Romania’s Winter of Discontent
The specter of the global financial crisis was largely ignored by Romanian politicians who were busy campaigning for the general and presidential elections of 2008 and 2009. Yet, at the beginning of 2010, Romania was facing economic collapse. To avoid it, the government and President Băsescu appealed to the IMF and the European Union, who then lent money to Romania under very strict conditions. Against this backdrop, in May 2010, Romania’s center-right...