Ecologist Party of Romania

The Romanian Ecologist Party (Partidul Ecologist Român) was founded by Petre Metanie, a teacher, in 1978 as a political organisation opposed to Nicolae Ceauşescu and the Romanian Communist Party's policy of indiscriminate economic growth, without regard for ecological consequences. In the seventies a large number of children were born malformed due to high levels of chemical pollution in the air, water and food. The fauna also suffered enormously due to dams built in the path of the natural migration of fish, and there was damage to populations of wild boar, deer and birds.

Mr Metanie drew the dreaded Securitate's attention but because his party was not perceived as a threat to Ceausescu's doctrine– and because its own members suffered from the incredible level of pollution– he wasn't imprisoned for his political activities.

Prior to December 1989, the Romanian Ecologist Party's main activity was to openly criticise the RCP's complete disregard for the environment and to draw attention to its visible consequences. In 1978 Mr Metanie wrote to Radio Free Europe on the subject, but although his letter was posted from Israel it was not read on the radio.

In December 1989 he took the initiative of legalising the party. The initial response was huge with an overall support of around 25% and locally 75% in the polls. The newly elected leadership fell short of expectations, departing from the democratic idealism and the ecologist materialism infused by its founder Metanie. All the successive leaders were the same instituting a form of abuse of the Romanian election system: the party list nomination.

By June 2007, the party was in disarray but its founder was constantly encouraged by members and sympathisers to show leadership and to take over the leadership of the party he has created.

A meeting took place in Bucharest in October 2007 after the dismissal of the former president in July and the leadership was reorganised. Currently the party has a temporary leadership commission, with Mr Metanie as honorary leader (a non-executive position) and a congress is due to take place in February 2008 that will set the agenda for the upcoming elections.