Romania Update - Seismic Processing Confirms New Prospect (ADX Energy Ltd)

Romania Rom?nia
Anthem:?De?teapt?-te, rom?ne! Awaken thee, Romanian!
Location of Romania (dark green):
Capital (and largest city)		Bucharest 44?25?N 26?06?E? / ?44.417?N 26.1?E? / 44.417; 26.1
Official language(s)		Romanian
Ethnic groups?(2011)		88.6% Romanians 6.5% Hungarians 3.2% Roma 1.7% other minorities[1]
Demonym		Romanian
Government		Unitary semi-presidential republic
?-?	President	Traian B?sescu
?-?	Prime Minister	Victor Ponta
Legislature		Parlamentul Rom?niei
?-?	Upper house	Senate
?-?	Lower house	Chamber of Deputies
Formation
?-?	Little Union1	24 January 1859?
?-?	Independence from the Ottoman Empire2	1877/1878?
?-?	Great Union3	1 December 1918?
Area
?-?	Total	238,391?km2?(83rd) 92,043?sq?mi?
?-?	Water?(%)	3
Population
?-?	2011?census	19,042,936[2]?(59th)
?-?	Density	80/km2?(121st) 207/sq?mi
GDP?(PPP)		2011?estimate
?-?	Total	$267.151 billion[3]?
?-?	Per capita	$12,476[3]?
GDP (nominal)		2011?estimate
?-?	Total	$189.776 billion[3]?
?-?	Per capita	$8,863[3]?
Gini?(2008)		32[4]?(medium)?
HDI?(2011)		0.781[5]?(high)?(50th)
Currency		Romanian leu4 (RON)
Time zone		EET (UTC+2)
?-?	Summer?(DST)	EEST?(UTC+3)
Drives on the		right
ISO?3166?code		RO
Internet TLD		.ro5
Calling code		40
1 The Little Union refers to the double election of Alexandru Ioan Cuza in Moldavia and Wallachia (5 January, respectively 24 January 1859). 2 Independence proclaimed on 9 May 1877, internationally recognized in 1878. 3 The Great Union was the union of Romania with Bessarabia, Bukovina and Transylvania in 1918 and the creation of Greater Romania. 4 The leu was redenominated on 1 July 2005. As of that date 10,000 (old) lei (ROL) = 1 (new) leu (RON). 5 The .eu domain is also used, as in other European Union member states.

Romania (ⁱ/ro??me?ni?/ roh-MAY-nee-?; dated: Roumania;^[6] or Rumania;^[7][8]Romanian: Rom?nia [rom??ni.a]?( listen)) is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea.^[9] Romania shares a border with Hungary and Serbia to the west, Ukraine and Moldova to the northeast and east, and Bulgaria to the south.

At 238,400 square kilometers (92,000 sq?mi), Romania is the ninth largest country of the European Union by area, and has the seventh largest population of the European Union with over 19 million people.^[2] Its capital and largest city is Bucharest, the tenth largest city in the EU with about two million people.

The Kingdom of Romania emerged when the principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia were united under Prince Alexander Ioan Cuza in 1859. Independence from the Ottoman Empire was declared on 9 May 1877, and was internationally recognized the following year. At the end of World War I, Transylvania, Bukovina and Bessarabia united with the Kingdom of Romania. Greater Romania emerged into an era of progression and prosperity that would continue until World War II. By the end of the War, many north-eastern areas of Romania's territories were occupied by the Soviet Union, and Romania forcibly became a socialist republic and a member of the Warsaw Pact.

With the fall of the Iron Curtain and the 1989 Revolution, Romania began its transition towards democracy and a capitalist market economy. After a decade of post-revolution economic problems, extensive reforms fostered economic recovery making Romania now an upper middle-income country with high human development.^[10]

Romania joined NATO on 29 March 2004, the European Union on 1 January 2007 and is also a member of the Latin Union, of the Francophonie, the OSCE, the WTO, the BSEC and the United Nations. Today, Romania is a unitary semi-presidential republic, in which the executive branch consists of the President and the Government.^[11]

The name of Romania, Rom?nia, comes from rom?n (previously rum?n), "Romanian", which in turn is a derivative of the Latin romanus, meaning "citizen of Rome".^[12] The fact that Romanians call themselves a derivative of romanus is first mentioned in the 16th century by Italian humanists travelling in Transylvania, Moldavia and Wallachia.^{[13][14][15][16]}

The first written record of a Romance language spoken in the Middle Ages in the Balkans was written by the Byzantine chronicler Theophanes the Confessor in the 6th century about a military expedition against the Avars from 587, when a Vlach muleteer accompanying the Byzantine army noticed that the load was falling from one of the animals and shouted to a companion Torna, torna fratre ("Return, return brother!").

