Design and development.

"A" was designed by Philippe Starck. According to "Boat International", "the design for what would become the world’s most talked about superyacht bubbled into Starck’s mind at his home in Burano, Venice, in 2004. There was no brief beyond an idea of length and a demand for six cabins". "That was the beauty of the project and the beauty and intelligence of the owner," it quotes Starck as saying in an interview on board "A", "he just left me completely free." Boat International reports that Starck's "intention was to make her blend with the sea, to have her live — that word again — in “harmony” with the elements. He became obsessed with the way the yacht moved through the water, with barely a ripple, “like a whale”".  In common with many "mega yachts", little was known about "A" when it was first commissioned. Builder Blohm + Voss issued a press release in December 2004 identifying the vessel as Project Sigma, which was how it became most commonly known during its construction. Its length was given as, a metre short of its final length. While conceptual designer Philippe Starck and project manager Neil Wade were credited personally, and naval architect Martin Francis was the chief technical and naval designer and Starck's partner on the project. Starck was alleged to have taken only three and a half hours to come up with the final shape, whose reverse bow and tumblehome design has drawn parallels with the "Zumwalt" class of stealth destroyers designed for the US Navy. However, in an interview with Wallpaper magazine, Starck acknowledged it took a month to completely design the boat following its commissioning: "one month later, it was designed. He loved it. We did it. The owners are happy."  In interviews for "Yachts International" and "Die Zeit" magazines, Starck gave details of the vessel's most innovative features. He described her as a "stealth yacht" with a very smooth hull design, which left almost no wake at. Its "purity" was, he said, a reflection of its owner, a "young and brilliant mathematician". Melnichenko, a reputed math prodigy, was not confirmed as the true owner until after the ship was delivered in July 2008. Martin Francis, the boat's naval architect, was also interviewed by "Yachts International" in 2008, and he too cited the boat's efficiency through the water and her small bow wake as a major innovation. Francis explained that typically the shipyard will do the hull testing, but in "A"'s case a model was built and tested in the Solent estuary early in the design process, long prior to the involvement of any builders.

Construction and launch.

"Project Sigma" was given the hull number 970 (she was the 970th build by Blohm + Voss), it was decided that construction would take place at Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft (HDW), a sister yard in Kiel also owned by B+V's parent, ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems.  The boat was out of public view for three years, until she presented in an unfinished state for the first time in January 2008. She was provisionally named SF99, as painted on the stern. Six weeks later she emerged again, to perform some brief trials in the waterway adjacent to the shipyard. Finally, in March, the vessel sailed north out of the Kiel Fjord, to perform her first sea trials off the coast of Rügen in the Baltic Sea.  Prior to delivery, the yacht was finally christened "A" in May 2008. The name “A” was used in order make the vessel appear first on shipping registries, while an artful report in the "Sunday Times" claimed it was "so that nothing can precede her in the list of the world’s greatest vessels". Once delivered, "A"'s maiden voyage took her to Kristiansand in southern Norway, where the new owners collected three Claude Monet paintings they had recently purchased.  When completed, "A" was the sixth-largest privately owned motor yacht in the world, although by 2011 the construction of newer and larger vessels had relegated her from the top ten.

Features.

"A" is powered by two MAN RK280 diesel engines providing approximately, sufficient to give the yacht a maximum speed of. At her cruising speed of she can travel a maximum of in under sixteen days before her fuel tanks are exhausted.  Typically for a mega yacht, "A" is decorated, equipped, and staffed to an extremely opulent standard. There is almost of interior space, including for the master suite. Starck, known for his occasionally risqué design choices, also added a secret room hidden behind mirrored panels. Mirrored surfaces feature extensively throughout the interior, along with Baccarat crystal which is used not only for the glassware and tableware, but for the furniture too. There are 7 guest cabins, although they have moving walls and can be converted to four larger staterooms. Above-deck there is a helipad and swimming pool forward of the superstructure and two more pools aft, one of which is glass-bottomed and can be viewed from the below-deck disco.  35 staff are employed on the vessel. Reportedly, security is tightly controlled, with -thick bomb-proof glass in the windows, over 40 CCTV cameras, motion sensors, biometric fingerprint/keypad entry for restricted areas, and a rumoured escape pod in case of emergencies.  Aside from the yacht itself, the two main tenders—one open and one covered—and a third sports tender have also been designed by Starck, and built by Vaudrey Miller of New Zealand. They are all long, and reputedly cost $1 million each. The total cost of "A" has never been officially confirmed, but $300 million has been the most frequently cited estimate.

Reception.

The exterior design of "A", which designer Starck had likened to being "more like a fish than a building", polarized opinions from the outset. Jonathan Beckett, chief executive of London yacht brokers Burgess, was initially skeptical, but changed his mind after seeing the boat in person in the Caribbean: "I have to say I was impressed. It's a very exciting boat to watch. It's simply unlike anything that's ever been done before." David Pelly of "Boat International" was also enamoured, saying she was "...the most extraordinary yacht launched in recent memory. It is stunning." And writing about the world's biggest mega yachts in "The New York Times" in 2011, Nazanin Lankarini argued that "A" was "even more desirable [than] her larger sisters by virtue of lines reminiscent of a nuclear submarine". "A" was one of the featured vessels in the 2011 edition of "The Superyachts", where she was described as "bold and eccentric." By contrast, "Power & Motoryacht" magazine columnist Diane Byrne opined that "overall she does not float my boat (sorry, kids, couldn’t resist), but I do quite like the inverted bow design", while Donald Starkey, a British yacht designer, commented that "A" "...is aggressive, like a giant finger pointing at you. It seems to have nothing to do with the whole idea of yachting, which is about cruising around at a leisurely pace, and enjoying your friends and the sea". Maritime commentator Peter Mello was even more scathing in his assessment, deriding her as "one of the most hideous vessels ever to sail the seas". "The Wall Street Journal"'s Robert Frank was initially also an outspoken critic, calling "A" "one of the ghastliest megayachts ever created" and "more like a cruiser for Darth Vader's navy than a family pleasure boat for the Mediterranean" when she was launched. However, in a follow-up blog several months later, he confessed: "I've gained a bit more respect for it. Technically, it's impressive: Because of her inverted bow, the boat barely makes a splash in the front when it's speeding along at 24 knots. And it's different in a way few yachts are...So even though I still think it's a monster, "A" gets a tip of the hat for taking a risk and being different".

Motor Yacht "A" (MY "A") is a superyacht designed by Philippe Starck and engineered by naval architect Martin Francis. It was built by the Blohm + Voss shipyard at the HDW deepwater facility in Kiel. It was ordered in November 2004, and delivered in 2008 at a rumoured cost of US$300 million. With a length of and displacing almost 6,000 tonnes, it is one of the largest motor yachts in the world. It is owned by Russian self-made entrepreneur and industrialist Andrey Melnichenko.

Le yacht à moteur "A" est un yacht à moteur de luxe, conçu par Philippe Starck et Martin Francis, et construit par les chantiers Blohm & Voss - Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft (HDW) à Kiel en Allemagne.


Early life.

Cherry-Evans was born in Redcliffe, Queensland, Australia to an English-born mother and an Australian father. His father, Troy Evans, played as a for the Norths Devils and Redcliffe Dolphins in the Brisbane Rugby League premiership during the 1980s and 1990s. His mother, Kellie Cherry, named Cherry-Evans after dual British Olympic Gold Medalist Daley Thompson. His brother Darcy Cherry-Evans is a professional scooter rider and his brother Dylan Cherry-Evans also plays rugby league and has played for Beerwah Bulldogs and Brighton Roosters.  He began playing rugby league for the Redcliffe Dolphins at 5-years-old. At 12 years of age Cherry-Evans moved to Mackay, Queensland with his family and continued to play junior rugby league for the Mackay Brothers. He attended St Patrick's College during his high school years. He also attended Redcliffe State High School and was a part of the reddy boys. At the beginning of 2008 Cherry-Evans was invited by Dennis Moore to trial with the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles and later signed a contract to play for their under-20s National Youth Competition team.

Playing career.

National Youth Competition (2008-09).

Cherry-Evans played 46 games for the National Youth Competition team of Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles over the 2008 and 2009 season where he scored 246 points in total including 24 tries. He was named on the interchange bench of the 2009 Toyota Cup season's team of the year.

Sunshine Coast (2010).

At the conclusion of the 2009 Toyota Cup season, Cherry-Evans found himself behind Trent Hodkinson as Manly's first grade halfback after the departure of club captain Matt Orford. As a result, Cherry-Evans was sent to play for Manly's Queensland Cup feeder club the Sunshine Coast Sea Eagles. After captaining the team for most of the season, Cherry-Evans was named the Queensland Cup Player of the Year, and Rookie of the Year. His performances in the side saw him selected to the Queensland Residents team where he was also named team captain.

2011.

