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ROMANIA
Romania (formerly spelled Rumania or Roumania)
is a country in southeastern Europe. Romania is bordered by Ukraine and
Moldova in the northeast, Hungary and Serbia in the west and Bulgaria to
the south. Romania also has a small sea coast on the Black Sea.
Name
The name Romania comes from Rome or the (Eastern) Roman Empire and
asserts the country's origins as a Roman Empire province. In Late
Antiquity the Roman Empire was often called Romania in Latin. The
official language is Romanian.
Some historians have argued that the
medieval Byzantine Empire should more properly be called Romania, but
this has not caught on.
"Romania" is also used for the set of European lands where Romance
languages appeared.
History
The Dacians were defeated by the Roman Empire in 106 by the Emperor
Trajan in two campaigns stretching from 101 to 107, which marked the
beginning of a succession of invasions of Romania, although the rulers
usually allowed a high degree of autonomy.
In the Middle Ages Romanians lived in three distinct principalities:
Wallachia, Moldavia and Transylvania.
Wallachia and Moldavia came under the suzeranity of the Ottoman Empire
in 15th and 16th century respectively, with internal autonomy, and brief
periods of independence, Moldova loosing it's eastern side Bessarabia to
Russian Empire in 1812, its northern part Bukovina to Austrian Empire in
1775 and its south-eastern part Bugeac to Ottoman Empire
Transylvania came under Hungary influence by 12th century, also having a
large autonomy, then caming consecutively under Ottoman Empire influence
in 1526 following the Battle of Mohacs, and under Austrian Empire (since
1857 Austria-Hungary) influence in 18th century.
The modern Romania was born when the principalities of Moldavia and
Wallachia merged in 1859, and independency was ratified by the Great
Powers in 1877. Following the WW I and the desintegration of Russian
Empire and Austro-Hungary, and the rise of Bolshevism in Hungary and
Russia, Transylvania and Bessarabia opted for a Union with the Romanian
Kingdom.
Bessarabia, N. Bukovina and Bugeac were incorporated by the Soviet Union
in 1940, mostly comprising the present-day Republic of Moldova with
Bugeac and N. Bukovina assigned to Ukraine. After the Second World War,
Romania became a communist state under military and economic control of
USSR until 1958.
The decades-long reign of president Nicolae Ceausescu was ended with an
uprising in late 1989, although ex-communists, now reformed as social
democrats continued to be present in the democratically elected
government until 1996 when a center-right coalition government took
power for one term. In 2000, social democrats returned to power and
elections will be held in the fall of 2004
Politics
Romania is a democratic republic. The legislative branch of the Romanian
government consists of two chambers, the Senat (Senate), which has 140
members, and the Camera Deputatilor (Chamber of Deputies), which has 345
members. The members of both chambers are chosen in elections held every
four years.
The president, the head of the executive branch, is also elected by
popular vote, every five years (until 2004 - four years). The president
appoints a prime minister, who heads the government, the memebrs of
which are in turn appointed by the prime minister. The government is
subject to a parliamentary vote of approval.
Counties
Romania is divided into 41 judete, or counties, and the municipality of
Bucharest (Bucuresti) - the capital.
The counties are (in alphabetical order):
Alba
Arad
Arges
Bacau
Bihor
Bistrita-Nasaud
Botosani
Brasov
Braila
Buzau
Caras-Severin
Calarasi
Cluj
Constanta
Covasna
Dâmbovita
Dolj
Galati
Giurgiu
Gorj
Harghita
Hunedoara
Ialomita
Iasi
Ilfov
Maramures
Mehedinti
Mures
Neamt
Olt
Prahova
Satu Mare
Salaj
Sibiu
Suceava
Teleorman
Timis
Tulcea
Vaslui
Vâlcea
Vrancea
Geography
A large part of Romania's borders with Yugoslavia and Bulgaria is formed
by the Danube. The Danube is joined by the Prut River, which forms the
border with Moldova.
The Carpathian Mountains dominate the western part of Romania, with
peaks up to 2,500 m, the highest, Moldoveanu, reaching 2,544 m.