The oldest surviving document written in Romanian is a 1521 letter known as the "Letter of Neac?u from C?mpulung".^[17] Among other firsts, this text is also notable for having the first documented occurrence of a Romanian word denoting the country's name: Wallachia is mentioned under the name of ?eara Rum?neasc? ("The Romanian Land", ?eara from the terra, "land"; current spelling: ?ara Rom?neasc?).

In the following centuries, Romanian documents use interchangeably two spelling forms: rom?n and rum?n.^{[note 1]} Socio-linguistic evolutions in the late 17th century led to a process of semantic differentiation: the form rum?n, presumably usual among the lower classes, received the meaning of "bondsman", while the form rom?n kept an ethno-linguistic meaning.^[18] After the abolition of serfdom in 1746, the form rum?n gradually disappears and the spelling definitively stabilises to the form rom?n, rom?nesc.^{[note 2]}Tudor Vladimirescu, a revolutionary leader of the early 19th century, used the term Rum?nia to refer exclusively to the principality of Wallachia, the southern part of modern Romania.^[19]

The name Rom?nia as common homeland of all Romanians is documented in the early 19th century.^{[note 3]} This name has been officially in use since 11 December 1861.^[20] English-language sources still used the terms Rumania or Roumania, borrowed from the French spelling Roumanie, as recently as World War II,^[21] but since then those terms have largely been replaced with the official spelling Romania.^[22]

Prehistory[link]

Some 42,000-year-old human remains were discovered in the "Cave With Bones", and being Europe?s oldest remains of Homo sapiens, they may represent the first modern humans to have entered the continent.^[23]

Among the oldest traces of human existence and activity found in Romania include those dating from the Paleolithic. These remains were found at Bugiule?ti (V?lcea County), Ohaba-Ponor (Hunedoara County) or Valea D?rjovului (Olt County), belonging to some of the more distant human ancestors. According to studies of historical anthropology, these hominids used carved stone tools, were gatherers, fishermen and hunters, lived organized in bands and were sheltered in caves and hollows.

The first manifestations of prehistoric art on current Romanian territory are the cave drawings from L?pu? (Maramure? County) and Cuciulat (S?laj County). Statues, such as those from Hamangia (Tulcea County) for example, are representations of male and female deities, expressions of the cult of fecundity predominantly in the Stone Age.

The Neolithic Age Cucuteni area in Northeast Romania was the Western region of the earliest European civilization^[24][25] known as the Cucuteni-Trypillian culture.

Antiquity[link]

The earliest written evidence of people living in the territory of the present-day Romania, the Getae, comes from Herodotus, in his Histories book IV (c. 440 BC).^[26] Territories located north of the Danube were inhabited by Dacian tribes, including Carpi, Apuli, Tyragetae, Costoboci, Burs, Krobyzoi and Suci and other peoples. Dacians, like the majority of Thracians, were henotheists, the main deities being: Zalmoxis, Gebeleizis, Bendis, Derzelas and Kotys. Dacians, considered a part of the Getae tribes mentioned by Herodotus, were a branch of Thracians who inhabited Dacia (corresponding mostly to present-day Romania). He describes the Getae as "the most brave and honest amongst all Thracians". The Dacian kingdom reached its peak between 82?44 BC during the reign of Burebista.

Over the next century, relations between the Dacian tribes and Rome were relatively peaceful, however the ascent to the throne of Rome of emperor Domitian (81 AD) damaged relations between the Roman Empire and Dacia. He led military campaigns in the region between 87?88 AD at Tapae. Roman incursions continued in 101?102 AD and 105?106 AD under Trajan, who successfully defeated Dacia and annexed its south western parts to the vast Roman Empire. The Dacian population subsequently underwent the ethno-linguistic process of Romanization and the conquered parts became an imperial province.

Due to Dacia's rich ore deposits (especially gold and silver),^[27] Rome brought colonists from all over the empire.^[28] This introduced Vulgar Latin and started a period of intense romanization that would give birth to the Proto-Romanian language.^[29][30] During the 3rd century AD, with the invasions of migratory populations, the Roman Empire was forced to pull out of Dacia around 271 AD, making it the first province to be abandoned.^[31][32]

After the Roman army and administration left Dacia, the territory was invaded by various migratory populations including Goths,^[33]Huns,^[34]Gepids,^[35]Avars,^[36]Bulgars,^[35]Pechenegs,^[37] and Cumans.^[38] Several competing theories have been generated to explain the origin of modern Romanians. Linguistic and geo-historical analysis tend to indicate that Romanians have coalesced as a major ethnic group both South and North of the Danube in the regions previously colonized by Romans.^[39]

Middle Ages[link]

