Our action plan

I. Territorial development

II. Political Program

III. Cooperation with our supporters

IV. Financing the party

V. Members

Our motives

Our long-term goal is to reform the Romanian political class. Nothing less. Whatever it takes, as long as it takes. Many people asked us about the actual strategy we aim to deploy in achieving such an ambitious goal. Firstly, to clarify some confusion, we need to declare clearly here that we aim to achieve it only through democratic means, in a democratic and multi-party society, respecting the views and identities of others. Although we don't pretend the following to be a complete answer, here follow the main ideas.

Romanian politics today is very much like an oligopolistic marketplace. This describes an economic environment dominated by two-three major players who set the rules of the game amongst themselves while keeping an appearance of free competition on the surface. In reality nobody rocks the boat because nobody is interested to. The one who pays the bill is always the consumer or the taxpayer. Pretty much the same way the Romanian political class has repeatedly demonstrated its inability or lack of will and responsibility. And, in spite of this, nobody really rocks the boat because nobody is clean. The only way to beak this vicious circle is to have a new entrant in the game, someone who has nothing to gain by preserving the status quo and nothing to lose from breaking it. If such a new entrant penetrates the circle all the others have to adjust to the new reality, or be wiped out. The new entrant may not win the game, but he will change the system.

Therefore, our short term goal is to participate in the general and local elections in 2004 and get a result that will allow us to have a voice, would make us impossible to ignore. Aftrewards we want to support and advocate energetically our ideas through all the means available in a parliamentary democracy and force the political class to react. We are very pleased that, although very recent barely visible on the political scene we have already prompted such changes. We believe, for instance, that the far greater role given to the younger generation by all the major political parties recently is a reaction through which they attempt to defend themselves against our potential rise. This is a positive reaction which we welcome and which shows us that our strategy actually works. But very much remains to be done before these changes are more than mere cosmetics and have a lasting and enduring effect.

In order to achieve a good result in the 2004 generals, we see our short term actions prioritised on the following lines. Please remember that these priorities might change as we start executing this plan.

I. Territorial development

One of our ongoing priorities in the future is establishing a local presence throughout the country by means of local organisations. Since oppening a local organisations requires significant investment of very scarce resources, both human and financial, we will prioritise the action in three separate stages.
The minimum requirement for a local organisation to exist are:

• people
• premises
• furniture
• office and telecomunication equipment
• local contacts with people who believe in the same ideas as we do
• visibility and contacts in the local media
• finacial contributions from members or supporters
  

If you want to help any of the above is more than welcome.

Stage one

Counties covered: Timis, Cluj, Iasi, Bucuresti, Mures, Dolj, Constanta, Brasov

Deadline: 1 november 2002
Action plan:

1. Until 1 october 2002: exploratory meetings with local followers
2. Until 15 october 2002: approval of management teams
3. 1 october 2002 : public launch

The National Directing Comitee will delegate the task of supporting and supervising the launch of each local organisation to one party member.

For the time being they can be accessed through the following e-mail addresses:

• Bucharest: bucuresti@urr.ro
• Iasi: iasi@urr.ro
• Mures: mures@urr.ro
• Cluj: cluj@urr.ro
• Timis: timis@urr.ro
• Dolj: dolj@urr.ro
• Brasov: brasov@urr.ro
• Constanta: constanta@urr.ro

Stage two

Counties: Alba, Arad, Bihor, Bistrita Nasaud, Galati, Maramures, Prahova,
Satu Mare, Salaj, Sibiu

Deadline: 15 december 2002

Stage three

Counties: Arges, Buzau, Botosani, Braila, Bacau, Caras Severin, Calarasi, Covasna, Dâmbovita, Gorj, Giurgiu, Harghita, Hunedoara, Ialomita, Mehedinti, Neamt, Olt, Suceava, Tulcea, Teleorman, Vâlcea, Vrancea.

Deadline: 1 october 2003

If you wish to activate in a local organisation before the date we have set to get there, you can do so provided that you have all of the following:
A 5 member initiative comittee composed of people that:

• have a moral stature beyond reproach
• were not members of the national leadership of any political party (except youth organisations)
• are experienced in building organisations
• adhere to the ideas and goals of URR
• have or have access to finacial resources for lounching a local organisation:
  • adequate premises.
  • means of electronic communication (fax and e-mail as a minimum)
  • financial self-sustainability
  • human resources.

