Ultra Liberal Romania?

Romania which hopes to become an EU member next year, sees itself as a Neo Liberal.

Members of Romania's centre-right government, in a series of interviews with Brussels-based journalists, made it clear they saw themselves in the Atlanticist, free-trade bloc which Donald Rumsfeld, US defence secretary, called New Europe.

Which must be really frustrating for the French who were under the impression that the Romanians were in their camp.

Mr Basescu's (Romanian President) stance has infuriated France, Romania's biggest supporter in the EU, and could exacerbate fears in France that it is losing its grip on an expanding EU.

In fact, the Romanian President paints a very bright picture of what he is trying to achieve:

Asked which economic model he would pursue, he said it would be a “more liberalised” system. “We want to have a state with minimal involvement in the economy,” he said.

He thinks that the UK has such an economy, so he might be surprised when he realises how little the UK Government supports such a model.