Gesta Hungarorum, also known as the Chronicle of Anonymus, mentioned the existence of three voivodeships in Transylvania in the 9th century: the Voivodeship of Gelou, the Voivodeship of Glad (originally from Vidin, then inhabited by Proto-Romanians^{[citation needed]}) and the Voivodeship of Menumorut. The anonymous author describes the first as Vlach.^[40] Another voivodeship, ruled by Gyula^{[disambiguation needed?]}, was mentioned in the 11th century. It was mentioned as being large and prosperous ("Jatissimum et opulentisimum").^{[citation needed]} It is known to have included the strongholds of D?b?ca, More?ti (on the Mure? River), Moigrad and B?lgrad (near Alba Iulia). Gyula was described as being an Orthodox Christian, therefore he was very probably either Romanian or Slav. A 1176 Slavonic inscription attests the existence of a ?upan Dimitri that ruled over Dobrogea in 943. In the Alexiad, Byzantine princess Anna Komnene mentioned the political entities led by Sesthlav, Satza and Tatos, all in Southern Dobrogea, in 1086.^[41]

In the Middle Ages, Romanians lived in three distinct principalities: Wallachia (Romanian: ?ara Rom?neasc? ? "Romanian Land"), Moldavia (Romanian: Moldova) and Transylvania (Romanian: Transilvania). By the 11th century, Transylvania became a largely autonomous part of the Kingdom of Hungary,^[42] and became independent as the Principality of Transylvania from the 16th century,^[43] until 1711.^[44] In Wallachia and Moldavia many small local states with varying degrees of independence developed, but only in the 14th century did the larger principalities of Wallachia (1310) and Moldavia (around 1352) emerge to fight the threat of the Ottoman Empire. Both territories inhabited by Romanians have achieved the independence from the Hungarian Crown after military conflicts (Battle of Posada, 1330) or social conflicts (Moldavian boyars revolt against Hungary, 1364), these historical events being initiated by Basarab I of Wallachia (1310?1352) and Bogdan I of Moldavia (1359?1365).^[45][46]

By 1541, the entire Balkan peninsula and most of Hungary became Ottoman provinces. Moldavia, Wallachia, and Transylvania were under Ottoman suzerainty, preserving partial-full internal autonomy until middle of the 19th century (Transylvania to 1699). During this period the Romanian lands were characterised by the slow disappearance of the feudal system. A few rulers of present-day Romanian territories distinguished themselves: these rulers include Stephen the Great, Vasile Lupu, and Dimitrie Cantemir in Moldavia; Matei Basarab, Vlad III the Impaler, and Constantin Br?ncoveanu in Wallachia; and John Hunyadi (Ioannes Corvinus) and Gabriel Bethlen in Transylvania.^[47]

In 1600, the principalities of Wallachia, Moldova and Transylvania were simultaneously headed by the Wallachian prince Michael the Brave (Mihai Viteazul), Ban of Oltenia, but the chance for a unity dissolved after Mihai was killed, only one year later, by the soldiers of Austrian army general Giorgio Basta. After his death, as vassal tributary states, Moldova and Wallachia had complete internal autonomy and external independence, which was finally lost in the 18th century. In 1699, Transylvania became a territory of the Habsburgs' Austrian empire following the Austrian victory over the Turks in the Great Turkish War. The Habsburgs in turn expanded their empire in 1718 to include an important part of Wallachia, called Oltenia (which was only returned in 1739) and in 1775 over the north-western part of Moldavia, later called Bukovina. The eastern half of the Moldavian principality (called Bessarabia) was occupied in 1812 by Russia.^[47]

Independence and monarchy[link]

During the period of Austro-Hungarian rule in Transylvania and Ottoman suzerainty over Wallachia and Moldavia, most Romanians were in the situation of being second-class citizens or even non-citizens^[48] in a territory where they formed the majority of the population.^[49][50] In some Transylvanian cities, such as Bra?ov (at that time a Saxon citadel) or Timi?oara after the Austrian conquest, Romanians were not even allowed to reside within the city walls.^[51]

Following the Wallachian uprising of 1821, more uprisings followed in 1848 in Wallachia as well as Moldavia. The flag adopted for Wallachia by the revolutionaries was a blue-yellow-red tricolour (with blue above, in line with the meaning ?Liberty, Justice, Fraternity?),^[52] while Romanian students in Paris hailed the new government with the same flag ?as a symbol of union between Moldavians and Muntenians?.^[53][54] This flag would later become the adopted as the flag of Romania. But after the failed 1848 Revolution, the Great Powers did not support the Romanians' expressed desire to officially unite in a single state, which forced Romania to proceed alone against the Ottomans. The electors in both Moldavia and Wallachia chose in 1859 the same person ?Alexandru Ioan Cuza? as prince (Domnitor in Romanian).^[55]

Thus, Romania was created as a personal union, albeit without including Transylvania. There, the upper class and the aristocracy remained mainly Hungarian and enjoyed strong support from Austria, and the establishment of the Austro-Hungarian Dual Monarchy in 1867 kept the Hungarians firmly in control as the Romanians were by far the most numerous ethnic Transylvanian group and constituted the absolute majority.

