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Romania (01/04)For the most current version of this Note, see Background Notes A-Z.
PROFILE OFFICIAL NAME: Geography People Government Economy GEOGRAPHY Romania's location gives it a continental climate, particularly in the Old Kingdom (east of the Carpathians and south of the Transylvanian Alps) and to a lesser extent in Transylvania, where the climate is more moderate. A long and at times severe winter (December-March), a hot summer (April-July), and a prolonged autumn (August-November) are the principal seasons, with a rapid transition from spring to summer. In Bucharest, the daily minimum temperature in January averages -7oC (20oF), and the daily maximum temperature in July averages 29oC (85oF). PEOPLE Hungarians and Roma are the principal minorities, with a declining German population and smaller numbers of Serbs, Croats, Ukrainians, Greeks, Turks, Armenians, Great Russians, and others. Minority populations are greatest in Transylvania and the Banat, areas in the north and west, which belonged to the Austro-Hungarian Empire until World War I. Even before union with Romania, ethnic Romanians comprised the overall majority in Transylvania. However, ethnic Hungarians and Germans were the dominant urban population until relatively recently, and ethnic Hungarians still are the majority in a few districts. Before World War II, minorities represented more than 28% of the total population. During the war that percentage was halved, largely by the loss of the border areas of Bessarabia and northern Bukovina (to the former Soviet Union -- now Moldova and Ukraine) and southern Dobrudja (to Bulgaria), as well as by the postwar flight or deportation of ethnic Germans. In the last several decades, more than two-thirds of the remaining ethnic Germans in Romania emigrated to Germany. Though Romanian troops participated in the destruction of the Jewish communities of Bessarabia and Bukovina, most Jews from Romania proper survived the Holocaust. Mass emigration, mostly to Israel, has reduced the surviving Jewish community from over 300,000 to less than 15,000. Religious affiliation tends to follow ethnic lines, with most ethnic Romanians identifying with the Romanian Orthodox Church. The Greek Catholic or Uniate church, reunified with the Orthodox Church by fiat in 1948, was restored after the 1989 revolution. The 1992 census indicates that 1% of the population is Greek Catholic, as opposed to about 10% prior to 1948. Roman Catholics, largely ethnic Hungarians and Germans, constitute about 5% of the population; Calvinists, Baptists, Pentecostals, and Lutherans make up another 5%. There are smaller numbers of Unitarians, Muslims, and other religions. Romania's rich cultural traditions have been nourished by many sources, some of which predate the Roman occupation. The traditional folk arts, including dance, music, wood carving, ceramics, weaving and embroidery of costumes and household decorations still flourish in many parts of the country. Despite strong Austrian, German, and especially French influence, many of Romania's great artists, such as the painter Nicolae Grigorescu, the poet Mihai Eminescu, the composer George Enescu, and the sculptor Constantin Brancusi, drew their inspiration from Romanian folk traditions. The country's many Orthodox monasteries, as well as the Transylvanian Catholic and Evangelical Churches, some of which date back to the 13th century, are repositories of artistic treasures. The famous painted monasteries of Bukovina make an important contribution to European architecture. Poetry and the theater play an important role in contemporary Romanian life. Classic Romanian plays, such as those of Ion Luca Caragiale, as well as works by modern or avant-garde Romanian and international playwrights, find sophisticated and enthusiastic audiences in the many theaters of the capital and of the smaller cities. HISTORY The new state, squeezed between the Ottoman, Austro-Hungarian, and Russian empires, looked to the West, particularly France, for its cultural, educational, and administrative models. Romania was an ally of the Entente and the U.S. in World War I, and was granted substantial territories with Romanian populations, notably Transylvania, Bessarabia, and Bukovina, after the war. Most of Romania's pre-World War II governments maintained the forms, but not always the substance, of a liberal constitutional monarchy. The quasi-mystical fascist Iron Guard movement, exploiting nationalism, fear of communism, and resentment of alleged foreign and Jewish domination of the economy, was a key destabilizing factor, which led to the creation of a royal dictatorship in 1938 under King Carol II. In 1940, the authoritarian General Antonescu took control. Romania entered World War II on the side of the Axis Powers in June 1941, invading the Soviet Union to recover Bessarabia and Bukovina, which had been annexed in 1940. In August 1944, a coup led by King Michael, with support from opposition politicians and the army, deposed the Antonescu dictatorship and put Romania's battered armies on the side of the Allies. Romania incurred additional heavy casualties fighting alongside the Soviet Union against the Germans in Transylvania, Hungary, and Czechoslovakia. The peace treaty, signed at Paris on February 10, 1947, confirmed the Soviet annexation of Bessarabia