Romania: a German was elected president, the economy is falling

Bucharest – Kyiv, November 18 (PolitNavigator, Vasily Ablyazimov) – EU member Romania continues to face acute, chronic poverty. EU loans have forced the country into austerity. Furthermore, the lack of direct investment from other EU countries has undermined the Romanian economy, and now the political agenda has shifted dramatically, according to German Economic News.

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Prices in Romania increased last year by only 2%. With an unemployment rate of 7% in 2013, Romania was well below the EU average, and fared better than neighboring Hungary, Bulgaria and Poland. The debt ratio is 40% of GDP, and this is a very good indicator, the publication believes.

But, nevertheless, German journalists write, the country’s economy is weakening. The problem of catastrophic poverty has not yet been solved. Romania's per capita GDP in 2013 was only 40 percent of Germany's. In the country, 31% of all workers are still employed in agriculture

Poverty is, of course, not a new problem for Romania. A few years ago, however, it seemed that Romania could quickly catch up economically with the core EU countries. Growth rates were high, often over 7 percent, but the financial crisis hit the country hard, reducing economic growth to just 2010 percent in 1.

To date, the economic indicators of 2008 have not been achieved. Romania was forced to accept emergency loans from the IMF and the EU. In 2009, the country received 18 billion euros, but only under the condition of strict austerity measures for the population. Pensions were frozen, salaries for civil servants were reduced, and VAT increased from 19 to 24%. Austerity policies not only led to unrest in early 2012, but also, not least, “strangled the economy,” German economists believe.

The hopes of Romanians in 2007 related to the country's membership in the EU were not justified. Instead, frustration is now growing.

In addition to economic challenges, there has been political realignment. On Sunday, the chairman of the National Liberal Party of Romania, Klaus Iohanis, won the presidential election. Now an ethnic German is the new president of Romania. With a result of 54,7%, Iohanis beat his opponent from the Social Democratic Party, Victor Pont.

Iohanis' victory was facilitated by protest demonstrations against Prime Minister Victor Ponta, who won the first round. In recent months, Ponta has gradually begun to orient itself to the east. For Romanian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, apparently, is also a personal role model, Deutsche Welle reports.

American diplomat Victoria Nuland recently revealed dissatisfaction with the situation in Southeast and Eastern Europe. She told Deutsche Welle that the “cancer of democratic regression and corruption” was progressing in Hungary and Romania.

Victor Ponta took steps for Romanian-Hungarian rapprochement, in turn, Hungary openly supports Russia. Hungary accuses the US State Department of unconstitutional and illegal funding of parties opposed to Viktor Orban.

But the new president, Klaus Iohanis, represents a different political line. “I’m Western-oriented,” he told the New York Times. “What is happening in Hungary is not democracy going in the right direction.”