In a 1866 coup d'?tat, Cuza was exiled and replaced by Prince Karl of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, who became known as Prince Carol of Romania. During the Russo-Turkish War Romania fought on the Russian side,^[56] and in the Treaty of San Stefano and the Treaty of Berlin, Romania was recognized as an independent state by the Ottoman Empire and the Great Powers.^[57][58] In return, Romania ceded three southern districts of Bessarabia to Russia and acquired Dobruja. In 1881, the principality was raised to a kingdom and Prince Carol became King Carol I.^{[citation needed]}

The 1878?1914 period was one of stability and progress for Romania. During the Second Balkan War, Romania joined Greece, Serbia, Montenegro and Turkey against Bulgaria, and in the peace Treaty of Bucharest (1913) Romania gained Southern Dobrudja.^[59]

World Wars and Greater Romania[link]

In August 1914, when World War I broke out, Romania declared neutrality. Two years later, under pressure from the Allies (especially France, desperate to open a new front), on 27 August 1916, Romania joined the Allies, declaring war on Austria-Hungary. For this action, under the terms of the secret military convention, Romania was promised support for its goal of national unity for all Romanian people.^[60]

The Romanian military campaign began disastrously for Romania as the Central Powers conquered two-thirds of the country within months. Nevertheless, Moldavia remained in Romanian hands and the invading forces were stopped in 1917, when Romania won a series of resounding defensive victories at Marasesti, Marasti and Oituz. Total deaths from 1914 to 1918, military and civilian, within contemporary borders, were estimated at 748,000.^[61] By the war's end, Austria-Hungary and the Russian Empire had collapsed and disintegrated; Bessarabia, Bukovina and Transylvania proclaimed unions with the Kingdom of Romania in 1918. By the 1920 Treaty of Trianon, Hungary was forced to renounce in favour of Romania all the claims of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy over Transylvania.^[62] The union of Romania with Bukovina was ratified in 1919 in the Treaty of Saint Germain,^[63] and with Bessarabia in 1920 by the Treaty of Paris.^[64]

The Romanian expression Rom?nia Mare (literal translation "Great Romania", but more commonly rendered "Greater Romania"), generally refers to the Romanian state in the interwar period, and by extension, to the territory Romania covered at the time. Romania achieved at that time its greatest territorial extent (almost 300,000?km²/120,000 sq?mi),^[65] managing to unite essentially all of the territories inhabited by Romanians.^[65]

During the Second World War, Romania tried again to remain neutral, but on 28 June 1940, it received a Soviet ultimatum with an implied threat of invasion in the event of non-compliance.^[66] Under Nazi and Soviet pressure, the Romanian administration and the army were forced to retreat from Bessarabia as well from northern Bukovina to avoid war.^[67] This, in combination with other factors, prompted the government to join the Axis. Thereafter, southern Dobruja was ceded to Bulgaria, while Hungary received Northern Transylvania as result of an Axis arbitration.^[68] The authoritarian King Carol II abdicated in 1940, and succeeded by the National Legionary State, in which power was shared by Ion Antonescu and the Iron Guard. Within months, Antonescu had crushed the Iron Guard, and the subsequent year Romania entered the war on the side of the Axis powers. During the war, Romania was the most important source of oil for Nazi Germany,^[69] which attracted multiple bombing raids by the Allies. By means of the Axis invasion of the Soviet Union, Romania recovered Bessarabia and northern Bukovina from Soviet Russia, under the leadership of general Ion Antonescu. The Antonescu regime played a major role in the Holocaust,^[70] following to a lesser extent the Nazi policy of oppression and massacre of the Jews, and Romma, primarily in the Eastern territories Romania recovered or occupied from the Soviet Union (Transnistria) and in Moldavia.^[71]Jewish holocaust victims totaled at least 280,000 and 11,000 Romani victims.^[72]

In August 1944, Antonescu was toppled and arrested by King Michael I of Romania and Romania changed sides and joined the Allies. But its role in the defeat of Nazi Germany was not recognized by the Paris Peace Conference of 1947;^[73] even though the Romanian Army had suffered 170,000 casualties after switching sides.^[74]

Communism[link]

During the Soviet occupation of Romania, the Communist-dominated government called new elections, which were won with 80% of the vote.^[75] They thus rapidly established themselves as the dominant political force.^[76] In 1947, the Communists forced King Michael I to abdicate and leave the country, and proclaimed Romania a people's republic.^[77][78] Romania remained under the direct military occupation and economic control of the USSR until the late 1950s. During this period, Romania's vast natural resources were continuously drained by mixed Soviet-Romanian companies (SovRoms) set up for exploitative purposes.^[79][80][81]