With Hodkinson moving to play for the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs, Cherry-Evans made his debut for Manly in Round 1 of the 2011 NRL season against the Melbourne Storm at in the Sea Eagles 18-6 loss at AAMI Park. In Round 12 against the Brisbane Broncos at Suncorp Stadium, Cherry-Evans scored his first NRL career tries in the Sea Eagles 34-10 victory, one of which was set up by a flick pass from Brett Stewart who while diving for the ball had scooped it up one handed and passed to Cherry-Evans in the same movement. In round 13 against the Bulldogs, Cherry-Evans crossed the try line untouched from a scrum, performed a one-on-one strip on Dene Halatau, and had 3 try assists in a dominating display that saw him named as halfback in the BigPond Sport Team of the Week. In October 2011, English coach Steve McNamara offered Cherry-Evans a starting spot on the England team for the 2011 Four Nations as he is eligible for England through his English born mother Kellie. Cherry-Evans declined the offer, declaring himself available only to play representative football for both Queensland and Australia should he be selected.  Cherry-Evans won the 2011 Dally M Rookie of the Year award, and scored a try in Manly's victory over the New Zealand Warriors in the 2011 NRL grand final. He gave a perfect inside pass for Brett Stewart to score the first try of the match in the 30th minute of the game. His own try just before the game's half time was set up by an audacious grubber kick by Clive Churchill Medal winner Glenn Stewart. The Manly grubber kicked for winger Michael Robertson on his own 20 metre line. Robertson regathered and raced 50 metres down field, evading a desperate tackle from Manu Vatuvei (and colliding with Cherry-Evans in the process, causing a possible obstruction that was not called by the referees), before passing to Matt Ballin who continued the run until tackled only 5 metres out from scoring. On the next play Cherry-Evans received the ball from halves partner Kieran Foran, threw two dummy-passes and scored next to the posts to give the Sea Eagles a match winning 12-2 lead after Lyon's conversion. Manly went on to defeat the Warriors 24-10 to win their 8th premiership, with DCE the first rookie halfback to lead his team to premiership success since "Slippery" Steve Morris won with St George in 1979. Cherry-Evans finished his excellent debut year in the NRL in the 2011 NRL season with him playing in all 27 Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles matches, scoring 7 tries, kicking 25 goals and 3 field goals. He was named by the Rugby League International Federation in its annual awards as the world's best halfback for 2011.

2012.

Cherry-Evans played in all 27 Manly Warringah Sea Eagles matches and scored 7 tries, kicked 3 goals and kicked 1 field goal during the 2012 NRL season.

2013.

Since he made his debut for Manly in Round 1 of the 2011 NRL season, Cherry-Evans had not missed a single game of the NRL. Due to his selection for Qld in Game III of the 2013 Origin series, DCE missed his first game for the Sea Eagles, missing their Round 18 clash with North Queensland in Townsville. Cherry-Evans won the Clive Churchill man of the match medal in the Sea Eagles 26-18 Grand Final defeat by the Sydney Roosters. Cherry-Evans is the third player since the award's inception in 1986 to win the Medal from a losing Grand Final side and one of four who have achieved the honour, joining Canberra's Bradley Clyde (1991), St George's Brad Mackay (1993) and Canberra's Jack Wighton (2019). Cherry-Evans played in 27 matches, scored 11 tries and kicked 2 field goals for the Sea Eagles in the 2013 NRL season.

2014.

On 14 February 2014, Cherry-Evans was selected in the Sea Eagles inaugural 2014 Auckland Nines squad. In Round 24 against the Parramatta Eels at Parramatta Stadium, Cherry-Evans played his 100th NRL career match in the Sea Eagles 22-12 loss. On 22 September 2014, Cherry-Evans was selected in the Australian Four Nations train-on squad. On 29 September 2014, at the 2014 Dally M Awards, Cherry-Evans was named 2014 Dally M Halfback of the Year.

2015.

Cherry-Evans captained the Sea Eagles during the 2015 Auckland Nines competition. His team lost each of its matches throughout the pre-season competition.  On 6 March 2015, Cherry-Evans revealed he had agreed to join the Gold Coast Titans team in 2016 on a 4-year contract. He changed his mind to stay with the Sea Eagles on an 8 year deal on 3 June, before the NRL's Round 13 cooling off period expired. During the announcement, Cherry-Evans was quoted as saying: "I definitely left the door open for this speculation to continue because, to be honest, I was always curious to know what offer was going to be on the table from Manly". He was subsequently booed at later games in Brisbane and the Gold Coast. The deal is rumored to be over $10m AUD or $1.3m per season.

2016.

In June 2016, Cherry-Evans suffered an ankle injury that kept him out of action for a month. Cherry Evans had a poor 2016 season with the Sea Eagles finishing off the season in thirteenth place. Although he showed small glimpses of what he could do, the 10 million dollar man scored 5 tries during the 2016 season and played 19 games.

2017.

On 13 January 2017 following the retirement of long time Manly premiership winning captain Jamie Lyon, Cherry-Evans was named as Manly's club captain for the 2017 NRL season. After a poor 2016, Daly Cherry Evans hit back at the critics by having a great 2017, by leading the Sea Eagles to the finals since 2014. The Sea Eagles were eliminated from the 2017 NRL Finals Series. At the end of the year he was named Player of the Year by the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles for this great season. At the end of the 2017 season Daly played all 25 games for the sea eagles scoring 6 tries and kicking 9 goals.

2018.

On 21 April 2018 Cherry-Evans was fined $10,000 by Manly after an altercation with fellow Manly players Jackson Hastings. The incident involving Hastings and Cherry-Evans resulted in Hastings being ostracised from the playing group. An altercation on the training field in the lead-up to the side’s 32-20 loss to The Gold Coast carried forward when the players attended a Gladstone strip club after the game and then flared up even further at the team hotel later in the night.  On 28 May, Cherry-Evans was not selected to play in Queensland's 2018 State of Origin squad. On 2 July, Cherry-Evans was named to play in the game 3 of the 2018 State of Origin series due to injuries suffered within the Queensland squad.  At the End of the 2018 season Daly played 24 games, scoring 8 tries and kicking 65 Goals. Even though Manly finished 15th of the end of the 2018 NRL season, He was a stand out and was selected for the both of the test Matches between New Zealand national rugby league team and Mata maa tonga were Daly Scored a try in the 34-16 win at Mt Smart Stadium.

2019.

In Round 3, Cherry-Evans scored 2 tries and kicked 7 goals as Manly defeated the New Zealand Warriors 46-12. On 27 May, Cherry-Evans was picked to play at Halfback for the Queensland Maroons side and was also picked as the 15th Captain of the Queensland Maroons side. Cherry-Evans played in all 3 games of the 2019 State of Origin series as Queensland lost the series 2-1.  In Round 19, Cherry-Evans kicked the winning field goal in golden point extra-time as Manly defeated Melbourne 11-10 at AAMI Park.  Cherry-Evans made a total of 21 appearances for Manly in the 2019 NRL season as the club finished 6th on the table and qualified for the finals. Cherry-Evans played in both finals matches as Manly reached the elimination semi-final against South Sydney but were defeated 34-26 ending their season. On 7 October, Cherry-Evans was named in the Australian side for the Oceania Cup fixtures.

Representative rugby league career.

Allegiance.

Although Cherry-Evans was born in Brisbane, the fact that his mother is English made him eligible to represent either Australia or England at the test level. In 2011, England coach Steve McNamara offered Cherry-Evans a starting spot on the English team for the 2011 Four Nations tournament. Cherry-Evans declined the offer, declaring himself available only to play representative football for both Queensland and Australia should he be selected.

Australia.

In October 2011, coach Tim Sheens named Cherry-Evans in the Australian Four Nations squad. He made his test debut for Australia against Wales and scored a try at the Racecourse Ground in Wrexham. He was selected for Australia's 2012 Anzac Test against New Zealand but did not take to the field.  Cherry-Evans was selected in the Kangaroos 24 man squad for the 2013 Rugby League World Cup squad, playing in 5 matches and scoring 2 tries. His form in the tournament saw him selected to play from the bench in Australia's 34-2 win over New Zealand in the 2013 Rugby League World Cup Final played in front of an international record attendance of 74,468 at the Old Trafford stadium in Manchester.  Cherry-Evans' form in the early part of the 2014 NRL season saw him secure a position on Australia's interchange bench for the 2014 ANZAC Test in the Kangaroos 30-18 win over New Zealand at Sydney Football Stadium.

Queensland.

Queensland coach Mal Meninga selected Cherry-Evans as the 18th man for Game I of the 2012 and 2013 State of Origin series but he did not play in either game. He made his State of Origin debut for Queensland as an interchange in Game II of the 2013 series in front of a home crowd at Suncorp Stadium. Cherry-Evans played his part in Queensland's record breaking eighth straight State of Origin series win, coming on late in Game III, again as a makeshift back rower, as the Maroons held on against NSW to win a close game 12-10 in front of an ANZ Stadium record crowd of 83,813 fans.  Cherry-Evans also remained on Queensland's bench for Game I of the 2014 State of Origin series, in which incumbent halfback Cooper Cronk suffered a fractured arm, rendering him unavailable for Game II. This saw Cherry-Evans move into the starting halfback role for the loss which meant the end of the Maroons' 8-series winning streak. Cronk's recovery in time for Game III saw Cherry-Evans return to the interchange bench.  Game 3, 2018 saw Cherry Evans return from a three year absence at origin level. Evans played at in the dead rubber winning 18-12. His great form in the game received praise from lots of people.  At the start of the 2019 State of Origin series Cherry Evans was named as the 15th Captain of the Queensland Maroons.

Daly Cherry-Evans (born 20 February 1989) is an Australian rugby league footballer who plays as a for the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles in the NRL and Australia at international level.

Daly Cherry-Evans, né le à Redcliffe, est un joueur de rugby à XIII australien évoluant au poste de demi de mêlée dans les années 2010. Il a commencé sa carrière avec les Sea Eagles de Manly en National Rugby League avec lesquels il remporte le titre en 2011, il a signé pour la saison 2016 avec les Titans de Gold Coast faisant de lui l'un des treizistes les mieux payés du monde. Il a également pris part avec la sélection du Queensland au State of Origin qu'il remporte en 2013. Enfin, il est sélectionné régulièrement avec l'équipe d'Australie avec laquelle il a remporté la Coupe du monde 2013 et Tournoi des Quatre Nations 2011.