and northern Bukovina, but restored the part of northern Transylvania granted to Hungary in 1940 by Hitler. The treaty required massive war reparations by Romania to the Soviet Union, whose occupying forces left in 1958. The Soviets pressed for inclusion of Romania's heretofore negligible Communist Party in the post-war government, while non-communist political leaders were steadily eliminated from political life. King Michael abdicated under pressure in December 1947, when the Romanian People's Republic was declared, and went into exile. By the late 1950s, Romania's communist government began to assert some independence from the Soviet Union. Nicolae Ceausescu became head of the Communist Party in 1965 and head of state in 1967. Ceausescu's denunciation of the 1968 Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia and a brief relaxation in internal repression helped give him a positive image both at home and in the West. Seduced by Ceausescu's "independent" foreign policy, Western leaders were slow to turn against a regime that, by the late 1970s, had become increasingly harsh, arbitrary, and capricious. Rapid economic growth fueled by foreign credits gradually gave way to economic autarchy accompanied by wrenching austerity and severe political repression. After the collapse of communism in the rest of Eastern Europe in the late summer and fall of 1989, a mid-December protest in Timisoara against the forced relocation of an ethnic Hungarian pastor grew into a country-wide protest against the Ceausescu regime, sweeping the dictator from power. Ceausescu and his wife were executed on December 25, 1989, after a cursory military trial. About 1,500 people were killed in confused street fighting. An impromptu governing coalition, the National Salvation Front (FSN), installed itself and proclaimed the restoration of democracy and freedom. The Communist Party was outlawed, and Ceausescu's most unpopular measures, such as bans on private commercial entities, independent political activity, and contraception, were repealed. Ion Iliescu, a former Communist Party official demoted by Ceausescu in the 1970s, emerged as the leader of the NSF. Presidential and parliamentary elections were held on May 20, 1990. Running against representatives of the pre-war National Peasants' Party and National Liberal Party, Iliescu won 85% of the vote. The NSF captured two-thirds of the seats in Parliament, and named a university professor, Petre Roman, as Prime Minister. The new government began cautious free market reforms such as opening the economy to consumer imports and establishing the independence of the National Bank. The new government made a crucial early misstep. Unhappy at the continued political and economic influence of members of the Ceausescu-era elite, anti-communist protesters camped in University Square in April 1990. When miners from the Jiu Valley descended on Bucharest two months later and brutally dispersed the remaining "hooligans," President Iliescu expressed public thanks, thus convincing many that the government had sponsored the miners' actions. The miners also attacked the headquarters and houses of opposition leaders. The Roman government fell in late September 1991, when the miners returned to Bucharest to demand higher salaries and better living conditions. A technocrat, Theodor Stolojan, was appointed to head an interim government until new elections could be held. Parliament drafted a new democratic constitution, approved by popular referendum in December 1991. The FSN split into two groups, led by Ion Iliescu (FDSN) and Petre Roman (FSN) in March 1992; Roman's party subsequently adopted the name Democratic Party (PD). National elections in September 1992 returned President Iliescu by a clear majority, and gave his party, the FDSN, a plurality. With parliamentary support from the nationalist PUNR and PRM parties, and the ex-communist PSM party, a technocratic government was formed in November 1992 under Prime Minister Nicolae Vacaroiu, an economist. The FDSN became the Party of Social Democracy of Romania (PDSR) in July 1993. The Vacaroiu government ruled in coalition with three smaller parties, all of which abandoned the coalition by the time of the November 1996 elections. Emil Constantinescu of the Democratic Convention (CDR) electoral coalition defeated President Iliescu in the second round of voting by 9% and replaced him as chief of state. The PDSR won the largest number of seats in Parliament, but the constituent parties of the CDR joined the Democratic Party, the National Liberal Party, and the Hungarian Democratic Union of Romania (UDMR) to form a centrist coalition government, holding 60% of the seats in Parliament. Victor Ciorbea was named Prime Minister. Ciorbea remained in office until March 1998, when he was replaced by Radu Vasile (PNTCD), followed by Mugur Isarescu in 2000. The 2000 general elections brought back both the PDSR with Adrian Nastase as prime minister and Ion Iliescu as president. GOVERNMENT The two-chamber Parliament, consisting of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate, is the law-making authority. Deputies and senators are elected for 4-year terms by universal suffrage. The president is elected by popular vote for a maximum of two 4-year terms. He is the Chief of State, charged with safeguarding the constitution, foreign affairs, and the proper