In 1948, the state began to nationalize private firms, and to collectivize agriculture the following year.^[82] From the late 1940s to the early 1960s, the Communist government established a reign of terror, carried out mainly through the Securitate (the new secret police). During this time they launched several campaigns to eliminate "enemies of the state", in which numerous individuals were killed or imprisoned for political or economic reasons.^[83] Punishment included deportation, internal exile, and internment in forced labour camps and prisons; dissent was vigorously suppressed. A notorious experiment in this period took place in the Pite?ti prison, where a group of political opponents were put into a program of reeducation through torture. Historical records show hundreds of thousands of abuses, deaths and incidents of torture against a wide range of people, from political opponents to ordinary citizens.^[84] Nevertheless, Romanian armed opposition to communist rule was one of the longest-lasting in the Eastern Bloc.^[85]

In 1965, Nicolae Ceau?escu came to power and started to pursue independent policies, such as being the only Warsaw Pact country to condemn the Soviet-led 1968 invasion of Czechoslovakia, maintaining diplomatic relations with Israel after the Six-Day War of 1967 and establishing diplomatic relations with West Germany the same year, economic links having been set up in 1963.^[86] Also, close ties with the Arab countries (and the PLO) allowed Romania to play a key role in the Israel?Egypt and Israel?PLO peace processes.^[87] But as Romania's foreign debt sharply increased between 1977 and 1981 (from 3 to 10?billion US dollars),^[88] the influence of international financial organisations such as the IMF or the World Bank grew, conflicting with Nicolae Ceau?escu's autocratic policies. He eventually initiated a project of total reimbursement of the foreign debt by imposing policies that impoverished Romanians and exhausted the Romanian economy, while also greatly extending the authority of the police state, and imposing a cult of personality. Although these led to a dramatic decrease in Ceau?escu's popularity and culminated in his overthrow and execution in the bloody Romanian Revolution of 1989, by that time Romania's foreign debt was almost completely paid-off.

A 2006 Presidential Commission for the Study of the Communist Dictatorship in Romania estimated that the number of direct victims^{[clarification needed]} of communist repression at two million people. This number does not include people who died in liberty as a result of their treatment in communist prisons, nor does it include people who died because of the dire economic circumstances in which the country found itself.^[89][90]

Present-day democracy[link]

After the revolution, the National Salvation Front (NSF), led by Ion Iliescu, took partial multi-party democratic and free market measures.^[91][92] Several major political parties of the pre-war era were resurrected. After major political rallies, in April 1990, a sit-in protest contesting the results of the recently held parliamentary elections began in University Square, Bucharest, accusing the NSF of being made up of former Communists and members of the Securitate. The protesters called the election undemocratic and asked for the exclusion from political life of former high-ranking Communist Party members, such as Iliescu himself. The protest rapidly grew to become what president Iliescu called the Golaniad. The peaceful demonstrations degenerated into violence, prompting the intervention of coal miners, summoned by Iliescu in June 1990, from the Jiu Valley. This episode has been documented widely by both local^[93] and foreign media,^[94] and is remembered as the June 1990 Mineriad.^[95][96]

The subsequent disintegration of the Front produced several political parties including the Social Democratic Party, the Democratic Party and the Alliance for Romania. The former governed Romania from 1990 until 1996 through several coalitions and governments with Ion Iliescu as head of state. Since then there have been several democratic changes of government: in 1996 the democratic-liberal opposition and its leader Emil Constantinescu acceded to power; in 2000 the Social Democrats returned to power, with Iliescu once again president; and in 2004 Traian B?sescu was elected president, with an electoral coalition called Justice and Truth Alliance. B?sescu was narrowly re-elected in 2009.^[97]

Post?Cold War Romania developed closer ties with Western Europe, eventually joining NATO in 2004, and hosting the 2008 summit in Bucharest.^[98] The country applied in June 1993 for membership in the European Union and became an Associated State of the EU in 1995, an Acceding Country in 2004, and a member on 1 January 2007.^[99] Following the free travel agreement and politics of the post?Cold War period, as well as hardship of the life in the 1990s economic depression, Romania has an increasingly large diaspora, estimated at over 2?million people. The main emigration targets are Spain, Italy, Germany, Austria, the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States.^[100]

During the 2000s, Romania enjoyed one of the highest economic growth rates in Europe and has been referred to as "the Tiger of Eastern Europe."^[101] This has been accompanied by a significant improvement in human development.^[102] The country has been successful in reducing internal poverty and establishing a functional democracy.^[103] However, Romania's development suffered a major setback during the late-2000s recession as a large gross domestic product contraction and a large budget deficit in 2009 led to Romania borrowing heavily,^[104] eventually becoming the largest debtor to the International Monetary Fund in 2010.^[105] Romania still faces issues related to infrastructure,^[106] medical services,^[107] education,^[108] and corruption.^[109]

With a surface area of 238,391 square kilometres (92,043 sq?mi), Romania is the largest country in southeastern Europe and the twelfth-largest in Europe.^[110] It lies between latitudes 43? and 49? N, and longitudes 20? and 30? E.

