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1 1 (April 2, 2021)

handle is hein.crs/govecwr0001 and id is 1 raw text is: April 2, 2021 Romania: An Overview With a population of almost 20 million, Romania is the largest country in southeastern Europe. After therevolution ending communist rule in 1989, Romania adopted a Euro- Atlantic orientation, joining NATO in 2004 and the European Union (EU) in 2007. Romania's strategic Black Sea location and commitment to strong transatlantic relations have made it a key U.S. partner in the region. Domestic Background Romania is aparliamentary republic with a semi- presidential system; the prime minister leads the government, and a directly elected president is head of state and wields some powers in defense and domestic affairs. Prime Minister Florin Citu ofthe center-right National Liberal Party (PNL) has led the current government since December2020. President Klaus Iohannis (backed by PNL) was elected to a second five-year termin 2019. Romania's bicameralparliament consists of a Senate and a Chamber of Deputies. Romania has had a volatile political scene over thepastfew years, characterized by political polarization, unstable governments, and disputes over constitutionalprerogatives. From 2017 to 2019, governments led by the center-left Social Democratic Party (PSD) introduced controversial changes to the justices ystemthat drew U.S. and EU criticism and triggered Romania's largest protests since 1989 (see below). The PSD government collapsed in late 2019, and PNL-led coalitions have governed since then. Romania has held four countrywide elections over the past two years. European Parliament, presidential, and local elections in 2019 and 2020 largely delivered victories to PNL and centrist liberalparties. In December2020, however, PSD won parliamentary elections with just under 30% of the vote. PNLplaced second (25%), followed by the liberalUSR-PLUS alliance (15%). Some observers were surprised when a new far-right populist party g arneired 9% of the votes. With PSD unable to secure coalition partners, PNLformed the current government with USR- PLUS and the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania (UDMR). CitH, the outgoing government's finance minister, became prime minister. Governance and Rule-of-Law Concerns Corruption and weakrule of law are regarded as significant challenges in Romania. Due to concern that theseis sues had not been resolved when Romania joined the EU in 2007, Brussels monitors the country's reformprogress through a temporary Cooperation and Verification Mechanism. During the 2000s and 2010s, EU reports and other external as s essments praised some of Romania's anti-corruption and judicial reforms. The National AnticorruptionDirectorate, for example, successfully prosecuted hundreds of officials and politicians. From2017 to 2019, however, PSD-led governments soughtto change Romania's judicial and anti- corruption institutions. Many critics viewed the measures as an effort to undermine judicial independence and protect officials accused of corruption, including PSD's powerful then-leader, Liviu Dragnea. The situation changed alongside strong public backlash and EU criticism. Dragnea began a three-and-a-half-yearprison sentence for abuse of position in May 2019, and the PSD government collapsed in October. Since then, Romanian governments have moved to reverse the justice measures, and PSD's new leadership has sought to distance thep arty from its past agenda. Still, corruption remains a major challenge, and some of the 2017-2019 measures havenot yet been reversed. A 2020 EU assessment notes continuing challenges to judicial independence and combating corruption. Romania, Hungary, and Bulgaria share the worst score among EUmembers in Transparency International's 2020 Corruption Perceptions Index. Figure 1. Romania at a Glance Source: Map and graphic created by CRS. Information from201 1 Census, International Monetary Fund, and National Bank of Romania. Economy and Energy By 1989, Romania was one of Europe's most impoverished countries. Conditions gradually improved, however, alongside economic reforms and EU integration. For part of the 2000s and 2010s, Romania was among the EU's fastest- growing economies. In 2020, the World Bankclassified Romania as a high-income country for the first time (based on 2019 data). Despite these gains, Romania has one of the EU's lowest levels ofgros s domestic product (GDP) per capita. Nearly a third of its population is at riskofpoverty or social exclusion. Other barriers to economic growth include an aging and shrinking population, infrastructure deficiencies, and widespread corruption. As elsewhere, the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has adversely ttps://crsreports.congre&

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