Romania's agony

Romania has been much in the news of late, and the news isn’t good. Much of the focus has been on the so-called TikTok controversy, in which the Russian intelligence services allegedly interfered in the recent election to promote its favored candidate. 

There is substantial evidence that did in fact occur. As a result, the highest court in Romania cancelled the election, and it has been rescheduled for May. 

Cancelling an election is as extraordinary an act as it is troubling.

Russian interference in the election of an EU and Nato member state is just as problematic. Romania is a stalwart member of the Nato alliance with over 10,000 troops planned in Constanta, critical missile defences in Deveselu, and further plans for expansion of Nato troops elsewhere in Romania. 

I served as US Ambassador to Romania in the Obama Administration and am of Romanian heritage. I have a deep affection for the country and am proud to be part of a group of former US ambassadors to Romania under presidents Clinton, Bush, Obama, Trump, and Biden, who I know shares my concern about what is happening there.

While I traveled to Romania over two dozen times after leaving my post in 2012, I have only been back once in the last three years. But I do stay in frequent touch with those I trust there. 

I share the deep concern about foreign interference and strongly support the investigations by the European Commission under the Digital Services Act and by the Romanian government on election law violations. I also believe that the problems are much deeper. 

Just as we are seeing elsewhere in Europe, deep dissatisfaction with governance has created a toxic atmosphere in which disinformation and propaganda thrives.

There was recently a very revealing piece on voter anger in Romania. It paints a picture of despair, brain drain, a 'broken school-to-work pipeline', high inflation, poverty & inequality, regional disparities, corruption and incompetence in health care, low life expectancy, and corruption.

Some economic indicators are improving, and of late more Romanians are returning home, but public perception of current governance is quite poor as it is in much of the region. 

I saw all of this as an ambassador, but a lackluster, disorganised — indeed tribal — political system continues to plague Romania. I saw tremendous progress in my years there, especially on fighting corruption and even building a resilient and innovative tech sector in Bucharest and some of the Transylvanian cities.

In fact Bucharest is now one of the 50 richest cities in Europe – 35th in fact. 

As a result of close collaboration between our current excellent ambassador and the host government, Romania just in the last year gained access to both the Schengen zone and the US visa waiver programme, greatly facilitating regional and international travel, a development that is expected to provide a major boost to the economy. 

The extreme right, nativists, and Russian trolls will continue to stir the witch's brew in Romania and other member states of the EU 

Oligarch capture of media

Romania also has a small but determined group of anti-corruption and democracy reform NGOs and investigative journalists who work hard to hold elites accountable. But greater investment, especially long-term sustainable equity investment in media is critically needed in Romania, Hungary, and any number of backsliding EU member states.

The bottom line is that the EU Commission should complete and release the findings of its investigation of Russian interference before the voters return to the polls in May. So should Romanian authorities report on their investigation of election law violations.

The European Commission should make saving local media through support for equity investment for media a centerpiece of its governing agenda, just like we did for electric vehicles. The oligarchic and political capture and collapse of media in Romania and other EU member states is a moral and market failure. Independent media is critical infrastructure for democracy in the EU just as it is in the United States. 

But most important, the established political parties have to offer solutions to the chronic problems that ordinary Romanians face. I am confident that there are political leaders who have the political & substantive talent to do so. But if they don't, the extreme right, nativists, and Russian trolls will continue to stir the witch's brew in Romania and other member states of the EU. 

Now is the time for action, in Romania, central and eastern Europe, and in the United States. For what happens in Romania will eventually affect us all. As President Reagan said in his last year in office referring to Europe: “Preservation of a peaceful, free and democratic Europe is essential to the preservation of a peaceful, free and democratic United States.” 

A politically unstable EU riven by political turmoil fomented by corrupt autocratic member states is a threat to the transatlantic alliance in Nato and the EU — a partnership that has greatly benefited Americans and preserved the peace and stability of the world since the end of World War II.