Romania's terrain is distributed roughly equally between mountainous, hilly and lowland territories. The Carpathian Mountains dominate the centre of Romania, with 14 mountain ranges reaching above 2,000?m/6,600?ft, and the highest point at Moldoveanu Peak (2,544?m/8,346?ft).^[110] These are surrounded by the Moldavian and Transylvanian plateaus and Pannonian and Wallachian plains. Romania's geographical diversity has led to an accompanying diversity of flora and fauna.^[110]

A large part of Romania's border with Serbia and Bulgaria is formed by the Danube. The Prut River, one of its major tributaries, forms the border with the Republic of Moldova.^[110] The Danube flows into the Black Sea within Romania's territory forming the Danube Delta, the second largest and best preserved delta in Europe, and also a biosphere reserve and a biodiversity World Heritage Site.^[111] Other major rivers are the Siret (596?km), the Olt (614?km), the Prut (742?km), the Some? (388?km), and the Mure? (761?km).^[110]

Lakes and lake complexes have a low share throughout Romania, occupying only 1.1% of total land area. The largest lake complex in size is Razelm-Sinoe (731?km?), located on the Black Sea seaside. Glacial lakes exist in the F?g?ra? Mountains, a result of quaternary glaciation, of which the largest are: Lake Avrig (14,700 m?), B?lea Lake (46,500 m?), Capra Lake (18,000 m?), etc. Other notable lakes are Lake Sf?nta Ana, the only volcanic lake in Romania, and Red Lake, a natural dam lake, both situated in Harghita County.^[112]

Climate[link]

Owing to its distance from the open sea and position on the southeastern portion of the European continent, Romania has a climate that is transitional between temperate and continental, with four distinct seasons. The average annual temperature is 11 ?C (52??F) in the south and 8 ?C (46??F) in the north.^[113] The extreme recorded temperatures were 44.5 ?C (112.1??F) at Ion Sion in 1951 and ?38.5 ?C (?37.3??F) at Bod in 1942.^[114]

Spring is pleasant with cool mornings and nights and warm days. Summers are generally very warm to hot, with summer (June to August) average maximum temperatures in Bucharest rising to 28 ?C (82??F), and temperatures over 35 ?C (95??F) fairly common in the lower-lying areas of the country. Minima in Bucharest and other lower-lying areas are around 16 ?C (61??F). Autumn is dry and cool, with fields and trees producing colorful foliage. Winters can be cold, with average maxima even in lower-lying areas reaching no more than 2 ?C (36??F) and below ?15 ?C (5??F) in the highest mountains.^[115] Precipitation is average with over 750?mm (30?in) per year only on the highest western mountains?much of it falling as snow, which allows for an extensive skiing industry. In the south-central parts of the country (around Bucharest) the level of precipitation drops to around 600?mm (24?in),^[116] while in the Danube Delta, rainfall levels are very low, and average only around 370?mm.

Because of Romania's geographic location, respectively the regional orographic peculiarities, there exists a varied range of local winds. Humid winds from the northwest are most common, but often the drier winds from the northeast are strongest. A hot southwesterly wind, the austru (cf. lat. Auster), blows over western Romania, particularly in summer. In winter, cold and dense air masses encircle the eastern portions of the country, with the cold northeasterly known as the criv?? blowing in from the Russian Plain, and oceanic air masses from the Azores, in the west, bring rain and mitigate the severity of the cold. Other wind types present locally are nemirul, black wind, foehn, b?lt?re?ul, zephyr, cosava etc. Romania enjoys four seasons, though there is a rapid transition from winter to summer. Autumn is frequently longer, with dry warm weather from September to late November.^[117]

Natural environment[link]

A high percentage (47% of the land area) of the country is covered with natural and semi-natural ecosystems.^[118] Since almost half of all forests in Romania (13% of the country) have been managed for watershed conservation rather than production, Romania has one of the largest areas of undisturbed forest in Europe.^[118] The integrity of Romanian forest ecosystems is indicated by the presence of the full range of European forest fauna, including 60% and 40% of all European brown bears and wolves, respectively.^[119] There are also almost 400 unique species of mammals (of which Carpathian chamois are best known^{[citation needed]}), birds, reptiles and amphibians in Romania.^[120] The fauna consists of 33,792 species of animals, 33,085 invertebrate and 707 vertebrate.^[121]

Some 3,700 plant species have been identified in the country, from which to date 23 have been declared natural monuments, 74 missing, 39 endangered, 171 vulnerable and 1,253 rare.^[121] The three major vegetation areas in Romania are the alpine zone, the forest zone and the steppe zone. The vegetation is distributed in a storied manner in accordance with the characteristics of soil and climate and includes various species of oaks, sycamores, beeches, spruces, firs, willows, poplars, meadows, and pines.^[122][123]