Plot summary.

"Kaspar" is loosely based on the story of Kaspar Hauser. "Raised in a dark hole, at 17 he wandered into a 1824 German town knowing only a single sentence and became a scientific curiosity: a nearly-adult human without language and external influences, a tabula rasa upon which society and its scientific teachers could write with impunity."

Major Themes.

"Kaspar" is about language and its ability to torture. In this play Handke "allows us to listen differently and to reflect on how language is forced upon us by a society where conformism is the norm and received speech an almost tyrannical exploitation of the individual."  It is also a play that suggests individuals are bound to negate themselves under the pressure of the societies that they live in. "What Kaspar experiences on stage can happen daily: The need or desire to conform, to observe and imitate someone else’s words and actions, to assert oneself and at the same time, negate oneself."  Individuals can also invent themselves using the language. In "Kaspar", Handke writes: "Already you have a sentence with which you can make yourself noticeable... You can explain to yourself how it goes with you... You have a sentence with which you can bring order into every disorder..."  Handke himself wrote in the prologue to the play: "The play "Kaspar" does not show how IT REALLY IS or REALLY WAS with Kaspar Hauser. It shows what is POSSIBLE with someone. It shows how someone can be made to speak through speaking. The play could also be called speech torture."  One critique summarised the theme of "Kaspar" thus: "the inherent authoritative power of language itself to shape, twist, expand, delimit, and mediate human experience, the ultimate tragicomic story of socialization and civilization.

Kaspar in Iran.

Kaspar is a play by Peter Handke. Mohsen Moeini was the dramaturgist and director of the play, produced by Negin Mirhasani Vahed. This play went on stage in Av Hall. Its run was extended three time and it was widely praised by the audience.

Kaspar is a play written by Austrian playwright Peter Handke. It was published in 1967. It was Handke's first full-length drama and was hailed in Europe as the "play of the Decade". It depicts "the foundling Kaspar Hauser as a near-speechless innocent destroyed by society’s attempts to impose on him its language and its own rational values."

Gaspard est une pièce de théâtre écrite en 1967 par le dramaturge allemand Peter Handke. L'histoire est librement inspirée de la vie de Kaspar Hauser.


History.

Herrevad Abbey was founded from Cîteaux Abbey in 1144 as Denmark's first Cistercian monastery with the support of Archbishop Eskil of Lund. Legend has it that Eskil fell ill while he was a student at Hildesheim University in Germany and was told he was near death. The Virgin Mary appeared to him in a dream and he promised her that if he was spared he would establish five monasteries from different orders. Eskil went on to become the provost of the chapter at Lund Cathedral, the Bishop of Roskilde, and succeeded his uncle, Asser Svendsen, as Archbishop of Lund, and from these important offices was able to fulfil his promise.  Some Danish Benedictine monasteries had become unruly during his tenure, and the Cistercians were seen as reformers who would bring existing religious houses back to the original rigour of the Rule of St. Benedict. The original name, "Herivad", meant the "army ford", referring to a ford over the Rønne River. After the construction of the abbey it became known as "Herrevad", or "the Lord's ford", most likely because of the fee payable to the abbey for using the ford, and later the bridge, for commerce.  Eskil wrote to Bernard of Clairvaux requesting twelve Cistercian monks from Cîteaux Abbey under the leadership of Robert, the first abbot of Herrevad, to come to Denmark to establish a new monastery. Later an additional nine lay brothers were also despatched to instruct the Danes in the crafts and agricultural practices associated with the Cistercian Order. Archbishop Eskil gave the land for the site of the abbey and paid for its construction out of his own pocket. It was built near the village of Lyngbyhed, now Ljungbyhed, on the above-mentioned ford, which was of importance because of its position on the main road between Sweden and Denmark, and the resulting access to markets in both.  The abbey was consecrated in 1150, though it was far from complete; the original dedication was probably to the Blessed Virgin Mary (). The church was begun in 1158 and built in the Romanesque style out of sandstone. Construction extended over several decades and for reasons of expense was continued in brick.  The original monastery complex was severely damaged by a fire in 1291. The original sandstone was ruined by the heat of the fire, and so a new and larger Brick Gothic church was begun, second in size only to Lund Cathedral itself. It was 53 meters long, with two naves, one 19 meters wide and the other 28 meters wide.  The abbey precinct consisted of the large church and three ranges which served as a dormitory, a refectory and cellars, a range for the housing of the lay brothers who did the farm work and administered to the abbey's temporal affairs, and a small library and scriptorium where religious texts were copied. Though there is some dispute, some scholars believe the Codex Runicus, a medieval attempt to use runes for writing the Law of Skåne (), was produced there.  Herrevad Abbey over time became one of the largest and wealthiest monastic houses in Denmark, and certainly in Skåne, then part of Denmark. At its height, the abbey owned more than 400 income-producing properties. It enjoyed the support of the nobility and Denmark's royal family for generations.  Herrevad established three daughter houses in Denmark - Holme Abbey, Tvis Abbey and Løgum Abbey - as well as several in Sweden.

Dissolution.

In 1513 the final addition to the abbey church was completed when the choir was expanded. The Cistercian commitment to hard work and good land use practices resulted in the abbey being of great value to the crown. In 1536 during the Protestant Reformation Denmark became a Lutheran kingdom, and all religious houses and their property fell to the crown. In an unusual move the abbey with its farms was secularized but went on functioning much as it had as a monastery. The monks and lay brothers were permitted to remain until the site was turned over to the crown in 1565 by Abbot Laurids, whose tombstone has been preserved inside the chapel at Herrevad Castle. The date of his death, 30 October 1572, is certainly among the latest of surviving heads of any religious house in Skåne. The abbey school continued to function until 1575.  The abbey church continued to hold Lutheran services until 1585 when it was determined that the church was superfluous.  Herrevad was given to Sten Bille, a prominent nobleman, and his wife for their lifetimes. Bille was the uncle of Tycho Brahe and after Brahe's studies abroad suggested that he live at Herrevad. Bille paid for the construction of a laboratory in one of the old monastery buildings for Brahe to use. He used the laboratory to invent an improvement for the manufacture of paper. By 1570 Brahe was producing paper in Scandinavia for the first time at the Klippan Mill near Herrevad. At his request a glassworks was also constructed at Herrevad, the first in the country.  Tycho Brahe became a world-famous astronomer at Herrevad when on the night of 11 November 1572 he recorded a new star "brighter than Venus" located in the constellation Cassiopeia. He called others to witness it and gave it the name "Stella Nova", the new star. With a sextant he constructed himself, he studied and recorded what is now called a supernova, for almost an entire year. Brahe published his findings at Copenhagen in 1573 and these became the basis for his fame as an astronomer. He later moved onto the island of Hven in the Sound and built Montebello Observatory and manor house.  Herrevad passed to several other nobles until 1658 when Skåne was united with Sweden. Herrevad was then given to the Swedish Count Corfitz Ulfeldt and afterwards passed to several other Swedish nobles, but eventually reverted to the Swedish crown. The abbey was sacked by the Danish army in the wars between Denmark and Sweden in 1709-1710. Karl XI of Sweden ordered the ruined abbey buildings to be demolished and the materials transported to Malmö to build his German Church. The only existing remnant of the abbey is part of the old sacristy of the church which was used as a shed.

Later history.

Herrevad was put at the disposal of the Northern Skåne Cavalry Regiment in 1691 after the demolition of the monastery complex. By 1727 a new building for the regimental headquarters had been raised from building materials left over from the demolition of the abbey. It later became a residence for the commander, but retained the name Herrevad Abbey. In 1745 the residence was expanded and nicknamed "Herrevad Castle" () by the soldiers. Two wings were added in 1816-1819 in the Empire style, and the name Herrevad Castle formally adopted. The buildings were used by various military units until 1994 when Herrevad Castle passed into private ownership. It is currently undergoing restoration.  In the 1980s an excavation located the foundations of the choir and parts of the nave, which may still be seen.

Herrevad Abbey (, ) was a Cistercian monastery near Ljungbyhed in Klippan Municipality, Scania, in the south of present-day Sweden, but formerly in Denmark until 1658. It is now a country house known as Herrevad Castle (, ).

L’abbaye de Herrevad est une ancienne abbaye cistercienne, fondée au au Danemark par des cisterciens de l'abbaye de Cîteaux, dans une région, la Scanie, qui est depuis 1658 rattachée à la Suède (actuellement commune de Klippan, Comté de Scanie).


Formation and early years.

War of the Fifth Coalition.

