Haunted by his past
The week's news at a glance.
Bucharest, Romania
The Romanian lawmaker who was to represent his country in the European Union’s executive body withdrew his candidacy this week, amid allegations that he had been a communist collaborator. Varujan Vosganian said he was innocent of charges that he collaborated with the notorious Securitate, one of the Warsaw Pact’s most feared secret police services. But Liviu Turcu, a former top-ranking Securitate officer who defected to the West just before the 1989 fall of communism and now lives in the U.S., said Vosganian worked for him as an informer. Turcu told Bucharest’s Jornalul National that Vosganian’s nomination showed how “Romanian politics are still ruled from the shadows of the intelligence services.”
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Home Depots are the new epicenters of ICE raids
In the Spotlight The chain has not provided many comments on the ongoing raids
-
Why does Trump keep interfering in the NYC mayoral race?
Today's Big Question The president has seemingly taken an outsized interest in his hometown elections, but are his efforts to block Zohran Mamdani about political expediency or something deeper?
-
The pros and cons of banning cellphones in classrooms
Pros and cons The devices could be major distractions