Wedged between Central Europe, the Balkans and the former Soviet Union, Romania’s strategic importance is too often overlooked, given its legacy of poverty, corruption and government incompetence. A staunch U.S. ally with a relatively large population of 20 million, a diversified manufacturing economy, and a competent military and intelligence apparatus, some see Romania as the “new Poland”—at least before Poland’s rightward turn and falling-out with Brussels. Romania’s parliamentary election on Dec. 11 should not change its pro-U.S. alignment, but there are fears that the likely triumph of a party with communist roots, the Social Democratic Party (PSD), could erode the […]
Populist Fears and Corruption Woes Put the Spotlight on Romania’s Elections