In 1806 the Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg, Charles William Ferdinand, was fatally wounded during the Prussian defeat at the Battle of Jena-Auerstedt. Following Prussia's defeat and the collapse of the Fourth Coalition against Napoleon, his duchy remained under French control. Rather than permit the Duke's heir, Frederick William, to succeed to his father's title, Napoleon seized the duchy and, in 1807, incorporated it into his newly created model Kingdom of Westphalia ruled by his brother Jérôme. Two years later in 1809 the Fifth Coalition against Napoleon was formed between the Austrian Empire and the United Kingdom. The dispossessed Frederick William, who had been a strenuous critic of French domination in Germany, seized this opportunity to seek Austrian help to raise an armed force. To finance this venture he mortgaged his principality in Oels. In its initial incarnation (dated to 25 July 1809), the 2300-strong 'free' corps consisted of two battalions of infantry, one Jäger battalion, a company of sharpshooters, and a mixed cavalry contingent including "hussar"s and "uhlan"s.  Despite a successful campaign with their Austrian allies, the defeat of the latter at the Battle of Wagram on 6 July 1809 led to the Armistice of Znaim on 12 July. William refused to accept this and led his "Schwarze Schar" ("Black Host") into Germany, succeeding in briefly taking control of the city of Brunswick. Faced with superior Westphalian forces, the Brunswickers conducted a remarkable fighting retreat across Germany, twice holding off the pursuing armies, at the Battle of Halberstadt and the Battle of Ölper; finally being evacuated by the Royal Navy from the mouth of the River Weser. Landing in England, the Duke was welcomed by his cousin and brother-in-law, the Prince Regent (later King George IV) and the Black Brunswickers entered British service. During the next few years, the Brunswickers earned themselves a sound reputation through service with the British in the Peninsular Campaign. However, steady attrition in battles and skirmishes through Portugal and Spain, combined with a lack of political support and financial difficulties, led to a situation where the unit's imminent disbandment looked likely.

Peninsular War.

When organized for British service, the corps was renamed the Brunswick Oels Jäger and Brunswick Oels Hussar regiments. Prussians represented a large part of the original officer corps, while the enlisted men were motivated by German patriotism. However, once the Oels entered English service, they were cut off from their natural recruiting grounds. Compelled to enlist men from the prisoner of war camps to fill up the ranks, the quality of soldiers in the Oels decreased. Also, the King's German Legion obtained the best of the German recruits, leaving the Oels with the less desirable ones. In addition to Germans, the Oels recruited Poles, Swiss, Danes, Dutch, and Croats. Charles Oman, the Peninsular War historian, calls the Oels a "motley crew, much given to desertion" and records one occasion where ten men were caught deserting in a body. Of these, four were shot and the rest flogged.  Nevertheless, the Brunswick Oels Jägers gave a good account of themselves during the war. The regiment — really a single battalion—arrived in Portugal in early 1811. The Duke of Wellington distributed one company to the 4th Division and two companies to the 5th Division as skirmishers, while the remaining nine companies served in the newly formed 7th Division. The Oels remained in this organization until the end of the war in April 1814. During this period, the Oels served in most of the major battles including Fuentes de Onoro, Salamanca, Vitoria, the Pyrenees, Nivelle, the Nive, and Orthez.

Waterloo campaign.

Following Napoleon's failed invasion of Russia in 1812, and his subsequent retreat back into France, William was able to return to Brunswick in 1813 to reclaim his title. He also took the opportunity to replenish the ranks of his Black Brunswickers. Upon Napoleon's escape from Elba in 1815 he once more placed himself under the Duke of Wellington's command and joined the allied forces of the Seventh Coalition in Belgium. The "Brunswick Corps", as it is called in the order of battle for the Waterloo Campaign, formed up as a discrete division in the allied reserve. Its strength is given as 5376 men, composed of eight infantry battalions: one advance guard or "Avantgarde", one life guard or "Leib-Bataillon", three light and three line battalions. They were supported by both a horse and foot artillery battery of eight guns each. Also included were a regiment of Brunswicker "hussars" while a single squadron of "uhlans" were often attached to the allied cavalry corps.

Battle of Quatre Bras.

Quatre Bras was a hamlet at a strategic crossroads on the road to Brussels. French control of it would not only threaten the city, but divide Wellington's allied army from Blucher's Prussians. At 14:00 on 16 June 1815, after some initial skirmishing, the main French force under Marshall Ney, approached Quatre Bras from the south. They came up against the 2nd Netherlands Division who had formed a line well in advance of the crossroads. Facing three French infantry divisions and a cavalry brigade, the Dutch and Nassau troops were forced back but did not break. Reinforcements arrived at 15:00, being a Dutch cavalry brigade, Picton's 5th British Division, followed closely by the Brunswick Corps. The sharpshooters of the Brunswick Advance Guard regiment were sent to support Dutch skirmishers in Bossou Wood on the allied right (western) flank; the rest of the corps took up a reserve position across the Brussels road. The Duke reassured his inexperienced troops by walking up and down in front of them, calmly puffing on his pipe. A French infantry attack was halted by the allied front line, which was attacked in turn by French cavalry. Wellington moved the Brunswick infantry into the front line, where they were subjected to intense French artillery fire, forcing them to fall back a short distance. As a mass of French infantry advanced up the main road, the Duke led a charge by his "uhlans", but they were beaten back. Swept by canister shot at short range, the Brunswickers broke and rallied at the crossroads itself. At this point, the Duke, who was reforming his troops, was hit by a musket ball, which passed through his hand and into his liver. He was rescued by the men of the Leib Regiment, who carried him back using their muskets as a stretcher. He died shortly afterwards. The Duke's final words, to his aide Major von Wachholtz, were: Colonel Elias Olfermann was the Duke's adjutant general, who assumed immediate command of the corps. Wellington then ordered the Brunswick hussars to make an unsupported counterattack on the French light cavalry brigade, but they were driven off by heavy fire. Later in the battle, French cuirassiers broke the allied front line and were only prevented from taking the crossroads by the Brunswick infantry who had formed themselves into squares. By 21:00, allied reinforcements, including the newly arrived Brunswick 1st and 3rd light regiments, had driven the French back to their starting positions. Brunswick losses that day amounted to 188 killed and 396 wounded.

Battle of Waterloo.

Only two days later, on Sunday 18 June, the Duke of Wellington positioned his Anglo-allied army along a ridge near the village of Waterloo, in order to block Napoleon's advance along the road to Brussels. The Brunswick Corps formed part of Wellington's reserve corps, under his personal command. In that capacity, they were kept well behind the crest of the ridge and avoided casualties during the opening French bombardment. In the early part of the afternoon, the British Foot Guards moved down the slope to reinforce the Château d'Hougoumont, which was under fierce French attack; the Brunswick Corps was brought forward to take their place.  At about 16:00, Ney decided to attempt to break the centre right of the Anglo-allied line with his cavalry. Some 4,800 French horsemen charged up the hill and into the allied infantry, who had formed themselves into squares to resist them. In all, 9,000 cavalry were involved in repeated attacks on the allied squares but were unable to break any of them, including the Brunswickers, who some British officers regarded as "shaky". The Brunswick "hussars" and "uhlans", who formed part of the 7th British Cavalry Brigade, made harrying attacks on the French whenever they retired to regroup. Eventually, Ney had no choice but to abandon the attacks.  The French capture of the fortified farm of La Haye Sainte had left a gap in the centre of Wellington’s line, and the Brunswick infantry were brought along to fill it. It was here that Napoleon sent one of two attacks by his imperial guard in a last effort to break Wellington’s army. Faced with the veterans of the grenadiers of the middle guard, the inexperienced Brunswickers broke from the line and "fell back in disorder", but rallied when they reached the cavalry reserve in the rear. The same fate befell the Nassau Infantry Regiment and two British battalions. Finally, the guards were halted and thrown back when they were surprised by a flank attack from allied troops. The Brunswick Corps had recovered sufficiently to participate in the allied “general advance” that swept the French army from the field. British sources give the number of Brunswickers killed in action that day as 154 with 456 wounded and 50 missing.  In the following days, they escorted 2,000 French prisoners back to Brussels and then marched on to Paris. They finally returned to Brunswick on 6 December 1815.

Uniform.

The Brunswickers were awarded various nicknames by their contemporaries, including the "Black Crows", the "Black Legion" and the "Black Horde". However, although the uniforms of the individual units that comprised the corps were, as the names suggest, predominantly black, they varied in their details. There are a number of speculative theories on the origin of the Brunswickers' dark and seemingly grim choice of garb. It has been suggested that black was chosen to mourn Duke Frederick William's late father; as a sign of respect for the Duke; or in mourning for the Duke's occupied homeland. Colonel Augustus Frazer, who had served alongside the Brunswickers, reported that black was adopted in mourning for the Duke's wife, Princess Marie of Baden, who had died in 1808, and that the black uniforms would not be put aside until Brunswick had been finally liberated.  The black clothing of the Brunswicker soldier became closely associated across Germany with the liberation movement of 1813. Accordingly even after Brunswick became a member of the North German Confederation in 1866 and the German Empire in 1871 the military units of the Dukedom retained the special privilege of wearing uniforms in black, in marked contrast to the Prussian blue of most of the other member states. This distinction lasted until April 1892 when a new military convention between Brunswick and Prussia did away with the special status and uniforms of the Brunswick regiments.

Inspired art.

"The Black Brunswicker" (1860), by John Everett Millais was inspired in part by the exploits of the Brunswickers and in part by the contrasts of black broadcloth and pearl-white satin in a moment of tender conflict.  The artwork took an estimated three months to paint, and it was greatly admired at the time. It was also bought for the highest price Millais had received from dealer and publisher Ernest Gambart - the lucrative sum of 100 guineas. Later, in 1898, William Hesketh Lever purchased the work for his private collection. Charles Dickens' daughter Kate was used as a model for the woman seen in the painting.

Later years.