functioning of public authorities. He is supreme commander of the armed forces and chairman of the Supreme Defense Council. According to the constitution, he acts as mediator among the power centers within the state, as well as between the state and society. The president nominates the prime minister, who in turn appoints the government, which must be confirmed by a vote of confidence from Parliament. The Constitutional Court adjudicates the constitutionality of challenged laws and decrees. The court consists of nine judges, appointed for a term of 9 years. Three judges are appointed by the Chamber of Deputies, three by the Senate, and three by the president of Romania. The Romanian legal system is based on the Napoleonic Code. The judiciary is to be independent, and judges appointed by the president are not removable. The president and other judges of the Supreme Court are appointed for terms of 6 years and may serve consecutive terms. Proceedings are public, except in special circumstances provided for by law. The Ministry of Justice represents "the general interests of society" and defends the legal order as well as citizens' rights and freedoms. The ministry is to discharge its powers through independent, impartial public prosecutors. For territorial and administrative purposes, Romania is divided into 41 counties and the city of Bucharest. Each county is governed by an elected county council. Local councils and elected mayors are the public administration authorities in villages and towns. The county council is the public administration authority that coordinates the activities of all village and town councils in a county. The central government appoints a prefect for each county and the Bucharest municipality. The prefect is the representative of the government at the local level and directs any public services of the ministries and other central agencies at the county level. A prefect may block the action of a local authority if he deems it unlawful or unconstitutional. The matter is then decided by an administrative court. Under new legislation in force since January 1999, local councils have control over spending of their allocations from the central government budget, as well as authority to raise additional revenue locally. Principal Government Officials Other Ministers Romania maintains an embassy in the United States at 1607 23rd St., NW, Washington, DC 20008 (tel. 202- 232-3694, fax: 202-232-4748). POLITICAL CONDITIONS Over 200 new political parties sprang up after 1989, gravitating around personalities rather than programs. All major parties espoused democracy and market reforms, but the governing National Salvation Front proposed slower, more cautious economic reforms. In contrast, the opposition's main parties, the National Liberal Party (PNL), and the National Peasant-Christian Democrat Party (PNTCD) favored quick, sweeping reforms, immediate privatization, and reducing the role of the ex-communist elite. There is no law banning communist parties (the Communist Party ceased to exist). In the 1990 general elections, the FSN and its candidate for presidency, Ion Iliescu, won with a large majority of the votes (66.31% and 85.07%, respectively). The strongest parties in opposition were the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania (UDMR), with 7.23%, and the PNL, with 6.41%. Following the FSN Prime Minister Petre Roman's sacking (due to the miners' descent on Bucharest late 1991), a few months before the 1992 general elections, the FSN broke in two. President Iliescu's followers formed a new party called the Democratic Front of National Salvation (FDSN), while Roman's supporters kept the party's original title, FSN. The 1992 local and national elections revealed a continuing political cleavage between major urban centers and the countryside. Rural voters, who were grateful for the restoration of most agricultural land to farmers but fearful of change, strongly favored President Ion Iliescu and the FDSN, while the urban electorate favored the CDR (a coalition made up by several parties -- among which the PNTCD and the PNL were the strongest -- and civic organizations) and quicker reform. Iliescu easily won reelection over a field of five other candidates. The FDSN won a plurality in both chambers of Parliament. With the CDR, the second-largest parliamentary group, reluctant to take part in a national unity coalition, the FDSN (now PDSR) formed a government under Prime Minister Nicolae Vacaroiu, an economist, with parliamentary support from the PUNR, PRM, and PSM. PRM and PSM left the government in October and December 1995, respectively. The 1996 local elections demonstrated a major shift in the political orientation of the Romanian electorate. Opposition parties swept Bucharest and many of the larger cities. This trend continued in the national elections that same year, where the opposition dominated the cities and made steep inroads into rural areas theretofore dominated by President Iliescu and the PDSR, which lost many voters in their traditional strongholds outside Transylvania. The campaign of the opposition hammered away on the twin themes of the need to squelch corruption and to launch economic reform. The message resonated with the electorate, which swept Constantinescu and parties allied to him to power in free and fair elections. The coalition government formed