Tuesday 14 April 2009 – Culture Power Presentation
19.00-21.00, The Ratiu Foundation / Romanian Cultural Centre, Manchester Square, 18 Fitzhardinge Street, London W1H 6EQ; Tel. 020 7486 0295, ext 108; e-mail: bookings@romanianculturalcentre.org.uk; Entry is free but booking is essential.
Moderator: David Webster, Director of the Anglo-Romanian Economic and Political Forum
“The presentation looks at how the 2007 EU enlargement impacted on Romania’s position towards the Republic of Moldova, as shown by the discourses made by Romanian politicians. A timely investigation which compares Romanian attitudes immediately prior to and following accession, the study exploits some underexplored corpus by using the most relevant speeches on the Republic of Moldova made by Romanian MPs in plenary sessions in the Romanian Senate and Chamber of Deputies, between 1 May 2004 and 25 June 2008, and all relevant speeches mentioning Moldova made by Romanian MEPs in the European Parliament plenary sessions, between 1 January 2007 and 25t June 2008. Through the method of discourse analysis (predominantly predicate analysis), light is shed on whether Romania political elites believe that the EU is the answer to the Moldovan question. The research looks at the EU’s possible enlargement to the Republic of Moldova and the consequential tensions between policies of inclusion and exclusion. It also investigates if Romanian politicians are securitising the Moldovan question. Finally, and underpinning all threads of the enquiry, it examines the dynamics of identity politics between Romania and the Republic of Moldova.” – Raluca Boroianu-Omura
Raluca Boroianu-Omura is currently working as Policy & PR Executive at the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (from April 2008). Previous jobs include working as Research Assistant in the House of Commons (2005 – 2008) and as Research Assistant in the European Parliament in Strasbourg (2004-2005).
She graduated with Distinction in MSc International Relations at the London School of Economics and Political Science (2006-2008) and, previous to that, she graduated with First Class Honours in BA (Hons) European Studies (French) from Royal Holloway, University of London (2002-2006). As part of the Erasmus exchange programme, Raluca spent the third year of her BA in Strasbourg, studying for the Certificat d’Etudes Politiques Européennes at the Institut d’Etudes Politiques (Sciences-Po).
Throughout her studies Raluca was awarded several scholarships, including Royal Holloway Overseas Entrance Scholarship (2002-2003; 2003-2004), Erasmus Scholarship (2004-2005), and the Ratiu Foundation Scholarship (2006-2007; 2007-2008).
Organised by The Ratiu Foundation / Romanian Cultural Centre in London
Culture Power is a programme initiated by the Ratiu Foundation, consisting of a number of presentations and constructive dialogue with an invited audience.