A single infantry regiment and the hussars were maintained by the Duchy of Brunswick after the end of the Napoleonic War. In 1830, the uniform colour was changed to blue, but reverted to black in 1850. The Brunswick units were integrated into the Prussian Army in 1866 with the titles: "Braunschweigisches Infanterie-Regiment Nr.92" and "Braunschweigisches Husaren Regiment Nr.17" following the Prussian regimental numbering sequence. Both units kept the skulls with the crossed bones on their helmets and caps and carried the battle honours "Peninsula-Sicily-Waterloo" until the end of World War I in 1918, when they were disbanded. At that time, a collection of artefacts and uniforms from the Napoleonic era were presented by the officers of the corps to the Braunschweigisches Landesmuseum, where they remain.  The historic black of the Brunswick Corps was retained by the "Husaren Regiment Nr.17 "in full dress parade uniform until the outbreak of war in August 1914. The Brunswick "Infanterie-Regiment Nr.92" however adopted the dark blue tunic of the Prussian line infantry.

The Brunswick Ducal Corps (), commonly known as the Black Brunswickers in English and the Schwarze Schar (Black Troop, Black Horde, or Black Host) or Schwarze Legion (Black Legion) in German, were a military unit in the Napoleonic Wars. The corps was raised from volunteers by German-born Frederick William, Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel (1771–1815). The Duke was a harsh opponent of Napoleon Bonaparte's occupation of his native Germany. Formed in 1809 when war broke out between the First French Empire and the Austrian Empire, the corps initially comprised a mixed force, around 2,300 strong, of infantry, cavalry and later supporting artillery.

La Schwarze Schar, originellement Herzoglich Braunschweigisches Korps (Corps du duché de Brunswick) ou Schwarze Legion (Légion Noire), et plus tard par les Britanniques "Black Brunswickers", est un corps franc créé le par Frédéric-Guillaume de Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, le "Duc Noir", durant la Cinquième Coalition, pour se battre sur différents lieux de bataille contre Napoléon Ier et l'armée française.


Élection présidentielle roumaine de 2014

Background.

Traian Băsescu won the last presidential election in 2009 and was sworn in for his second term on 21 December 2009. According to the Article 83 of the Constitution of Romania, the "term of office of the President of Romania is five years, being exercised from the date the oath was taken," but only for up to two terms.  The dates were decided by the government in February:

Candidates.

Fourteen candidates submitted to the Central Electoral Bureau files with the number of signatures collected from citizens (at least 200,000) by 23 September 2014: Victor Ponta, Klaus Iohannis, Monica Macovei, Călin Popescu-Tăriceanu, Teodor Meleșcanu, Elena Udrea, Dan Diaconescu, Hunor Kelemen, Zsolt Szilágyi, Corneliu Vadim Tudor, Constantin Rotaru, William Brînză, Mirel Mircea Amariței and Gheorghe Funar.  The left-wing parties designated a single candidate: Victor Ponta, the current Prime Minister. He was rated with the best chance of winning the election by main opinion polls. On the other hand, the main right-wing parties, strengthened under the Christian Liberal Alliance, have designated Klaus Iohannis, the second favorite of the opinion polls. However, the so-called "right wing" was still divided, with many newly formed parties with small number of members designating their own presidential candidates, such as Elena Udrea, candidate from the People's Movement Party and supported by the Christian Democratic National Peasants' Party. There were four independent candidates: former Prime Minister Călin Popescu-Tăriceanu, former Minister of Justice Monica Macovei, former Chief of the Foreign Intelligence Service Teodor Meleșcanu and former Mayor of Cluj-Napoca Gheorghe Funar.  This was a record number of candidates since 1996, since in 2000, 2004 and 2009, only 12 candidates were admitted each election. Likewise, this was the first time women candidates (Elena Udrea and Monica Macovei) ran for the position of president of the country and the first time three ethnics of the national minorities figure on the ballot papers. A number of people announced they would be running was greater, but they failed to gather the 200,000 signatures needed for the submission of the candidature to the Central Electoral Bureau by the 23 September deadline, such as Ioan Ghișe.  Several candidates had announced their intention to run for president, but eventually withdrew in favor of other candidates:

Campaign.

Victor Ponta launched his campaign on his birthday, in a huge rally on the National Arena. Over 70,000 people from across the country attended the rally. One of the stadium lawns was covered with four large panels inscribed with the slogan "Proud to be Romanians" and depicting Romanian folk motifs. Many opposing political analysts, members of the opposition and even President Traian Băsescu have likened the event to the rallies in the communist period dedicated to Nicolae Ceaușescu or, more recently, those dedicated to Kim Jong-un, the Supreme Leader of North Korea. Likewise, he was criticized by PMP candidate Elena Udrea for the cost of organizing such an event which, she said, was around 2 million euros.  Klaus Iohannis launched his campaign in front of the Government, in the presence of up to 30,000 people. The special guest of the event was the Secretary General of the EPP, Antonio López-Istúriz White, who stated that "Victor Ponta cannot and should not become president of the European Romania". The vast majority of Romanians are Eastern Orthodox Christians like Ponta, while Iohannis is Protestant. Commenting on a poll, according to which 58.22% of the respondents said for them the religion of the President mattered, while 39.81% said they were indifferent to the issue, Ponta said he did not believe that a candidate for President "has a problem if he is Orthodox or is not of Romanian ethnicity". Iohannis has reacted strongly to the statement by his rival, saying that bringing the issue of religion is a "painful attempt" to poison the campaign. Iohannis' slogan in the presidential campaign was "less talk, more things done", alluding to frequent television appearances of his rival, Victor Ponta. In his presidential program are mentioned, among others: deepening of the strategic partnership with the United States, allocation of 2% of GDP for defense, 6% for health and 6% for education, restructuring of the management system of EU funds, development of the capital market, keeping the flat tax, return of VAT to 19%, etc. Iohannis proposes a liberal economy based on competitiveness and prosperity, encouragement of a highly developed agriculture, connection of Romania to the Western world through infrastructure or decentralization, as "vector of modernization". Likewise, for Klaus Iohannis, the European path of the Republic of Moldova is a national priority.  Elena Udrea launched her campaign for the presidency through an anti-governmental march attended by 10,000 people. She expressed her intention to dissolve the Parliament and form a new Government, in the eventuality that she would win the election. Udrea is supported by outgoing President Traian Băsescu who intended to join the party Udrea leads at the end of his mandate in December.  During the early days following the first round of the 2 November election, that saw the two main candidates from all opinion polls facing off in a 16 November runoff, several of the candidates that fell short of acceding into the second round have declared their support for one of the two remaining candidates. Prime Minister and PSD leader Victor Ponta, who came first with 40.4% of the votes ahead of Sibiu mayor and ACL candidate Klaus Iohannis who earned a distant 30.3%, received the backing of the second runner-up, former premier and Senate president Călin Popescu-Tăriceanu, from the Liberal Reformist Party, who would also have been Ponta's proposal to replace him as Prime Minister, had Ponta won.  Other candidates who also publicly declared their support for Ponta were: Dan Diaconescu, from PP-DD, Corneliu Vadim Tudor, from PRM and independent candidate Teodor Meleșcanu. Despite UDMR's presence in the government led by Ponta, Hunor Kelemen expressed neutrality and recommended Hungarian electorate "vote according to their own beliefs". He said that UDMR can't support Victor Ponta in the second round because the Social Democrats have allied with PRM, an ultra-nationalist party, with which UDMR had several conflicts over time. Internationally, Ponta received support from many current Prime Ministers across Europe, like the Moldovan premier Iurie Leancă, Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, Serbian premier Aleksandar Vučić, Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico, Czech premier Bohuslav Sobotka, Georgian premier Irakli Garibashvili and Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama, among others. Also, the Party of European Socialists expressed clear support for the candidature of Ponta to the Romanian presidency. Others were Sigmar Gabriel (Germany, SPD), Elio Di Rupo (Belgium, Parti Socialiste), Gianni Pittella (Italy) and Martin Schulz (President of the European Parliament).  Iohannis announced that he would not negotiate with other candidates, though he needed as much as 21% of the votes to recuperate and win. Elena Udrea, from the PMP–PNȚCD Alliance, didn't avowedly express her support for Klaus Iohannis, but stated that the vote on 16 November should be anti-Ponta. On the other hand, independents Monica Macovei and Mirel Mircea Amariței, as well as PPMT-backed Zsolt Szilágyi announced their support for Iohannis. Likewise, Iohannis enjoyed international support from the European People's Party and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.  Victor Ponta and key figures of his party accused Klaus Iohannis of wanting to separate Transylvania from the rest of Romania, because Iohannis won a large majority of the votes on 2 November in the intra-Carpathian region. Iohannis criticized these statements, describing them as "cretinisms". He also said that the idea of "breaking Transylvania" was "totally false, from another century and harmful", and came up because "people like the PRM are coopted for some votes". This topic was intensively discussed in local media. Many political commentators consider that dissimilar cultural heritage that each of the regions of Romania has is an exponent of the different vote expressed by Transylvania, Banat, Bukovina, Crișana and Maramureș, as opposed to Moldavia, Wallachia and Dobruja.

Opinion polls.

First round.

