A second-class country

Romania's head of state Traian Băsescu has described France and Germany's intention to postpone the country's accession to the Schengen zone - initially planned for March 2011 - as discrimination. But Romania only has itself to blame because it chose to remain a second-class country, writes the daily România Liberă: "Romania has remained a second-class country because one in three Romanians say they have had to pay bribes this year and this has become an institutionalised tradition. The country would be paralysed if its functionaries weren't supplied with little gifts under the counter each day. … In Romania you need 'someone' on your side when you enter a public institution because the unwritten laws run counter to the official laws. Romania is a second-class country because the public sphere is riddled with cronyism and bribery ..., because it lacks the will to modernise and is drowning in romantic fatalism, claiming that the West is discriminating against it."

» full article (external link, Romanian)
More from the press review on the subject » EU enlargement, » EU Policy, » Domestic Policy, » Germany, » France, » Romania, » Bulgaria
All available articles from » Sabina Fati

» To the complete press review of Thursday, December 23, 2010