Major cities are the capital Bucharest, Brasov, Timisoara, Cluj-Napoca,
Constanta, Craiova, and Iasi (Jassy).
Economy
After the collapse of the Soviet Bloc in 1989-91, Romania was left with
an obsolete industrial base and a pattern of industrial capacity wholly
unsuited to its needs.
In February 1997, Romania embarked on a comprehensive macroeconomic
stabilisation and structural reform programme, but reform subsequently
has been a frustrating stop-and-go process. Restructuring programs
include liquidating large energy-intensive industries and major
agricultural and financial sector reforms.
Romania's lagging and unstable economy has been transformed into one
with macroeconomic stability, high growth and low unemployment.
Romania reached an agreement with the IMF in August for a US $547
million loan, but release of the second tranche was postponed in October
because of unresolved private sector lending requirements and
differences over budgetary spending.
Bucharest avoided defaulting on mid-year lump-sum debt payments, but had
to significantly draw down reserves to do so; reserves rebounded to an
estimated $1.5 billion by year end 1999.
The government's priorities include: obtaining renewed IMF lending,
tightening fiscal policy, accelerating privatisation, and restructuring
unprofitable firms.
2002 and 2003 were successful economic years, and currently GDP growth
is forecast at 4.5% per annum. The economy grew by 6.6% in the first
half of 2004, marking the highest growth rate in the region. The average
gross wage per month in Romania is 8,292,762 lei as of April 2004, an
increase of a significant 7.8% over the previous month. This equates to
US$246.90, 203.41 euro and 352.56 AUD. The average net salary per month
in January 2004 was 5,969,555 lei.
GDP growth could reach 7-8% in 2005.
Unemployment in Romania is at 6.2% (2004), which is very low compared to
other European countries.
Romania was invited by the European Union in December 1999 to begin
accession negotiations. It is expected to join the EU in 2007 along with
Bulgaria.
Despite clear improvements, Romania still faces several key problems:
rampant corruption on almost all levels of society, lack of transparency
regarding public spendings, lack of economic competitivity - especially
in the agricultural sector, some underemployment in rural areas and low
pace of reform in the public (state owned) sector of economy.
Press freedom is generally granted, but some economic and administrative
pressures determine media to reflect especially the positive or neutral
aspects in the society, rather than the negative ones or critics
addressed to the Government.
Romania was granted in October 2004 the much desired 'functional market
economy' status by EU officials, with some reserves - especially related
to aspects mentioned in the paragraph above.
Demographics
Ethnic groups (2002 est.):
Romanian 89.5%
Hungarian 6.6%
Roma 2.5%
Ukrainian 0.3%
German 0.3%
Russian 0.2%
Turkish 0.2%
other 0.4%
Religions (2002 est.):
Eastern Orthodox (including all sub-denominations) 87%
Protestant 6.8%
Catholic 5.6%
other (mostly Muslim) 0.4%
unaffiliated 0.2%
The official language is Romanian, a Romance language of the Italic
subfamily of the Indo-European family of languages, which are also
called Romanic, and are spoken by about 670 million people in many parts
of the world, but mainly in Europe and the Western Hemisphere.
Sizeable minorities of Hungarian and German descent, mostly in
Transylvania, also speak Hungarian and German. Other ethnic groups
include Roma Gypsies and natives of Romania's neighbouring countries.
The true size of the Roma population is unknown because it is
undercounted in national censuses (for various reasons, some Gypsies
choose to declare themselves as Romanians or Hungarians; usually the
criterion is the language they speak). There is also small Polish
minority (numbering a few thousand people) living in Suceava County.
Most Romanians are members of the Romanian Orthodox Church, which is one
of the churches of Eastern Orthodox Christianity. Catholicism (both
Roman Catholic and Romanian Catholic) and Protestantism are also
represented, mostly in the areas inhabited by population of Hungarian
descent, mostly in the western part of the country.
In Dobrogea, the region lying on the shore of the Black Sea, there is a
small Muslim minority (most of Turkish ethnicity), a remnant of the
Ottoman colonization of that province in the past.
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