One of the latest, much commented pieces of news in Romanian media was about a dreadful car accident. A car accident with victims is a tragedy for everyone involved. Car accidents take place in Romania every day, and in my opinion the main cause is the chaotic traffic in this country. As a driver in Bucharest, when I drive to my office in the morning or home at night, I usually thank God for arriving safely. Daily we hear or read in Romanian media about serious accidents, which have become more routine here than news. I will not expand on that, but I want to raise another topic: the responsibility.

This last car accident - Romania – Insider.com wrote about it here, demonstrated again that, in spite of the consequences of such event, there are still some people who cannot be punished because of their immunity. In this last case it was about an employee from the Russian Embassy, years ago was the Teo Peter’s case where an employee from the USA Embassy was involved.

Diplomatic personnel are not in charge of Romanian law. I don’t know which are the international rules for diplomatic personnel and, honestly, I don’t care, because an accident with one or more victims is always a drama and it is a tragic result of not respecting the law. So, why there are still some people who cannot be judged here for these events? It's easy to say that international agreements were signed, that the Ministry of the Foreign Affairs protested, but this isn’t enough.

What is strange is that I don’t remember the same attitude when Romanian singer Teo Peter was killed in that car crash, in more and less similar conditions. Back then, however, the guilty driver was from 'our friend,' the US.

I believe that our officials aren’t able to take a stand against our political allies in such situations because they fear too much. They cannot or will not say something because they think of our relations with the IMF, World Bank, Department of State, and European Commission, and so on. I want to be clear, I’m an honest supporter of the Western culture, all my childhood I dreamed of Western Europe, but I believe that nobody should be above the law, and everyone must be accountable, irrespective of their nationality, social, financial, and professional status.

Plenty other tragic accidents have occurred in Romania where the guilty weren’t punished. Why? Because they were Members of the Parliament and they had, as the diplomatic personnel, immunity. Why are they above the law ? We, the ordinary citizens should be deeply indignant with all these immunities. An MP, a politician can do anything: kill, lie, steal, …all without being punished. A common sense question is needed: Are there two types of citizens in this society? Ordinary people and the “Ubermensch”, beyond the law? Is this democracy? Is this equality of opportunity and  responsibility?

By Mariana Ganea, Guest Writer

(photo source: Photoxpress)