Key Findings from the Survey

• 66% of respondents said Ceaușescu was a good leader for Romania.
• About a quarter considered him a bad leader.
• The rest were undecided or did not answer.

This high level of nostalgia is attributed partly to current economic and social challenges, as well as the growing influence of social media, where positive portrayals of Ceaușescu have proliferated in recent years. There are growing concerns about the effects of misinformation and a lack of historical education on shaping public memory.

Experts’ Perspective

The idealisation of the communist era and Ceaușescu himself is viewed by sociologists as a potentially concerning trend for Romanian democracy. Many still refer to that period as “the golden age,” despite documented oppression, lack of freedoms, and growing poverty at the end of his rule. These findings underscore the need for improved historical and civic education, as well as a stronger resistance to coordinated disinformation campaigns.

To put these results into context, recent studies have also measured the trust Romanians place in their current leaders, and especially in President Nicușor Dan.

Trust in President Nicușor Dan

• 47% of Romanians declare high or very high trust in Nicușor Dan.
• His level of public recognition is nearly universal.
• Dan’s trust ratings are the highest among today’s politicians.
• Among various political supporters, Dan’s trust levels stand out, showing firm support among centrists and reform-oriented voters.
• He recently won the presidency with approximately 54% of the vote against a far-right competitor, in one of the most well-attended elections of the past quarter-century.

Ceaușescu Nostalgia vs. Confidence in Dan

There is a striking contrast between nostalgia for Ceaușescu’s regime and current trust in Romanian presidents. Ceaușescu’s image, reshaped by years of social difficulties and online mythmaking, is often seen as representing stability, in contrast to today’s complex and sometimes chaotic political landscape. While current leaders like Nicușor Dan enjoy relatively strong public trust, particularly compared to other politicians, their levels remain below the positive perception attached to this controversial figure of the past.

This tension reflects the broader challenges facing Romania: bridging social divides, strengthening institutions, and building lasting public trust in a democratic system. It also highlights how selective memory and misinformation can influence perceptions, especially during uncertain times.

The new public opinion data serves as a reminder of how historical memory and present-day dissatisfaction combine to shape Romanian attitudes. The main takeaway is that there is an urgent need for robust historical education and stronger civic engagement to help reinforce the foundations of Romania’s democracy for future generations.

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In the opinion of 48.1% of Romanians, the communist regime meant a good thing for Romania (compared to 45.5% in November 2013), while 42.3% are of the opposite opinion (compared to 44.7% in November 2013). 9.7% of those surveyed do not know or do not answer this question (compared to 9.7% in November 2013).

The perception of the standard of living during the communist period in Romania

46.4% of Romanians believe that before 1989 life was better compared to the current situation (compared to 44.4% in November 2013), 34.2% that life was worse (compared to 33.6% in November 2013), and 13.7% lived the same (compared to 15.6% in November 2013). 5.7% of the total sample do not know or do not answer (compared to 6.4% in November 2013).

Shockingly, almost half of the Romanians declare that the communist regime meant a good thing for Romania, and almost half declare that life was better during the communist period than today. The objective reality and all the data clearly show that today’s standard of living, national wealth, rights and freedoms are superior to the situation before 1989. However, the public perception is different, but there are some explanations, some partially objective, others partially subjective, that fuel this acute feeling of nostalgia. Among them are the intense dissatisfaction of the population with the present marked by the successive crises of the last years, culminating in the galloping inflation, which seriously affected the standard of living, the unequal distribution of the national wealth of the present, which significantly increases the differences between the categories affected by poverty and the population with medium-high incomes, the personal nostalgia of a part of the population towards the period of their youth, the process of socialization and education of young people who learn from nostalgic sources about the illusory advantages of that period (secure job, house insured by the state), the stimulation of some myths from the communist period through aggressive campaigns carried out by political vectors, especially in the online space. All of this led to a mythologizing of the benefits of communism for ever broader sections of the population, currently fueling, against the backdrop of collective memory atrophy, unfortunate political choices. Countering this trend is a broader responsibility that rests with the intellectual, political, economic and media elites.

Remus Ştefureac, director at INSCOP Research.

Those who think that before 1989, life was better compared to the current situation are especially people with primary education, the inactive potentially active, the inhabitants of the countryside and from the southern or eastern regions, and those with a lower income, according to the conclusion of the analysis.

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The Department of Emergencies (DSU), the same that coordinated the drastic restrictions during the pandemic, reportedly supports several NGOs developing an “anti-fake news platform”. This scans online press, blogs and social networks to find “fake news”, sources of disinformation and Russian propaganda in the context of the conflict in Ukraine. The platform spots and red flags the “sources of fake news” for the authorities to take appropriate measures. What sort of proper measures? But of course, suspending the activity of the incriminated websites or news platforms.