The problem of the seriousness and confidence in the opinion polls in the political domain is extremely controversial in Romania. Many people, especially members and supporters of the opposition, consider that the political affiliations of the directors of the main opinion polling firms have a significant impact in their results. For example, Sociopol is led by Mirel Palada, former spokesman for the government of Victor Ponta, while GSSC Avangarde is led by sociologist Marius Pieleanu, a confidant of the Conservative Party. The honorary president of CSCI is Bogdan Teodorescu, one of the strategists of Victor Ponta's campaign during these presidential elections. The main shareholder of IRES is Vasile Dâncu, former PSD senator. But not only the ruling party has tangents with the opinion polls. CCSCC published the results of a fictional survey during the European Parliament election of 25 May 2014, at liberal Horea Uioreanu's command, subsequently taken into custody for corruption.  Several opinion polls were conducted in the period preceding official announcement of the 14 candidates. Many of them showed Crin Antonescu instead of Klaus Iohannis or Cristian Diaconescu instead of Elena Udrea. In the polls also figured Mihai Răzvan Ungureanu and Cătălin Predoiu, which withdrew their candidacies after the political events in the summer of 2014. The following table displays the main candidates (at least 1%) and evolution of their percentages.

Graphical summary.

The following graph depicts the evolution of the standing of each candidate in the poll aggregators from September to October 2014.

Results.

The first round of voting was held on 2 November. Because no candidate obtained the support of more than 50% of registered voters, a second round was scheduled to be held two weeks later, on 16 November, with Victor Ponta and Klaus Iohannis running against each other.  Elena Udrea (lightblue), Monica Macovei (lightgray) and Kelemen Hunor (green) openly endorsed Klaus Iohannis in the second round. Dan Diaconescu (purple) positioned himself against Victor Ponta, without openly endorsing Klaus Iohannis. Călin Popescu-Tăriceanu (blue) and Teodor Meleșcanu (turquoise) openly endorsed Victor Ponta in the second round.

Confirmation of results.

On 21 November 2014, the Constitutional Court confirmed the results of the election and validated the election of Klaus Iohannis as President of Romania.

Reactions.

Protests.

Several protests broke out in many cities abroad with large communities of Romanians. In Paris, London, Chișinău, Munich, Stuttgart, Vienna, Turin and other cities, Romanians expressed their dissatisfaction concerning the hindering of the voting process and closure before 9 p.m. of the polling stations. Protesters demanded the resignation of Foreign Minister Titus Corlățean and booed the Romanian Government led by PSD candidate Victor Ponta. In Paris, the Romanian Embassy was assaulted by angry protesters. However, the situation defused after the intervention of special forces. Protests in solidarity with Romanian diaspora also took place in major Romanian cities. Organized on Facebook, the protests attracted between 10,000 and 15,000 people in Cluj-Napoca, 5,000 in Timișoara, 4,000 in Bucharest, 2,000 in Craiova and Sibiu, 1,000 in Arad. Many of the protesters were students, young people, intellectuals and people with higher education. They demanded fair elections and Victor Ponta's resignation as PM, whose image was associated with cartoon figures like Mickey Mouse and Pinocchio. Counter-protests organized by sympathizers of PSD also took place in Galați, Alba Iulia, Bistrița, Bacău, Craiova and Brașov, but were attended by fewer people.  During a campaign visit at Millenium Hall, Baia Mare, on 6 November, Victor Ponta was booed by hundreds of people protesting against his disinformation and manipulation uttered at his rival, Klaus Iohannis, and condemning the statements in previous days of the premier and ministers Liviu Dragnea, Titus Corlățean and Bogdan Stanoevici regarding the unfolding of voting process in diaspora. In order to avoid any incidents, Prime Minister Victor Ponta was evacuated from the building by SPP agents and local policemen using a van-minibus.  Victor Ponta accused rival party ACL of organizing the protests, but ACL denied these accusations. Moreover, leaders of ACL and candidate Klaus Iohannis saluted "the civic spirit of all Romanians who in recent days have protested (...) against candidate Victor Ponta's attempt to manipulate the Romanians vote".  Poor organization of the second round in diaspora, but also violent dispersal of Romanian voters after the polls closed angered people in Romania that gathered in their tens of thousands in the largest protest against Ponta's government since the demonstrations against the Roșia Montană Project in the autumn of 2013.

Post-election.

The final result was widely seen as a surprise, as all polls before the second round showed Ponta as a clear favorite over Iohannis. Ponta did not give a speech at 9 p.m. when the polling ended, and a few hours later he conceded defeat, declaring that "the people are always right" and congratulating Klaus Iohannis over the phone. Cristian Ghinea of the Romanian Center for European Policies considered that "Iohannis did a poor job in the two debates, but Ponta mobilized the people against himself (...) He ran a dirty campaign which blew up in his face", while Sergiu Miscoiu, an analyst, thought that "a major mistake was ostracizing the diaspora". Ponta ruled out quitting as prime minister until the parliamentary elections in 2016. Only about 10% of diaspora ended up voting for Ponta.  Upon closing of the polls in Romania, Klaus Iohannis thanked voters for the high turnout and asked the Government to extend the voting period in diaspora to allow everyone in line to vote. Later in the evening, when the victory became clear, he went to University Square, Bucharest, where up to 20,000 people were celebrating, and declared that "we took our country back". On Monday morning Iohannis declared that he will be a free president that will represent all Romanians.  Following the elections, a wave of resignations occurred in the PSD. Foreign Minister Teodor Meleșcanu also resigned following the diaspora voting fiasco, thus setting a record for the shortest term as minister in Romania's post-Communist history, having served for only eight days. PSD senator Mircea Geoană, who ran unsuccessfully against Traian Băsescu in the 2009 presidential elections, characterized the result as a "dramatic moment for the Romanian Left" and warned that the PSD needs to "reinvent itself". President-elect Iohannis stated that he want to topple the government. In this regard, PNL leaders intend to file a motion of censure at the beginning of 2015.

Controversies.

The candidate of Christian Liberal Alliance, Klaus Iohannis, publicly asked Prime Minister Victor Ponta for the cancellation of Ordinance 45 of 2014, that amends the legislation on presidential elections, affirming that these changes might lead to electoral fraud by favoring multiple voting. In this regard, PNL brought to trial the Government. Cristian Diaconescu, then the presidential candidate of PMP, notified by letter the Venice Commission about this issue.  In September, the candidacies of Victor Ponta and Monica Macovei were contested at the Constitutional Court, but the complaints were rejected by the court. On the other hand, the National Integrity Agency (ANI) announced in April 2013 that it believed Klaus Iohannis was in a'state of incompatibility', because he has been the representative of Sibiu in the General Meeting of Shareholders of SC Apă Canal SA Sibiu (since 5 August 2010) and of SC Piețe SA (since 30 April 2009), which contravenes legal provisions governing conflicts of interest. Iohannis repeatedly said that ANI's claims to that effect were mistaken.  Iohannis was also attacked by his rivals, especially Victor Ponta, on the topic of the provenance of his six estates. Many supporters of PSD and TV stations with some sympathies for this party stated that Iohannis bought these houses illicitly, statements which were later refuted by Iohannis. He explained that he has bought the six houses by "honest work" and that the money to purchase them originated either from his own sources – salaries, tutoring, rents - or from money received from his parents and parents-in-law or from loans from friends.

Undercover officer allegations.

In a worsening institutional conflict between the Presidency and the Government, outgoing President Traian Băsescu accused Prime Minister Victor Ponta of serving as an undercover intelligence officer between 1997 and 2001. Ponta dismissed the charge as "all lies". His rival Klaus Iohannis demanded an immediate clarification of the situation, while the Minister of Justice Robert Cazanciuc labelled Băsescu's statements as "campaign statements", and the topic as "ridiculous".  Espionage was already a talking point during the electoral campaign. Teodor Meleșcanu, who ran the Foreign Intelligence Service, resigned in September and joined the presidential race as an independent candidate one day later. Around the same time, Robert Turcescu, a popular television anchor, confessed live on air that he had been an undercover lieutenant-colonel for an espionage service and resigned his post. Under Romanian law, outing oneself as a spy is illegal, but prosecutors did not press charges.

Alleged electoral bribe.

Members of PMP and PNL expressed outrage over the announced distribution of 18 kg of food to more than 6.5 million people during the electoral campaign, in October and November. In a press release, PNL stated that "in the mad rush for votes for presidential candidate Victor Ponta, PSD doesn't have the slightest reluctance to use EU funds for masked electoral bribe". This initiative was endorsed by the Ministry of European Funds, who published on 20 September a notice of auction in which the Romanian government said it wants to provide 6,652,986 food packages within the Fund of European aid for the most deprived persons. More specifically, over 150,000 food packages would be sent to each county, totaling 100 million euros. PNL argues that the way this auction is organized raises serious questions about its legality. The Minister for European Funds, Eugen Teodorovici, said that EU funds are not used for electoral purposes and any claims of their diversion is "misinformation".  President Traian Băsescu repeatedly stated that Victor Ponta "bribes the electorate" and "makes electoral alms from borrowed money". In a press conference critical to Victor Ponta and Klaus Iohannis, Băsescu mentioned the figure of 4.8 billion euros, money that would go towards electoral alms and will be paid by the population.  During a large meeting in Iași, Klaus Iohannis mentioned that Ponta's figure is on each pole and tree, asking rhetorically where the money for his campaign came from. He also stated that every Romanian pays Ponta's campaign from the taxes and dues he introduced. During the same meeting, Iohannis refuted all rumors regarding his intentions to cut the pensions after the election, after many pensioners received flyers in the mail, with messages such as "Only Ponta protects the pensions" and "Klaus Iohannis wants to cut your pension" written on them. In a press release, ACL accused PSD that it engages in a campaign against Klaus Iohannis by misinforming and deceiving voters. The Romanian Post signed contracts with PSD, but also with PMP, Macovei and Tăriceanu, agreeing to send newspapers, catalogs, leaflets, brochures and other electoral advertising materials to homes around the country. Over 4 million anti-Iohannis flyers were distributed by the Romanian Post, totaling up to 50,000 euros.

