Tomorrow Romania and Bulgaria are being allowed into the EU due to the increased importance of their geopolitical location (Turkey, gas, Black Sea, Danube, Iraq, Transdniestra, Ukraine, oil).
Several years ago, I set up Dietrological (a Football Information Provision Service for Trading Professionals) in Bucuresti. Living in Romania for two years, I developed a very strong respect for Romanian people and their culture.
If global football resembled a level playing field then the Romanians would be significantly higher than 19th in the FIFA Ratings and opponents should underestimate Romanian club sides at their peril (both Steaua and Rapid reached the UEFA Cup Quarter Finals last years and there are 3 teams from the capital in the latter stages this season).
Personally, I am a Rapid man (the team representing both the Roma community and the railway workers being more tempting than the police or army teams!).
Romania is a mixed-up and dysfunctional country that is struggling to develop a firm foundation for the more stable society that the population deserves. Corruption is a major issue and the Soviet-era intelligence services still have considerable impact on business and politics. Recently, a triple agent arms-dealer (also wanted for kidnapping) was "allowed" to escape under the noses of intelligence chiefs.
Traian Basescu, President of Romania, is a market capitalist who in previous incarnations was a sea captain and the mayor of Bucuresti (with links to the Securitate?). Although much of his free market stuff is reprehensible, Basescu is as bearable a capitalist as you are likely to meet. Until he became President, he still lived in a high rise block and used to attend disaster scenes to show solidarity with the victims still dressed in his night clothes.
A beautiful place with talented people who collectively display an acerbic sense of humour under the stresses of a corrupt society... just like Manchester then...
© Football Is Fixed/Dietrological
