Ink And Reason

Hello, dear friends. Today I’m going to discuss a question that has been bothering me for a long time: why is Romania considered an Eastern European country, even though it is geographically located in the center of Europe? What is the origin and meaning of this label, and how does it serve the interests of Russia, which wants to impose its dominance over its neighbors?

To answer this question, we have to look at the history and geography of Europe and see how the borders of the continent have been drawn and changed over time. Europe is a diverse and complex continent, which includes many peoples, cultures, religions, and languages. There is no clear and universally accepted definition of the borders of Europe, but rather several criteria that can be taken into account, such as physical, political, economic, cultural, or historical.

From a physical point of view, Europe is delimited by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and the Ural Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian Sea and the Caucasus Mountains to the east. These limits were established in ancient times, by geographers such as Herodotus, Strabo, or Ptolemy. However, these limits are not very precise and can be disputed, because there is no clear line of separation between Europe and Asia, which form together the supercontinent of Eurasia. For example, some countries, such as Turkey, Georgia, Azerbaijan, or Kazakhstan, have territories in both Europe and Asia and can be considered transcontinental countries.

From a political point of view, Europe has been divided and redivided many times in the course of history, depending on wars, alliances, revolutions, empires, or ideologies. One of the most important political divisions was the one between Western Europe and Eastern Europe, which was created after the Second World War when the continent was split between two rival blocs: the Western one, led by the United States and its allies from NATO, which promoted democracy and market economy, and the Eastern one, led by the Soviet Union and its allies from the Warsaw Pact, which promoted communism and planned economy. This division was symbolically marked by the Iron Curtain, an imaginary line that passed through Germany, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Albania, and Yugoslavia, and that separated the two worlds. This division lasted until 1989-1991, when the communist regimes in Eastern Europe collapsed, and the Soviet Union disintegrated.

From an economic point of view, Europe is today one of the most developed and integrated regions of the world, thanks to the existence of the European Union, a supranational organization that includes 27 member states, which have created a common market, a single currency, a common foreign and security policy, and a series of common policies and institutions. The European Union was founded in 1957, as an economic community between six countries from Western Europe: France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg. Since then, the European Union has gradually expanded, through several waves of accession, which also included countries from Eastern Europe, after the fall of communism. Thus, in 2004, ten countries joined the European Union, of which eight were from Eastern Europe: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Slovenia. In 2007, two more countries from Eastern Europe joined: Romania and Bulgaria. In 2013, Croatia also joined a former Yugoslav republic.

Culturally, Europe is characterized by great diversity and richness, but also by certain common elements, which were influenced by ancient civilizations such as Greek or Roman, monotheistic religions such as Christianity, Judaism, or Islam, artistic and intellectual movements such as the Renaissance, Enlightenment or Romanticism, industrial and technological revolutions, and social and political phenomena such as nationalism, liberalism, socialism or fascism. One of the cultural criteria that can be used to distinguish between Western and Eastern Europe is the religious one, which is based on the division between Western Christianity and Eastern Christianity, which occurred in 1054 when the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church broke apart. Thus, it can be said that Western European countries are predominantly Catholic or Protestant, while Eastern European countries are predominantly Orthodox. However, this criterion is not absolute, since there are also countries that have a mixed population or that belong to other Christian confessions, such as Anglicanism, Lutheranism, Calvinism, the Greek Catholic Church, or the Armenian Church. Some countries have a Muslim-majority population, such as Turkey, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, or Kosovo, or have a significant population of other religions, such as Judaism, Buddhism, Hinduism or Sikhism.

After seeing these criteria, we can return to our original question: why is Romania considered an Eastern European country? The answer depends on the perspective from which we look. If we look at the physical criterion, we can say that Romania is in the center of Europe, since it is located at approximately equal distance from the Atlantic Ocean and the Ural Mountains, which are considered the natural borders of the continent. According to the online distance calculator, the distance between Romania and the Atlantic Ocean is about 2,000 kilometers, while the distance between Romania and the Ural Mountains is about 2,500 kilometers. So Romania is closer to the Atlantic than to the Urals, which could place it in the western part of Europe. If we look at the political criterion, we can say that Romania was an Eastern European country because it was part of the communist bloc, which was under the influence of the Soviet Union, and which was separated from Western Europe by the Iron Curtain. But after 1989, when Romania renounced communism and began the transition process to democracy and a market economy, we can say that Romania is a Western European country because it joined the European Union, which is an organization that represents the common values and interests of European states, and which has overcome the divisions of the past. Romania is also a member of NATO, which is a military alliance that ensures the collective security and defense of European and North American states.

If we look at the cultural criterion, we can say that Romania is a country with its own identity and cultural heritage, which does not fall into any simplistic category. Romania is a country that has been influenced by several civilizations and cultures, such as Roman, Slavic, Byzantine, Ottoman, Hungarian, German or French. Romania is a country that has a Romance language, but also a Latin alphabet, which brings it closer to Western Europe, but also an Orthodox religion, which brings it closer to Eastern Europe. Romania is a country that has a remarkable artistic and literary tradition and creativity, which has given rise to world-renowned personalities, such as Mihai Eminescu, George Enescu, Constantin Brâncuși, Mircea Eliade, Eugen Ionescu or Herta Müller.

After seeing these aspects, we can draw a conclusion: Romania is a European country, which cannot be reduced to a geographical or political label, but which must be appreciated and understood in all its complexity and diversity. The label of Eastern Europe is one that has been imposed by history and geopolitics, and which does not reflect Romania’s reality and aspirations. This label is one that serves the interests of Russia, which wants to maintain its sphere of influence over the countries of the former communist bloc, and which wants to prevent them from integrating into Euro-Atlantic structures. This label is one that must be overcome and replaced with one that recognizes Romania’s role and contribution to the construction and development of Europe.

I hope that these ideas are useful to you and that you will avoid falling prey to subtle manipulations that do not serve our European interests in future. I also hope you enjoyed it and found it useful. Thank you for reading or watching and don’t forget to like, share and subscribe. See you next time.