I was going to let this one pass, but the stink is still with me days after I got wind of it.

If you haven’t heard about this latest attack of the Romanian president on Holland, let’s read 9oc’s summary:

Bulgaria and Romania were certified in June as having met all entry requirements for entry into the Schengen area. But The Netherlands has led opposition to their entry out of concern about their insufficient progress on tackling corruption and organised crime.

“All legal conditions have been met for the decision on Bulgaria and Romania’s accession to the Schengen area to be taken,” the summit declaration said, calling on interior ministers to adopt this decision as soon as possible. The Council also said that if necessary, it will discuss the issue again at its March 2012 meeting. (..)

Meanwhile, President Traian Basescu said the Dutch opposition to Schengen enlargement is “abusive” and underlined that it was not Romania that legalised prostitution and drug consumption, but The Netherlands. “It’s not Albita (e.n. a border check-point in Romania) that’s the gateway for contraband cigarettes, alcohol and drugs and it’s not Romania that legalised prostitution and drug consumption out of helplessness,” the head of state said after the EU summit in Brussels, quoted by Mediafax.

He continued his attack on The Netherlands this weekend. While shopping in a Bucharest supermarket, Basescu advised Romanians not to buy Dutch vegetables. “There are no Romanian vegetables on sale. I must admit that I avoided Dutch ones. I preferred to buy Turkish and Spanish vegetables (…). And I think we should not buy Dutch vegetables,” the president said.

This isn’t the first time when a Romanian official has a weird reaction to European refusal to accept the return of its Eastern runaways to the continental mass. In 2004, a Romanian official made a remarkably idiotic remark when faced with the Finns’ opposition:

Romania and Bulgaria have successfully completed their negotiations for membership in the European Union. This means that both countries could become members of the EU in 2007.
      The negotiations were nevertheless overshadowed by disagreements over Romania’s readiness for membership.
Last week Finland succeeded in getting support from the old EU member states for its demand to allow a postponement of Romania’s EU membership by one year, if the country does not meet EU membership requirements, and if a qualified majority of member states agree to the delay.
      Normally, such a decision would require unanimity, which means that a single country could block the move. The purpose of the change is to prevent the acceptance of new members for purely political reasons, and to make sure that the applicant really is fit to join the EU.
      The Finnish demand has caused anger in Romania.
      "This is a Calvinist conspiracy, which is carrying out an inquisition in Europe", complained one high-ranking Romanian diplomat.
Calvinism is a branch of Protestantism known for its rigid doctrines on many issues. There are hardly any Calvinists in Finland, which is an overwhelmingly Lutheran country.

Commenting on this accusation, prime minister Matti Vanhanen said that labels used for domestic consumption spread quickly around the world... This is not new in politics. Don’t you wish your leader was cool like dat?

Unfortunately, as it should be obvious from besoareca feudala si pre-crestina, most Romanian “practising Christians” are unaware of a difference between basic concepts such as Easter and Christmas, Adam and Eve or Heaven and Hell. Centuries of rigid hierarchy of their Orthodox Churches and mediation / interposition between believers and God have resulted in mass confusion even among those who count themselves as Believers. In contrast, the Protestants believe that everyone has a duty to study the Bible and interpret it for themselves and should strive to develop a personal relationship with God, cutting out the middleman, with or without their Maserati. Romanians are scared of neo-protestant sects and have no idea what they are about which is not surprising, as those belonging to these splinter Christian groups are often uneducated and their message is often much louder than it is coherent.

The average Romanian’s beliefs is such a murky amalgam of unexamined axioms and primitive views. I see this short article a continuation of the more general takes on religion in Part I, Part II and all holidays. If not, then if there are no Calvinists in Finland, why the confusion? Perhaps that’s because many people confuse Luther with Calvin. The time is ripe for a crash course on Protestantism.

Sources / More info: hn-base-olanda, hn-base-netherlands, cbs-boycott, eurot-ro-bg, 9oc-eu, fi-sanomat