There are almost 10,000?km² (3,900?sq?mi) (about 5% of the total area) of protected areas in Romania covering 13 national parks and three biosphere reserves: the Danube Delta, Retezat National Park, and Rodna National Park.^[124] The Danube Delta Reserve Biosphere is the largest and least damaged wetland complex in Europe, covering a total area of 5,800?km² (2,200?sq?mi).^[125] The significance of the biodiversity of the Danube Delta has been internationally recognised. It was declared a Biosphere Reserve in September 1990, a Ramsar site in May 1991, and over 50% of its area was placed on the World Heritage List in December 1991.^[126] Within its boundaries lies one of the most extensive reed bed systems in the world.^[127]

Administrative divisions[link]

Romania is divided into 41 counties and the municipality of Bucharest. Each county is administered by a county council, responsible for local affairs, as well as a prefect responsible for the administration of national affairs at the county level. The prefect is appointed by the central government but cannot be a member of any political party.^[128]

Each county is further subdivided into cities and communes, which have their own mayor and local council. There are a total of 319 cities and 2,686 communes in Romania.^[129] A total of 103 of the larger cities have municipality statuses, which gives them greater administrative power over local affairs. The municipality of Bucharest is a special case as it enjoys a status on par to that of a county. It is further divided into six sectors and has a prefect, a general mayor, and a general city council.^[129]

The NUTS-3 (Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics) level divisions of European Union reflect Romania's administrative-territorial structure, and correspond to the 41 counties plus Bucharest.^[130] The cities and communes correspond to the NUTS-5 level divisions, but there are no current NUTS-4 level divisions. The NUTS-1 (four macroregions) and NUTS-2 (eight development regions) divisions exist but have no administrative capacity, and are instead used for coordinating regional development projects and statistical purposes .^[130]

Development region	Area (km2)	Population (2004)	Most populous urban center
Northeast	36,850	3,743,532	Ia?i (402,786)
West	32,028	1,958,648	Timi?oara (367,347)
Northwest	34,159	2,749,958	Cluj-Napoca (379,705)
Center	34,082	2,540,480	Bra?ov (402,041)
Southeast	35,762	2,865,024	Constan?a (446,000)
South	34,489	3,379,406	Ploie?ti (300,358)
Bucharest-Ilfov	1,811	2,492,495	Bucharest (2,192,372)
Southwest	29,212	2,334,453	Craiova (333,834)
Romania	238,391	22,063,996	Bucharest (2,192,372)

Government[link]

The Constitution of Romania is based on the Constitution of France's Fifth Republic^[131] and was approved in a national referendum on 8 December 1991.^[131] A plebiscite held in October 2003 approved 79 amendments to the Constitution, bringing it into conformity with European Union legislation.^[131] The country is governed on the basis of multi-party democratic system and of the segregation of the legislative, executive and judicial powers.^[131] Romania is a semi-presidential republic where executive functions are held by both government and the president. The president is elected by popular vote for a maximum of two terms, and since the amendments in 2003, each term lasts five years.^[131] He appoints the prime minister, who in turn appoints the Council of Ministers (based at Victoria Palace).^[131] The legislative branch of the government, collectively known as the Parliament (residing at the Palace of the Parliament), consists of two chambers ? the Senate with 140 members, and the Chamber of Deputies with 346 members.^[131] The members of both chambers are elected every four years under a system of party-list proportional representation.^[131]

The justice system is independent of the other branches of government, and is made up of a hierarchical system of courts culminating in the High Court of Cassation and Justice, which is the supreme court of Romania.^[132] There are also courts of appeal, county courts and local courts. The Romanian judicial system is strongly influenced by the French model,^[131][133] considering that it is based on civil law and is inquisitorial in nature. The Constitutional Court (Curtea Constitu?ional?) is responsible for judging the compliance of laws and other state regulations to the Romanian Constitution, which is the fundamental law of the country. The constitution, which was introduced in 1991, can be amended by only a public referendum, the last of which took place in 2003. Since this amendment, the court's decisions cannot be overruled by any majority of the parliament.