The initiative comittee will be validated by the National Direction Comittee, according to the party statute and by-laws.

II. Drafting of the Political Program

We are currently drafting the party Political Program, by sectors. In order to do so we have appointed and will continue to appoint think tanks of experts who donate theur time and expertise to this purpose. They are not politically aligned to our party but work at a technical level based on a political statement of intentions and vision provided by URR. In the same time we have launched and will continue to launch public debates on our forums on the web site http://www.urr.ro. All who have expertise in a certain field and wish to contribute are warmly invited to participate n these forums and express their ideas. The think tanks will prepare drafts that will be subjected to the public debate again and ammended accordingly. Thereafter they will preapre the final version.
The sectors that we will cover in the Political Program are:

• Prevention of corruption
• Prevention of corruption
• Industrial policies
• Agricultural policies
• Social policies
• Education
• Culture and national heritage
• Health care
• Defence and public safety
• Finance, budget, capital markets
• Administration of the State
• Justice
• Transportation
• Environment
• IT&C
• Foreign affairs and European integration
  

If you do not want to participate in the forums but wish to express an opinion directly please send your thoughts at program@urr.ro.

III. Cooperation with our supporters

Our main communication and interaction vehicle with all those that adhere to our ideas or merely want to understand more will is, and will remain our web site www.urr.ro It is not only a very rich environment but also a very affordable one for us, considering our limited resources and our policies of clean and transparent financing. In order to really make it effective, however, we need to be creative and pragmatic and we need your support ion this.

How can you help?

• participate frequently in the debate forums. We know that you will feel sometimes that it is more talk than actions but you are wrong. We do take actions but we need your opinions and ideas to make those actions effective.
  

EACH AND EVERYONE MATTERS

• Spread the news. Discuss us with your circle of relatives and friends Make them come and visit us on our web site. If they are really interested we promiss we will delegate a prominent member to talk to them and answer all questions. The only condition is to assemble at least 20 people.

YOUR EFFORT MATTERS

• We need your contacts in the media. Help us meet them and help us make them write about us.
  

YOUR CONTACTS MATTER

• Another important communication vehicle will be our monthly political campaigns. Tell us what you think about them. More so, tell us your own ideas. We will put them in action together.

YOUR IDEAS MATTER

IV. Financing the party

The biggest issue that slowly undermined Romanian politics from the inside is, arguably, the way the political parties are financed. The political action is currently completely subdued to a set of economic selfish interests of a group of financiers. They have created a modern equivalent of the Ottoman rule on the Principates: they give a big tip to a political power in exchange for ten times more reward when the party makes it eventually to power. One reason for which demopcracy keeps on failing in Romania is that people want to be represented but don't want to support the praties that represent them. Thus, they remain easy prey to the political sharks and everything falls apart. All political parties to date have gone this route. The first condition of our success is our ability to finance the party differently. Our current strategy is to ask for small donations from many people. Therefore, if you can contribute with a small amount that does not negatively impact on your life, please do so because you will have helped to clean up the Romanian politics of crooks and cronies.

Read all about it at www.urr.ro/ro/sustinere/detalii.shtml and make your friends read it too.

EVERY CONTRIBUTION MATTERS

We can beat the corrupt political systems but we need to stand united. We prefer regular, even if smaller contributions because they allow us to plan ahead and prioritise. All those who contribute will get a financila report every 6 months about the party budget and the way it was spent.

V. Members

Being a member of URR gives you boths righhts and obligations. Your rights are, mainly, to elect and be elected in all leadership structures of the party. We do however require from you a certain political activism. We firstly accept in our ranks only people who believe in our declaration of Values and Principles and agree to donate a part of their time and energy to the cause of changing the Romanian political lanscape. Therefore we formulated a set of criteria that they have to meet.

These criteria are:

1. they adhere to our Values and Principles
2. they were not members of the antional leadership of any political party (except youth organisations)
3. they declare honestly and openly any cooperation they might have had with the former Securitate.
4. they declare openly and honestly their criminal record, including any amnesty.
5. they pass an interview with a member of the URR HR team
6. they donate at least 8 hours of their time weekly for party activities
7. they pay a monthly contribution whose amount they choose for themselves on the day of the admission interview.
   

The activity of the members will be evaluated every 6 months by the HR department and the adhereence to the above criteria will be assessed. Should major gaps be observed the party may withdraw the member status to any given member, following due process according to the party by-laws.