Vote rigging in Moldova.

Sebastian Ghiță, PSD deputy and Victor Ponta's fellow, would be part of a pyramidal mechanism of defrauding the 2014 presidential election, according to prosecutors from the National Anticorruption Directorate, Ploiești branch. He would have given money from illegal deals to persuade voters from Moldova to elect Ponta as president.  Sebastian Ghiță would hand in the PSD headquarters in Bucharest 400,000 euros to Alin Petran, an intermediary sent over the Prut to gather the necessary votes. Subsequently, the intermediary has recruited ten coordinators who, in turn, managed 200 people. Each was responsible to provide between 50 and 100 votes to the social democrat candidate. Electors who demonstrated that voted with Victor Ponta received watches, clothes or food. Total costs of these operations were estimated at 350,000 euros. Investigators also determined that Sebastian Ghiță and his friends would have created a database that included 20,000 Romanian citizens from Moldova, with voting rights in the 2014 presidential election. According to a witness, Victor Ponta was aware "about this fraudulent attempt to win the presidential election".  As of 24 June 2015, Sebastian Ghiță is prosecuted for influence peddling, money laundering and bribing the voters. Moreover, Ghiță is forbidden to exercise his function of deputy, a premiere in the Romanian justice, but also to talk with Victor Ponta or to leave Ploiești. Ghiță accuses a "prosecutors coup", in an attempt to overthrow the Ponta Government.

Cyber attacks.

In a debate organized by the PNL parliamentary group on 12 February 2015, Marcel Opriș, head of the Special Telecommunications Service (STS), stated that during the presidential election were used cyber attacks for political purposes, being involved a Romanian television through which a signal was given for "a devastating qualified attack for IT-ists". PNL deputy Mihăiță Calimente announced he'll propose at the Defence Commission of the Chamber of Deputies as the director of STS to be heard on this subject.

Diaspora voting.

The first round of voting was marked by a scandal concerning the small number of polling stations in countries with large communities of Romanian citizens. 294 polling stations were organized in 95 states, given that over 3 million Romanians with voting right are living and working abroad. In cities like London, Paris, Madrid, Vienna, Munich, Stuttgart, Turin, Rome or Chișinău huge queues of voters were reported at embassies or other polling stations. They claim they were prevented from exercising their right to vote, inasmuch as thousands of voters were locked outside the embassies and could not vote until the polls closed. Presidential candidates Klaus Iohannis, Elena Udrea and Monica Macovei urged the prolongation of the voting process in these countries. Moreover, the Presidential Administration demanded in a release the immediate resignation of Foreign Minister Titus Corlățean and Minister Delegate for Romanians Abroad Bogdan Stanoevici for poor organization of election in diaspora. Likewise, independent candidate Gheorghe Funar submitted an application to the President of BEC, demanding the cancellation of the first round of voting and its resumption because he considers that the equality of citizens before the law was not ensured, and the right to vote of Romanians abroad was seriously violated. These problems determined Gunther Krichbaum, the chairman of the Commission for European Affairs in the Bundestag to declare that the issue at stake does not concern "possible difficulties in the organisation of elections, but a wilful hindrance of the free expression of the votes", based on the current leftist government's knowledge of the fact that "Romanians living abroad have the tendency to vote with the parties and candidates of the centre-right".<ref name="actmedia.eu/daily/the-chairman-of-the-commission-for-european-affairs-in-bundestag-writes-to-juncker-the-sections-outside-romania-received-indications-from-bucharest-to-hinder-the-vote/54970_2014-11-29"></ref> Irregularities were also reported in the country's major university centers, where students were forced to form queues of hundreds of people or were redirected to other polling stations, as the standardized affidavit forms had run out.  Angry voters staged spontaneous protests in front of the polling stations in Paris, Vienna, London, Madrid, New York City, Strasbourg and many other locations, chanting slogans like "Down with Ponta!", "Plagiarized vote" or "We want to vote". In Paris, Vienna, London and Turin protests escalated in storming embassies and consulates. Spirits were calmed only after the intervention of law enforcement.  Under pressure from street protests that followed the first round, Titus Corlățean resigned on 10 November. Prime Minister Victor Ponta proposed former presidential candidate Teodor Meleșcanu to occupy this position. The same day, Meleșcanu took the oath in front of President Traian Băsescu at the Cotroceni Palace.  Despite measures taken by new Minister of Foreign Affairs, the scandal in the first round repeated in the second one, but in higher proportions. Kilometer-long queues were reported in several European cities, including Paris, Strasbourg, London, Dublin, Brussels, Oslo, Bonn, Munich, Stuttgart, Turin, Rome and Madrid. Once more, ACL and Monica Macovei urged the prolongation of voting process. Spontaneous protests broke out again in front of embassies and consulates in major European cities. Protesters expressed anger over Ponta's government and poor organization of the election. Shortly after the polls closed, angry voters forced the entrances into the embassies and consulates, to be able to exercise their right to vote. In Paris and Turin, things degenerated into street fighting between voters and law enforcement. Displeased voters were dispersed by police with tear gas and batons. Four people were injured and one arrested after the intervention of Carabinieri in Turin. Having followed the election process, the chairman of the Commission for European Affairs in Bundestag, Gunther Krichbaum, suggested that the voting rights of Romanian citizens had been hindered to such an extent, that the Diaspora voting problems should be investigated as "fraud", and that Victor Ponta should withdraw from office, having lost all authority to serve the public, in any position or qualification.<ref name="gunther-krichbaum.de/_2014-11-29"></ref

Presidential elections were held in Romania in 2014. In the first round on 2 November, the top two of the fourteen candidates qualified in a run-off on 16 November. Victor Ponta, Prime Minister and leader of the Social Democratic Party won around 40% of the vote, and Klaus Iohannis, mayor of Sibiu and leader of Christian Liberal Alliance, won around 30%. Following large protests on how Ponta's government organized the elections in the diaspora, Klaus Iohannis staged a surprising come-back and won the run-off with 54.5%, or more than a million votes than his contender.

L'élection présidentielle roumaine de 2014 se tient les 2 et 16 novembre 2014 afin d’élire le président de la Roumanie.


The bubble years.

Background.

From 1991 to 2001, Ireland's real gross domestic product (GDP) growth averaged above 7% and there was a large expansion in the workforce. From 1990 to 2000, the Irish gross national product (GNP) per capita rose 58%, bringing it above the European Union average. The pace of expansion in lending to households from 2003–2007 was among the highest in the Eurozone, with German banks having US$208.3 billion in total exposure to Ireland. These factors led to house prices increasing by 17% between May 2000 to May 2001 alone. In August 2000, an International Monetary Fund (IMF) report contended that Irish property prices were almost certainly heading for a collapse in the medium term since "no industrial country in the last 20 years had experienced price increases on the scale of Ireland without suffering a subsequent fall". From 2000, approximately 75,000 housing units were built every year as detailed by the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government with sufficient planning permission being granted so that by 2005, there was enough zoned land to accommodate 460,000 new homes as housing density figures continued to rise each year. House prices went on to more than double between 2000 and 2006, with tax incentives being a key driver of this price rise. The Fianna Fáil-Progressive Democrat government received much criticism for these policies. In 2004, the independently produced Review of the Construction Industry, commissioned by the Department for the Environment, estimates that 12% of the workforce were employed directly in the construction industry. One author described the "Breakfast Roll Men"—named after the popular convenience food construction workers often ate—as "the pumping heart of the economy".  Interest rates set by the European Central Bank (ECB) are only guided by low inflation targets in the Eurozone. Some felt this was, and is, too narrow an objective, leading to decisions on interest rates that are inappropriate, e.g. for states with record levels of employment, rising house prices, and consumer spending.

Contributing factors.

Poor financial sector supervision.