Romania brings back memories of its communist past

Russian invasion succeeded in bringing back communist memories in a country where freedom of speech has been guaranteed so far.

Romanian citizens didn’t have the freedom of speech during communism, even though Constitution mentioned it and even guaranteed this right. Everything said against the regime was drastically sanctioned, sometimes with heavy years in jail. Thirty-three years after the fall of communism, Romania of 2022, a democratic country, thinks of reviving censorship and takes significant steps towards this goal.

The funny thing is that it is not only the Government to fancy reviving censorship but also the so-called “civil society” through different NGOs, all in the name of defending…the right of the people to be correctly informed. Isn’t it hilarious?

But the Romanian state has been preparing for this moment for two years. During the pandemic, Romanian authorities sanctioned all those who expressed other opinions than the official ones. Not only that, but the very same Government paid the free press with tens of millions of Euros in a campaign meant to help it survive the difficult times. In reality, all those paid had to host on their platforms Government’s messages. This, in the communication experts’ opinion, created a certain subjective way of presenting the news – the reality was replaced by the Government’s opinion, and the paid mass media suddenly lowered their criticism against the authorities.

Romanian authorities bluntly support the idea of censorship in the country

During the epidemic, the head of DSU, Raed Arafat, was one of the strong voices regarding civil liberties constraints. He repeatedly requested tight lockdowns and demanded censorship of mass media.

Now, all my respect for the freedom of speech, but I would cut their mic off. (…) The mic should be cut off for all those who ask the people not to take the jab. At least for three months.

Raed Arafat, Director of the Department for Emergency Situations within Ministry of Interior

Now, DSU and some NGOs like Global Focus, Active Watch, Media Wise and others want to create a mechanism to restrict free speech, or as they call it, a mechanism to put pressure on the Government to communicate more correctly.

But is this a strong enough reason to censor Romanians’ opinion? Is it enough to deny the freedom of speech in a country that appeared to get rid of communist habits?

Following the strong opposition of the civil society in Romania, it seems that the authorities have given up backing the project, at least for the moment. But, as the head of DSU threatened, sooner or later,, the censorship of the press would become a reality. The conflict in Ukraine, the growth of gas and energy and the food crisis could be reasons for the authorities to temporarily suspend people’s Constitutional rights in the name of combating fake news. This goes against the very same principles the initiative pretends to defend.

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Now, another controversial statement reached the first pages of the local publications in Romania. Cristi Puiu talked about progressivism, a trendy political movement in the country, by comparing it to communism.

We are dealing with a diffuse war. I mean the ideological war.

As events unfold throughout history, the impression we have is that we have been through periods of peace, similar to breaks taken during a show. This disagreement has existed since the world and the earth, the conflict between good and evil. We tend to think we’re on the right side of history, but I think it’s just an impression.

We don’t see our flaws. We just see the others’. For me, a family consists of a mother, a father, and a child. I thought about it and felt an attack on my family.

It is one of my speculations. This story was put on progressivism and on the opening to a ‘bright future’. I don’t believe this story because I’ve lived it once before, under communism and I don’t think that when the man gets his mind on issues related to the mystery of being, he will be able to create a more beautiful world. It never happened, this slogan accompanied crime and dictatorial regimes, totalitarianism.

Let me tell you what I think about the whole family story and why the family is on the target list. I consider it has to do with the disintegration of the old world, of what, in the end, progressives think about it as a consumed world, reached at the end of its powers. And then, of course, it has to start from the bottom. How do we reconfigure it? You can’t tear a family apart and sow discord without any consequences. It is also related to gender, race, and everything we have around us.

I think that the aim is, disintegrated or not, the disintegration of society, its atomization. And then the individuals will be like leaves in the wind, easily to control by the installed power.

Romanian director Cristi Puiu for Aleph News

Cristi Puiu talks about a movement that is not welcomed in Romania: progressivism. In a country with religious roots, things like gender fluidity, the interdiction to call your parents mother and father, the gay marriages and all the things seen by some as ‘European values’ or ‘progress’, are not welcomed. From time to time, public figures like Cristi Puiu step forward to tell the people what they all feel about this ‘progress’.

Progressivism can be about the progress of the economy, about the digitalization of the industry, about the protection of the environment and about sustainable development. But, when progressivism steps on the thin ice of delicate subjects like family or sexual behavior, then this movement should expect opposition from people like Cristi Puiu and others alike.

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