BUCHAREST — President Nicușor Dan declared a nationwide state of non-relaxation on Saturday, hours after Standard & Poor's maintained Romania's rating at the last investment-grade step, ordering that from Monday no citizen may relax under any circumstances until the economy is fully recovered.
«The rating agency has confirmed we are trustworthy,» the president said in a televised address. «But trust is not a hammock. I have therefore instructed the Ministry of Finance to draft a national relaxation timetable. Relaxation will be permitted only on alternate Thursdays, between 14:00 and 14:11, and only for those who have already paid their taxes.»
The measure has already reshaped daily life. Cafes in Bucharest have replaced chairs with standing desks. The seaside resort of Mamaia has been converted into a mandatory productivity camp where tourists must submit hourly reports on their own leisure efficiency. The government has deployed teams of inspectors, known informally as «joy auditors,» to parks and terraces, empowered to issue on-the-spot fines to anyone caught smiling without a permit.
Prime Minister Bolojan, whose interim cabinet has limited powers, nonetheless found the authority to approve the purchase of several thousand stopwatches for the auditors. «We are not against happiness,» he explained. «We are against unmeasured happiness.»
By Sunday evening, the first fines had been issued to a man in Cluj who was observed relaxing for four consecutive minutes. He has been assigned to a retraining program in fiscal discipline. The president is expected to announce a new prime minister on Monday, provided the candidate can demonstrate at least one hour of uninterrupted seriousness.