in December 1996 took the historic step of inviting the UDMR and its Hungarian ethnic backers into government. The coalition government managed to retain power for four years despite constant internal frictions and going through three prime ministers, the last being the Governor of the National Bank, Mugur Isarescu. In elections in November 2000, the electorate punished the coalition parties for failure to improve the standard of living, and the PDSR (renamed PSD - Social Democratic Party at June 16, 2001 Congress) came back into power, albeit as a minority government. In the concurrent presidential elections, former President Ion Iliescu decisively defeated the extreme nationalist Greater Romania Party (PRM) leader Corneliu Vadim Tudor. Tudor's party, however, gained the second largest number of seats in parliament. Adrian Nastase, the new prime minister, early concluded an agreement with the ethnic Hungarian party (UDMR), which gave the PSD a de facto majority in parliament. In return, the UDMR obtained some of its longstanding goals of greater use of the Hungarian language in cities and counties where Hungarians were a majority or sizable minority, and increased use of Hungarian in schools, including the reestablishment of some high schools as all-Hungarian language schools. The government also introduced new protections for Roma, including the establishment of an ethnic Roma advisor in prefect offices. The Government of Romania also tackled the thorny issue of restitution of property, both private and communal. Legislation has been passed that should eventually return all church property seized in the communist era. Still unresolved is the return of Greco-Catholic churches, which were given to the Romanian Orthodox Church by the communist regime. The Nastase government also made progress on several rule of law and human rights issues. Steps taken in law enforcement include a new anti-corruption office; judicial reform efforts; movement on a new political party financing law; a human trafficking law. On human rights, the Government of Romania repealed communist-era legislation criminalizing homosexual acts and banned xenophobic and racist groups and their activities. Romania continued to make progress in consolidating democratic institutions. The press is free and outspoken, although there have been some recent incidents of violence against journalists. Independent radio networks have proliferated, and a private television network now operates nationwide. In October 2003 citizens voted in favor of major amendments to the Constitution in a nationwide referendum necessary to bring Romania's organic law into compliance with European Union standards. ECONOMY The Romanian Government borrowed heavily from the West in the 1970s to build a substantial state-owned industrial base. Following the 1979 oil price shock and a debt rescheduling in 1981, Ceausescu decreed that Romania would no longer be subject to foreign creditors. By the end of 1989, Romania had paid off a foreign debt of about $10.5 billion through an unprecedented effort that wreaked havoc on the economy. Vital imports were slashed and food and fuel strictly rationed, while the government exported everything it could to earn hard currency. With investment slashed, Romania’s infrastructure fell behind that of even its Balkan neighbors. Since the fall of the Ceausescu regime in 1989, successive governments have sought to build a Western-style market economy. The pace of restructuring has been slow, but by 1994 the legal basis for a market economy was largely in place. After the 1996 elections, the coalition government attempted to eliminate consumer subsidies, float prices, liberalize exchange rates, and put in place a tight monetary policy. The Parliament enacted laws permitting foreign entities incorporated in Romania to purchase land. Foreign capital investment in Romania has been increasing slowly, but remains significantly less in per capita terms than in most other transition economy countries in East and Central Europe. In November 2001, the government negotiated an 18-month standby agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a total amount of $431 million. The IMF board approved Romania’s completion of the standby agreement in October 2003, Romania’s first successfully concluded agreement since the 1989 revolution. The IMF acknowledged that sound macro-economic policies and progress in structural reform contributed to continuing disinflation and economic growth, and credited the government with implementing prudent budgetary measures toward reaching IMF directed targets. High tax arrears, largely on the part of state owned firms, hinder government programming. Significant levels of public and private sector corruption also impede economic growth and undercut public trust in new democratic institutions. Privatization of industry was first pursued with the transfer in 1992 of 30% of the shares of some 6,000 state-owned enterprises to five private ownership funds, in which each adult citizen received certificates of ownership. The remaining 70% ownership of the enterprises was transferred to a state ownership fund. With the assistance of the World Bank, European Union (EU), and IMF, Romania succeeded in privatizing most major state-owned enterprises. In 2002, 112 small and medium sized companies in which the state had been majority