In the past years, for many Romanians (mainly from rural areas) emigration represented an opportunity for economic and social redemption. Today, the world economic crisis has changed people's perspectives, but going back to Romania does not look like a likely choice and the future is full of uncertainties

In the last decade, Romania has been a reliable source for seekers of bad news for the international media. Nevertheless, through the thicket of bad news, the country has also seen some brighter developments in the economy, in politics and in human development

The Romanian government wants to impose Europe’s most severe, IMF-approved austerity program. Next Monday, trade unions have called for the first general strike since Ceausescu's rule. This will test not only budget austerity plans but, most importantly, state-society relations in Romania’s version of liberal-democracy

The Romanian economy probably will remain in recession for most of 2010. A 20-billion-dollar rescue package from the IMF, World Bank and the EU will only try to serve as a macroeconomic stabiliser instead of as a stimulus package that could help Romania stop its economic tailspin

Between 2000 and 2009 Romania experienced one of Europe's highest growth rates. Yet even before the economic crisis hit Bucharest hard, it became clear that the wealth of the economic boom was built with dramatic social costs, paid mostly by children, unemployed, pensioners, and Roma

Part of a fragile and precious heritage, the Saxon villages of Transylvania are undergoing a dramatic transformation; the product of Romanian emigrant remittances and lack of official regulation. But with this transformation comes the risk of destroying an irreplaceable source of touristic and cultural potential