Romania
ROMANIA
A country in the southeast of Central Europe, its coast is washed by the Black Sea. The area is 238,391 thousand km². The capital is Bucharest (1.93 million), largest cities (over 250 thousand population): Constanța, Brașov, Iași, Timișoara, Cluj-Napoca, Galați, Craiova. Administrative-territorial division — counties (41 + Bucharest (has the status of a county)), municipalities — centers with a population of over 50 thousand (57), cities (268), communes (2698), which include over 13 thousand villages. Population — 21.73 million (2003): 89.5% — Romanians, 6.6% — Hungarians, 2.4% — Roma, 0.5% — Germans, 1% — others. The official language is Romanian. Religion: 86.7% — Orthodox, the rest — Catholics, Protestants, and others (16 cults). The currency is the leu.
It has diplomatic relations with the Russian Federation (relations with Russia were established on December 15, 1878, severed by Soviet Russia on January 13, 1918; established with the USSR on June 9, 1934, severed by Romania on June 22, 1941, restored on August 6, 1945).
The national holiday is December 1 — National Day of Romania (the unification of all Romanians into a single state in 1918).
Romania is a republic. According to the constitution adopted by parliament in November 1991 and approved by a nationwide referendum on December 8, 1991, Romania is a national, sovereign, legal, democratic, independent, unitary, and indivisible state. The head of state is the president (elected by the population for 5 years; since December 2004 — T. Băsescu).
Legislative power is exercised by parliament, consisting of the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies, elected for a term of 4 years. The highest administrative body is the government, the prime minister's candidacy is proposed by the president. The entire composition of the government is approved by parliament. There are more than 100 political parties and organizations in the country.
Romania got its name in 1862 after the legal formalization of the unification that took place in 1859 of the principalities of Wallachia and Moldova, which emerged in the 14th century and fell under Ottoman rule in the 16th century, and was in vassal dependence on the Ottoman Empire. Romania's independence was proclaimed in May 1877 as a result of the Russo-Turkish War. In 1881 it became a kingdom. In 1918, Bessarabia, Bukovina, and Transylvania were included (this event is celebrated in Romania as the completion of the formation of a unified Romanian state). In 1940, Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina (which had been part of the Russian Empire since 1812) were returned to the USSR at the request of the Soviet government. Northern Transylvania was transferred to Hungary under the so-called second Vienna arbitration (1940), imposed by fascist powers (the Paris peace treaties of 1947 restored the Romanian-Hungarian border as of January 1, 1938).
Romania participated in the war of Nazi Germany against the USSR from June 22, 1941. On August 23, 1944, the patriotic forces of Romania, taking advantage of the defeat of the German-fascist troops in the Iași-Chișinău operation and the further advance of the Red Army, carried out an armed uprising, overthrowing the dictatorship of Antonescu, established in 1940. In the final stage of the war, Romania fought on the side of the anti-Hitler coalition.
After liberation, internal processes developed in conditions of acute struggle between the "historical parties" united around the monarchy and the National Democratic Front (NDF) led by communists. On April 6, 1945, a coalition government of the NDF led by P. Groza came to power. On December 30, 1947, the monarchy was abolished, and the people's republic was proclaimed.
From 1948 to 1989, a one-party system functioned, with the Romanian Communist Party in power. The policies of N. Ceaușescu, who was in power for a quarter of a century (since 1965), had a detrimental effect on the country's development. The economy stagnated. Structural disproportions in the national economy reached crisis proportions. The underutilization of production capacities in industry was over 30%.
On December 22, 1989, the uprising of the people overthrew the Ceaușescu regime. He was killed. The created Council of the National Salvation Front (CNSF) dissolved the previous state structures and took full power. Its chairman was elected I. Iliescu. By a decree of the CNSF on December 29, 1989, the republic was named Romania. The CNSF proclaimed the transition to political pluralism, restructuring of the national economy with the elimination of the administrative-command system, and the observance of the rights and freedoms of individuals and national minorities. In February 1990, a Temporary Council of National Unity was created, which included the CNSF (50%) and 3 representatives from all newly created parties. It took over the management of the country until general elections, which took place on May 20, 1990. I. Iliescu became the first president of Romania.
In December 2004, T. Băsescu, chairman of the alliance of the National Liberal Party (NLP) and the Democratic Party (DP), mayor of Bucharest, was elected president of Romania.
Following the parliamentary elections on November 28, 2004, both chambers of parliament were headed by representatives of the now-opposition Social Democratic Party (SDP). The chairman of the Senate is N. Văcăroiu, and the chairman of the Chamber of Deputies is A. Năstase.
The SDP received the largest number of seats in the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies — 65 out of 137 and 155 out of 332 respectively, NLP - 13 and 30, DP - 13 and 30, the Great Romania Party (PRM, adheres to far-right positions) - 37 and 84, the Democratic Union of Hungarians in Romania (UDMR) - 12 and 27 seats. Representatives of national minorities hold 18 seats in the Chamber of Deputies, and independent deputies - 3.