shareholder were sold and 35 large companies were privatized. By the end of the year, the State Authority for Privatization had sold about 36% of the state capital in its portfolio at the beginning of 2002. From the beginning of privatization until the end of 2002, 7,218 companies were privatized, including 288 large companies. However, an estimated 42.3% of industrial assets remain under state ownership, mostly in the energy and mining sectors. Progress in 2003 includes an agreement between the Government of Romania and European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and International Finance Corporation (IFC) for the acquisition of a 25% stake in Romania’s largest bank, Banca Comerciala Romana (BCR), with a view to prepare the bank for the sale to strategic investor by 2006. In addition, three key privatizations in the energy sector were initiated: Petrom, the state-owned oil company, and two natural gas distribution networks, Distrigaz North and Distrigaz South. Despite delays in privatizing certain companies, the overall balance of the economy has shifted decisively. Even in 2002, the private sector produced about 69% of GDP, accounted for approximately 55% of assets, and employed approximately 55% of the work force. The consolidated budget deficit has dropped significantly from earlier levels. In 1999, the budget deficit represented 4.0% of GDP; 3.7% in 2000; 3.5% in 2001; and 2.6% in 2002. Although domestic arrears -- resulting mostly from state-owned enterprises not paying pension and health insurance contributions and utility bills -- rose to around 40% of GDP in 2002, public sector expenditures have been more tightly controlled and limited. The return of collectivized farmland to its cultivators, one of the first initiatives of the post-December 1989 revolution government, resulted in a short-term decrease in agricultural production. Some four million small parcels representing 80% of the arable surface were returned to original owners or their heirs. Many of the recipients were elderly or city dwellers, and the slow progress of granting formal land titles was an obstacle to leasing or selling land to active farmers. Unemployment is officially 7.8% of the active labor force in mid-2003, although this figure does not capture high levels of under-employment. In the early 1990s, inflation was one of Romania’s most serious economic problems. Retail price inflation, which monthly averaged 12.1% in 1993 (the equivalent of 256% annually), declined to 28% annually in 1995. However, inflation picked up again in 1996 and 1997 due to excessive government spending in late 1996, and price and exchange rate liberalization in early 1997. Inflation in 1999 hovered around 54%, but dropped in 2000 to 40.7%, and 33.7% by the end of 2001. After a diminished 2002 inflation rate of 17.8%, economists predict inflation to further decline to about 14.5% in 2003. The government target for 2004 is below 10%. Financial and technical assistance continue to flow in from the U.S., European Union, other industrial nations, and international financial institutions facilitating Romania's reintegration into the world economy. The International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank (IBRD), the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) all have programs and resident representatives in Romania. Romania has also attracted foreign direct investment, which in 2000 grew to $6.47 billion, of which an estimated 7.7% was U.S. direct investment. U.S. direct investment was 7.8% in 2001 and 8.9% in 2002 (2.4% of 2002 GDP). According to Romania’s National Office of Trade Register, as of October 2003 Romania attracted over $10.1 billion in foreign direct investment, of which $694 million (approximately 6.9%) was U.S. direct investment. Romania was the largest U.S. trading partner in Eastern Europe until Ceausescu's 1988 renunciation of Most Favored Nation (MFN or non-discriminatory) trading status resulted in high U.S. tariffs on Romanian products. Congress approved restoration of MFN status effective November 8, 1993, as part of a new Bilateral Trade Agreement. Tariffs on most Romanian products dropped to zero in February 1994 with the inclusion of Romania in the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP). Major Romanian exports to the U.S. include shoes, clothing, steel, and chemicals. Romania signed an Association Agreement with the EU in 1992 and a free trade agreement with the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) in 1993, codifying Romania's access to European markets and creating the basic framework for further economic integration. At its Helsinki Summit in December 1999, the European Union invited Romania to formally begin accession negotiations. Romania's targeted date for EU accession is 2007. As of early December 2003, Romania had closed 22 of 30 EU accession chapters. However, in 2003 the EU Commission failed to grant Romania the designation of “functioning market economy status,” a prerequisite to becoming a member of the EU. FOREIGN RELATIONS Romania was the first country to enroll in the NATO Partnership for Peace program. NATO member states invited Romania to join the Atlantic Alliance in 2002, based on Romania's rapid progress in modernizing its armed forces and its contributions to allied peacekeeping and other military operations. Romania is scheduled