.png)
Romania
Official time: East Europe time, GMT+2. Summer official time: GMT+3
(between March 27 and October 30 in 2011).
Geographic position: Romania is located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, north of the Balkan Peninsula, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering the Black Sea. Romania shares a border with Hungary and Serbia to the west, Ukraine and the Moldova to the northeast, and Bulgaria to the south.
Surface and population: At 238,391 square kilometers (92,043 sq mi), Romania is the 9th largest country of the European Union by area, and has the 7th largest population of the European Union with 22 million people. Its capital and largest city is Bucharest (Romanian: București), the 6th largest city in the EU with about 2 million people.
Nature: Romania is a Carpathian and a Danubian country with opening to the Black Sea. It has a variable and harmonious relief: mountains 31 %, hills and plateaus 33 %, plains 36 %. Romanian Carpathians are situated in the center of the country.
Short recent history: The Kingdom of Romania emerged when the principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia were united under Prince Alexandru Ioan Cuza in 1859. Independence from the Ottoman Empire (gained by the King Carol I of Romania) 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, in Romania started a series of political and economic reforms. Romania joined the European Union on 1 January 2007.
Romania also joined NATO on 29 March 2004, and is also a member of the Latin Union, of the Francophonie, of the OSCE and of the United Nations, as well as an associate member of the CPLP. Today, Romania is a unitary semi-presidential republic.
External links
Geographic position: Romania is located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, north of the Balkan Peninsula, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering the Black Sea. Romania shares a border with Hungary and Serbia to the west, Ukraine and the Moldova to the northeast, and Bulgaria to the south.
Surface and population: At 238,391 square kilometers (92,043 sq mi), Romania is the 9th largest country of the European Union by area, and has the 7th largest population of the European Union with 22 million people. Its capital and largest city is Bucharest (Romanian: București), the 6th largest city in the EU with about 2 million people.
Nature: Romania is a Carpathian and a Danubian country with opening to the Black Sea. It has a variable and harmonious relief: mountains 31 %, hills and plateaus 33 %, plains 36 %. Romanian Carpathians are situated in the center of the country.
Short recent history: The Kingdom of Romania emerged when the principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia were united under Prince Alexandru Ioan Cuza in 1859. Independence from the Ottoman Empire (gained by the King Carol I of Romania) 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, in Romania started a series of political and economic reforms. Romania joined the European Union on 1 January 2007.
Romania also joined NATO on 29 March 2004, and is also a member of the Latin Union, of the Francophonie, of the OSCE and of the United Nations, as well as an associate member of the CPLP. Today, Romania is a unitary semi-presidential republic.
Video clips