The country's entry into the European Union in 2007^[134] has been a significant influence on its domestic policy. As part of the process, Romania has instituted reforms including judicial reform, increased judicial cooperation with other member states, and measures to combat corruption. Nevertheless, in 2006 Brussels report, Romania and Bulgaria were described as the two most corrupt countries in the EU,^[135] and Romania was ranked, together with Bulgaria and Greece, as the most corrupt EU country by Transparency International in 2009.^[104]

Foreign relations[link]

Since December 1989, Romania has pursued a policy of strengthening relations with the West in general, more specifically with the United States and the European Union. It joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) on 29 March 2004, the European Union (EU) on 1 January 2007, while it had joined the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank in 1972, and is a founding member of the World Trade Organization.^[136]

The current government has stated its goal of strengthening ties with and helping other Eastern European countries (in particular Moldova, Ukraine and Georgia) with the process of integration with the West.^[137] Romania has also made clear since the late 1990s that it supports NATO and EU membership for the democratic former Soviet republics in Eastern Europe and the Caucasus.^[137] Romania also declared its public support for Turkey, and Croatia joining the European Union.^[137] With Turkey, Romania shares a privileged economic relation.^[138] Because it has a large Hungarian minority, Romania has also developed strong relations with Hungary. Romania opted on 1 January 2007, to adhere the Schengen Area, an area of free movement in Europe that comprises the territories of twenty-five European countries. Romania's bid to join the Schengen Area was approved by the European Parliament in June 2011 and is currently being considered by the Council of Ministers. Prospective implementation date is May 2012, following that to Romania will be conferred the relapse to international travel with border controls for travellers circulating in and out of the area, but with no internal border controls.^[139]

In December 2005, President Traian B?sescu and United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice signed an agreement that would allow a U.S. military presence at several Romanian facilities primarily in the eastern part of the country.^[140] In May 2009, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton declared that "Romania is one of the most trustworthy and respectable partners of the USA" during a visit of the Romanian foreign minister.^[141]

Relations with Moldova are a special case, considering that the two countries practically share the same language, and a fairly common historical background.^[137] A movement for unification of Romania and Moldova appeared in the early 1990s after both countries achieved emancipation from communist rule,^[142] but lost ground in the mid-1990s when a new Moldovan government pursued an agenda towards preserving a Moldovan republic independent of Romania.^[143] Romania remains interested in Moldovan affairs and has officially rejected the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact,^[142] but the two countries have been unable so far to reach agreement on a basic bilateral treaty.^[144] After the 2009 protests in Moldova and subsequent removal of Communists from power, relations between the two countries have improved considerably.^[145] On May 3, 2011, after the stabilisation of the Moldovan political situation, the Romanian prime - minister M.R. Ungureanu and the Moldovan premier Vladimir Filat held a joint governmment meeting in Ia?i, where they signed 8 bilateral strategic military and economic agreements.

Military[link]

The Romanian Armed Forces consist of Land, Air, and Naval Forces, and are led by a Commander-in-chief who is managed by the Ministry of Defense. The president is the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces during wartime. Of the 90,000 men and women that comprise the Armed Forces, approximately 15,000 are civilians and 75,000 are military personnel?45,800 for land, 13,250 for air, 6,800 for naval forces, and 8,800 in other fields.^[146] The total defence spending in 2007 accounted for 2.05% of total national GDP, or approximately US$2.9?billion (39th in the world), and a total of about 11?billion were spent between 2006 and 2011 for modernization and acquisition of new equipment.^[147]

The Land Forces have overhauled their equipment in the past few years, and are actively participating in the War in Afghanistan.^[148] The Air Force currently operates modernized Soviet MiG-21 LanceR fighters which are due to be replaced by new fighters by 2013, according to present plans. However due to poor economical conditions this may change.^[149] The Air Force purchased seven new C-27J Spartan tactical airlift to replace the bulk of the old transport force.^[150] Two modernized Type 22 frigates were acquired by the Naval Forces in 2004 from the Royal Navy, and a further four modern missile corvettes have been commissioned by 2010.^[151]

Romanian troops participated in the occupation of Iraq, reaching a peak of 730 soldiers before being slowly drawn down to 350 soldiers. Romania terminated its mission in Iraq and withdrew its last troops on 24 July 2009, among the last countries to do so. Romania currently has some 1,900 troops deployed in Afghanistan.^[152]

The unemployment rate in Romania has been relatively low in recent years and stand at around 5% in 2011.^[153]

In the late 2000s nearly 10 percent of the population was in absolute poverty^[154] and of these, 90% live in rural areas.

A set of reforming programs has been started in 1999 introducing private health insurance. The pension system was also reformed.^{[155][156][157]} The state-run health care system is free, but suffers from neglect and has deteriorated in recent years due to lack of funding and underpaid staff. In many cases, the patients are bribing the clinic or hospital staff to get better treatment. There is evidence to suggest that a patient's wealth plays an important role in how they receive medical treatment.^[158]

By the first quarter of 2011 the average monthly household income is 2,318 lei (equivalent to approximately $862). The difference between countryside and urban area may vary; the income is 36 per-cent higher in the urban area than in the countryside.^[159]

The average monthly pension in Romania in 2010 was 734 lei, or ?170.^{http://article.wn.com/view/2013/08/27/Romania_Update_Seismic_Processing_Confirms_New_Prospect_ADX_/}

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