to become a full NATO member in 2004. In 1996, Romania signed and ratified a basic bilateral treaty with Hungary that settled outstanding issues and laid the foundation for closer, more cooperative relations. In June 1997, Romania signed a bilateral treaty with Ukraine that resolved territorial and minority issues, among others. Romania also signed a basic bilateral treaty with Russia in July 2003. Romania has been actively involved in regional organizations, such as the Southeast Europe Cooperation Initiative (SECI) and the Stability Pact for Southeast Europe, and has been a positive force in supporting stability and cooperation in the area. Romania maintains good diplomatic relations with Israel and was supportive of the Middle East peace negotiations initiated after the Gulf conflict in 1991. Romania also is a founding member of the Black Sea Consortium for Economic Development. It joined the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank in 1972, and is a member of the World Trade Organization. Romanian Missions in the United States Romanian Mission to the UN Romanian National Tourist Office Romanian Cultural Center DEFENSE U.S.-ROMANIAN RELATIONS Responding to Ceausescu's calculated distancing of Romania from Soviet foreign policy, particularly Romania's continued diplomatic relations with Israel and denunciation of the 1968 Soviet intervention in Czechoslovakia, President Nixon paid an official visit to Romania in August 1969. Despite political differences, high-level contacts continued between U.S. and Romanian leaders throughout the decade of the 1970s, culminating in the 1978 state visit to Washington by President and Mrs. Ceausescu. In 1972, a consular convention to facilitate protection of citizens and their property in both countries was signed. Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) facilities were granted, and Romania became eligible for U.S. Export-Import Bank credits. A trade agreement signed in April 1975 accorded Most Favored Nation (MFN) status to Romania under section 402 of the Trade Reform Act of 1974 (the Jackson-Vanik amendment that links MFN to a country's performance on emigration). This status was renewed yearly after Congressional review of a presidential determination that Romania was making progress toward freedom of emigration. In the mid-1980s, criticism of Romania's deteriorating human rights record, particularly regarding mistreatment of religious and ethnic minorities, spurred attempts by Congress to withdraw MFN status. In 1988, to preempt Congressional action, Ceausescu renounced MFN treatment, calling Jackson-Vanik and other human rights requirements unacceptable interference in Romanian sovereignty. After welcoming the revolution of December 1989 with a visit by Secretary of State Baker in February 1990, the U.S. Government expressed concern that opposition parties had faced discriminatory treatment in the May 1990 elections, when the National Salvation Front won a sweeping victory. The slow progress of subsequent political and economic reform increased that concern, and relations with Romania cooled sharply after the June 1990 intervention of the miners in University Square. Anxious to cultivate better relations with the U.S. and Europe, and disappointed at the poor results from its gradualist economic reform strategy, the Stolojan government undertook some economic reforms and conducted free and fair parliamentary and presidential elections in September 1992. Encouraged by the conduct of local elections in February 1992, Deputy Secretary of State Eagleburger paid a visit in May 1992. Congress restored MFN in November 1993 in recognition of Romania's progress in instituting political and economic reform. In 1996, the U.S. Congress voted to extend permanent MFN graduation to Romania. As Romania's policies became unequivocally pro-Western, the United States moved to deepen relations. President Clinton visited Bucharest in 1997. The two countries have deepened cooperation on shared goals, including economic and political development, defense reform, and non-traditional threats (such as trans-border crime and non-proliferation). Following the tragic events of September 11, 2001, Romania has been fully supportive of the U.S.-led counter-terrorism campaign. Secretary of State Powell visited Romania in December 2001 for the OSCE summit and Deputy Secretary of State Armitage attended the Bucharest meeting of the Vilnius 10 heads of governments in March 2001. The country's highest foreign policy goal, NATO membership, was attained in November 2002, when Romania received an invitation to join the Alliance. President Bush visited Bucharest in November 2002 to congratulate the Romanian people on building democratic institutions and a market economy following the fall of communism. President Iliescu paid a return visit to the United States in December 2003, permitting both heads of state to reemphasize commitment to shared political and economic goals. Principal U.S. Officials The U.S. Embassy in Romania is located at Strada Tudor Arghezi 7-9, Bucharest (tel. 40-21 210-4042, fax 40-21 210-0395, consular fax 211-3360). A U.S. embassy Branch Office was opened in Cluj-Napoca in January 1994 (tel. 40-264 19-38-15, fax 40-264-19-38-68). For the most current version of this Note, see Background Notes A-Z.
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