The pace of credit expansion to finance the Irish housing bubble accelerated sharply in the years preceding the crisis. The relaxed and weak Irish regulatory supervision of the financial sector made the financing of excessively increasing real estate prices in the Irish market possible. The Financial Regulator and the Central Bank were responsible for the inadequacy of the financial stability system at the time of crisis. The financial institutions at the heart of the crisis have contributed to a general climate of mistrust in the transparency and accountability of the financial sector in Ireland, as well as in the capacity of corporate oversight and enforcement.  The Central Bank admitted in November 2005, that estimates of overvaluation of 20% to 60% in the Irish residential property market existed. The "Irish Times" revealed minutes of a meeting with the OECD which indicated that while the Central Bank agreed that Irish property was overvalued, it was fearful of precipitating a crash by "putting a number on it". Senior Allied Irish Bank officials expressed concerns in 2006 that Central Bank stress tests were "not stressful enough" — two years before the collapse of the Irish banking system. The CBOI continually ignored warnings from the Ireland-based Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) about the dangerous scale of bank loans to property speculators and developers.  Corrective regulatory action was delayed and timid to the unsustainable property price and construction bubble during the mid-2000s. After the bubble burst, Irish banks faced mounting losses on a scale that exposed them to a collapse of confidence following the Lehman Brothers' bankruptcy in September 2008; they then suffered acute liquidity pressures, which had to be met by Central Bank support, including emergency lending. Management abuses, which the CBOI did not restrain, were also revealed at Anglo Irish Bank, which had to be nationalised in January 2009.  In its Annual Report, which was published just three months before the government was forced to unconditionally guarantee the deposits of the Irish-owned banks, the Central Bank said: "The banks have negligible exposure to the sub-prime sector and they remain relatively healthy by the standard measures of capital, profitability and asset quality. This has been confirmed by the stress testing exercises we have carried out with the banks".  The next Annual Report had virtually nothing to say about how and why the Irish banking system was brought to the brink of collapse. Despite having four directors on the board of the Financial Regulator, the Central Bank maintained it had no powers to intervene in the market. Still, the Central Bank had the power to issue directives to the Financial Regulator if it appeared as though business was being conducted in a way that was contrary to overall Central Bank policy aims. None were issued.  In July 2009, a senior Central Bank official told the Oireachtas Enterprise Committee that shareholders (later corrected/clarified to refer to institutional investors) who lost their money in the banking collapse were to blame for their fate and got what was coming to them for not keeping bank chiefs in check. The official did admit that the Central Bank had failed to give sufficient warning about reckless lending to property developers.  A report by the Oireachtas Public Accounts Committee said it was "exercising inadequate supervision" and a proper analysis of loan books of the banks was not done.  The European Commission in a November 2010 review of the financial crisis said, "Some national supervisory authorities failed dramatically. We know that in Ireland there was almost no supervision of the large banks." Two months later, the President of the EU Commission in an angry exchange in the European Parliament, with a vehemence that shocked his audience, said that "the problems of Ireland were created by the irresponsible financial behaviour of some Irish institutions, and by the lack of supervision in the Irish market."  The CBOI had the Government put contingency plans in place to provide armed Defence Force security for major Irish banks over fears of public disorder should a cash shortage be triggered at the height of the financial crisis.  The reckless lending practices of banks cost taxpayers €64 billion or €16,000 for every man, woman and child living in the Republic of Ireland.

Increased prosperity.

Since 1994, the Irish economy saw considerable investment from multinational corporations. Irish education standards were perceived as high relative to those existing in other English-speaking countries. Improvements in the technical education area also played a key role in upgrading the skills of the Irish workforce. The combination of high education standards and capitalisation ratios in investment projects resulted in considerable improvements in labour productivity for the economy as a whole. This resulted in increased wage levels for the traded sector of the economy.

Eurozone membership and ECB interest rate policy.

Ireland joined the initial launch of the euro on 1 January 1999, in accordance with the 1992 Maastricht Treaty and gave control of its monetary policy to the European Central Bank in Frankfurt, Germany, in accordance with the 1998 Treaty of Amsterdam. The euro contributed to the post-1998 investment rate in countries that previously had a weak currency through the integration of financial markets; however, there is little or no evidence that the introduction of the euro increased the efficiency of capital allocation. The introduction of the single currency, with European Central Bank interest rates being lower than what national interest rates would have been had Ireland not joined the Euro, meant that those buying property were encouraged to borrow larger amounts of money. As prices continued upward, financial institutions offered 100% loans, even more (to finance, for example, the purchase of furnishings and landscaping). Newspapers carried advertising for properties urging people to get onto the "property ladder," as property was seen as a guaranteed bet. Over time, the scale of residential mortgage debt reached a proportion that greatly concerned the Irish government because of its effects on the Republic's economy. The increasing cost of property and the need to borrow money to acquire property in Ireland resulted in substantial increases in the total level of private sector debt. This became of increasing concern to the Irish Central Bank, which had issued many warnings in an effort to affect consumer behaviour, but which signally failed to use any micro-economic tools such as prudential limits on lending or deposit requirements. Inflation was higher in Ireland than elsewhere in the Eurozone.

Impact of rising prices.

A side-effect of high urban housing valuations was a drift into rural hinterlands to live in lower cost housing. This happened on a substantial scale in the Greater Dublin area in counties Wicklow, Kildare, Meath, Louth, and Carlow. This resulted in infrastructural pressure being placed on rural villages and provincial towns as residential developments exceeded the pace of both infrastructural development and provision of services for the growing population.

Role of the media.

Throughout the bubble, newspapers and media played a vital role in hyping property. No national newspaper was without a glossy property supplement and weekend papers were often equally filled with property ads, reviews of new developments, stories of successful purchases, makeovers, and a gamut of columnists relating their property experiences. TV and radio schedules were filled with further property porn - house-hunting programs and house makeover programs were regular features on every channel. Even in July 2007, "Irish Independent" journalist/comedian Brendan O'Connor urged people to buy property, even as the bubble was clearly bursting. In April 2011, journalist Vincent Browne admitted that the Irish media had played an important role in adding to the frenzy of the Irish property bubble.

Downturn.

Eventually, demand for residential property fell in early 2007, resulting in price decreases of 0.6% in March 2007, and of 0.8% in April 2007. This led to an expectation of a drop in house prices on a quarterly basis for the first time since 1994. Houses in the commuter belt in Greater Dublin fell earlier, due to a combination of increased supply in the Dublin urban area, increasing interest rates, and continuing infrastructural deficiencies in rural communities. Prices in large urban areas were static, though demand dropped noticeably. However, a significant proportion of these new builds are unoccupied. Economic commentators give a figure of approximately 230,000 vacant properties. Of these, up to 115,000 or so may be holiday homes. Figures exist for completions because the Electricity Supply Board provides information on the number of properties newly connected to the electricity network and from data supplied by local authorities and from the Department of the Environment and the Central Statistics Office. Newspaper articles provided anecdotal evidence of declining valuations with respect to the guide prices, and the agreed prices for Irish residential property since October 2006. The decline in property prices was tracked by the ESRI House Price Index, which reported prices starting to fall in the second quarter of 2007. Construction employment dropped according to Live Register statistics for May 2007.  There has also been reported cases of mortgage fraud where borrowers overestimated their income to enable them to borrow more. There was a worry that these people "could fall into serious debt if Ireland had a property crisis like that in Britain in the late 1980s". This experience has resulted in the "sub-prime residential mortgage fallout" in the United States. In December 2006, the Irish state-owned broadcasting organisation, RTÉ, broadcast an investigation in a Prime Time documentary which unearthed evidence that financial details of prospective customers were being sold by mortgage brokers to auctioneers. Such information would enable auctioneers to maximise the price attained from prospective buyers. This issue, and further allegations in this area, are currently being investigated by the Office for Data Protection.  In the summer of 2007, the Economic and Social Research Institute issued its Quarterly Economic Commentary predicting that Irish public finances would fall into deficit in 2007, and house prices would fall by 3%. A research paper by UCD Professor Morgan Kelly, published by the ESRI alongside the Quarterly Economic Commentary, suggested that the "same people who told us we would have a soft landing are saying we will crawl out... we have bottomed out. We have not. We are very far from the bottom of the property market." Up to 60 per cent could be wiped off the real value of houses over the following eight years to 2015 if the Republic's housing market followed the same pattern as those in other countries.  These reports were met with hostility by the political establishment; on 4 July 2007, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern stated at a conference in Donegal that he did not understand why people sitting on the sidelines, "cribbing and moaning" about the economy, did not commit suicide. Many bank economists, media commentators, estate agents, property developers and business leaders went on the record to state their belief that the Irish property market was healthy, and that any decrease in house prices was indicative was a soft landing only.  By late 2011, house prices in Dublin were down 51% from peak and apartment prices down over 60%. Residential property prices fell nationally by a further 13.6% from the beginning of 2012 to July 2012.

The crash in 2009.

As predicted in earlier reports dating from 2006 and 2007, a property price crash hit Ireland by the first half of 2009. It coincided with the 2009 recession as both had started to develop in late 2008 following the global economic slowdown and credit control tightening. By June 2009, it was reported that around 40% of the price escalation that had occurred during the property bubble years ("Celtic Tiger Part 2") of 2001–2007 had been lost. As of 2012, house prices are below the 2001 prices and more than the entire gain during the Celtic Tiger years has been erased.  There were several groups and organisations that were blamed and that also accused others of causing the crash. Some of the more notable ones were:  In general, it was assumed to be a combination of factors that were both external and internal that affected the country. Further revelations of the corruption within the banking sector, particularly Anglo Irish Bank, have continued to affect the credibility of Ireland's presence within the international finance and business community.  During the property bubble, a disproportionate number of people were employed in the construction industry. As that has contracted and other manufacturing moved offshore, unemployment by May 2009 was at 11.4%, and had reached 14.3% by September 2011. The Economic and Social Research Institute estimated it will eventually reach around 17%.

The Irish property bubble was the overshooting part of a long-term price increase of real estate in the Republic of Ireland from the late-1990s to 2007, a period known as the Celtic Tiger. In 2006, the prices peaked at the top of the bubble, with a combination of increased speculative construction and rapidly rising prices; in 2007 the prices first stabilised and then started falling until 2010. By the second quarter of 2010, house prices in Ireland had fallen by 35% compared with the second quarter of 2007, and the number of housing loans approved fell by 73%.

La bulle immobilière en Irlande fut une augmentation drastique des prix de l'immobilier de la fin des années 1990 à 2007 sur une période connue sous le nom de Tigre celtique. Comme dans d'autres États d'Europe de l'Ouest, la bulle immobilière atteint son paroxysme en 2006, avec à la fois un accroissement de la construction spéculative et des prix qui augmentaient rapidement, elle se stabilisa en 2007 puis éclata, s'achevant en 2008. Au second trimestre 2010, les prix des maisons en Irlande avaient chuté de 35 % comparés à ceux du second trimestre 2007, et le nombre d'emprunts immobiliers accordés avait chuté de 73 %.