Leopoldina Bălănuță, tragica doamnă a teatrului cu voce de înger: "Cea mai mare nefericire e să n-ai nevoie de cultură"". Adevărul (in Romanian). Retrieved 26 August 2023.
16. Dobrescu, Petre (23 October 2011). "Se împlinesc 13 ani de la moartea actorului Silviu Stănculescu". Libertatea (in Romanian). Retrieved 26 August 2023.
17. Dobre, Florica, ed. (2004). Membrii C. C. al P. C. R.: 1945–1989 (PDF) (in Romanian). Bucharest: Editura Enciclopedică. pp. 608–609. ISBN   973-45-0486-X.
18. "Cleopa Ilie". www.poezie.ro (in Romanian). Retrieved 26 August 2023.
19. OECD Publishing, Sep 29, 2000, OECD Review of Agricultural Policies: Romania 2000, p. 33
20. OECD Publishing, Sep 29, 2000, OECD Review of Agricultural Policies: Romania 2000, p. 33
21. Gertrude Enderle-Burcel, Piotr Franaszek, Dieter Stiefel, Alice Teichova, Wydawnictwo UJ, 2009, Gaps in the Iron Curtain: Economic Relation between neutral and Socialist States in Cold War Europe, p. 111
22. OECD Publishing, Oct 29, 2002, OECD Economic Surveys: Romania 2002, p. 66
23. OECD, OECD Publishing, 29 Sept 2000, OECD Review of Agricultural Policies: Romania 2000, p. 50
24. Gerard Turley, Routledge, 30 Nov 2017, Transition, Taxation and the State, p. 87
25. OECD, OECD Publishing, 27 Oct 1999, OECD Steel Outlook 1999, p. 48
26. Carmela Martin, Jose Antonio Herce, Simon Sosvilla Rivero, Francisco J. Velazquez, 2002, la Caixa, European Union enlargement - Effects on the Spanish economy, p. 87
27. Anders Åslund, Cambridge University Press, 2002, Building Capitalism: The Transformation of the Former Soviet Bloc, p. 416
28. Esen Ulgenerk, Leila Zlaoui, World Bank Publications, 1 Jan 2000, From Transition to Accession: Developing Stable and Competitive Financial Markets in Bulgaria, Issue 473, p. 13
29. Bernard Funck, World Bank Publications, 2002, Expenditure Policies Toward EU Accession, p. 15
30. Hubert Ooghe, Freddy Heylen, Rudy Vander Vennet, Jan Vermaut, Springer Science & Business Media, 2012, The Economic and Business Consequences of the EMU: A Challenge for Governments, Financial Institutions and Firms, p. 274

External links

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   Media related to 1998 in Romania at Wikimedia Commons