The coalition government led by C. Popescu-Tăriceanu included representatives of NLP, DP, UDMR, and the Conservative Party (CP).
Trade unions: National Trade Union Block, Federation "Frăția", National Trade Union "Cartel Alfa", Confederation of Democratic Trade Unions of Romania.
The policy of the Romanian leadership is aimed at developing democracy, completing the process of forming a market economy (after the USA, the market status of the Romanian economy was recognized by the European Union), meeting the requirements of the EU for candidate countries wishing to join the EU, and following the recommendations of the World Bank and the IMF.
Romania is a member of the UN (since December 1955).
In foreign policy, priority is given to relations with the USA and EU countries. Romania is a member of NATO (since April 2004), the Council of Europe (since September 1993), and several European regional organizations. It is an associated member of the EU (since 1995), achieving designation in 2007 as the date of accession to the EU (the accession agreement was signed on April 25, 2005).
In recent years, there has been a trend of accelerating the development of Romanian industry. There is an increase in domestic consumption, financial stability, ongoing structural transformations, activation of foreign trade relations, and an increase in foreign investment inflow.
In 2004, Romania's GDP growth reached an unprecedented level for the last 15 years — 8.3%. Industrial production grew by 4.4%. The foreign exchange reserves of the National Bank of Romania in 2004 were estimated at 11 billion euros, having increased by more than 1/3 compared to 2003.
Romania has oil and gas deposits, coal, iron ore, copper, lead, zinc, gold, silver, etc. However, the extractive industry is developing relatively slowly (in 2004, growth was 1.6%) amid Romania's steady demand for imported fuel and energy resources. Thus, oil production decreased by 4.5% (amounting to 5.5 million tons), while imports increased by 40.2% (amounting to 7.3 million tons). Coal production decreased by 4.4%, while its imports increased by 12.6%. Gas production increased by 4.7% (amounting to 13.2 billion m³), while its imports decreased by 4.2% (amounting to 5 billion m³).
The growth of the manufacturing industry (5.3%) was primarily driven by the development of metallurgy and metalworking (12%), and machine engineering (growth of 5.9%). The growth of the chemical industry was 33%, and automotive production was 23%. Some important sectors for Romania are developing slowly (textile industry - 2.3%) or experiencing a decline (oil refining - a decrease in production volumes by 4.6%, furniture manufacturing - by 11%, clothing - by 6.2%, food industry - by 6.6%).
The leading sector of agriculture is crop production, particularly grain farming (corn, wheat, barley). Viticulture is well developed (mainly wine varieties). In animal husbandry, sheep and cattle breeding is prevalent. In 2004, agricultural production increased by 19.7%.
Romania's foreign trade continues to develop rapidly, but the inherent disproportions are also increasing. In 2004, Romanian exports grew by 23.5%, reaching a volume of 18.9 billion euros, while imports grew by 35.2%, amounting to 26.3 billion euros. The deficit of the foreign trade balance rapidly increased, reaching 7.4 billion euros by the end of 2004, compared to 5.6 billion euros at the end of 2003.
The main articles of Romanian exports are textiles (22% of total exports), machinery products (17.6%), and metallurgy (15.2%). In imports, machinery products dominate (23.4%), raw materials, including oil and gas (13.3%), textiles and products made from them (13.1%).
Among Romania's foreign trade partners, the European Union is the leader (73% of exports and 66% of imports), and among its members - Italy (21% of exports, 17% of imports), Germany (15% of exports, 15% of imports), and France (8.5% of exports, 7.2% of imports). Significant partners outside the EU include Turkey (7% of exports, 4% of imports), China (3% of imports), and the USA (3% of imports).
Russia remains an important trading partner for Romania - its share in Romanian imports is about 7%. The volume of Russian-Romanian trade in 2004 amounted to 2.35 billion dollars (an increase of 15.6%), of which imports from Russia were 2.23 billion dollars (an increase of 12.5%), and exports of Romanian goods were 0.12 billion dollars (an increase of 132%).
At the beginning of 2005, external debt exceeded 18 billion euros.
A developed transport network: the length of railways exceeds 11 thousand km, 1075 km of the transport network runs along the Danube, and the importance of Romanian ports is increasing with the creation of the trans-European highway Rhine - Danube.
Universities are located in Bucharest, Cluj, Iași, Timișoara, Craiova, Galați, Constanța.
Major newspapers: "Adevarul" (130 thousand copies), "Evenimentul zilei" (120 thousand), "România liberă" (76.8 thousand), "Curentul" (33.5 thousand). The main state television channels are TVR-1 and TVR-2, and private television channels operate as well. The largest radio station is "Radio Romania".
The national news agency - Rompres - is located in Bucharest.
