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Connecting Continents: Intersecting European and Asian Perspectives
No. 58, Mar.-Apr. 2026 The European Institute of Romania (EIR) has published the working paper titled The EU and Asian States: Towards sustainable cooperation. Opportunities for Romania. Drawing on the deepening of regional integration trends – with the European Union representing the most advanced model – and the intensification of overlapping political, economic, and social challenges, this work brings together contributions from renowned international experts from 14 European and Asian states: Bulgaria, Hungary, France, Greece, Poland, Romania, and Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Bangladesh, China, India, Japan, Mongolia, and Pakistan. More
Governance and Political Stability: Reform, Transparency, and the Populist Challenge
No. 58, Mar.-Apr. 2026 Governance remains the foundation of Romania’s long-term stability, shaping state capacity, public trust, and the credibility of reforms tied to EU and OECD integration. Over the past decade, Romania has made notable progress in judicial consolidation and administrative digitalisation, yet persistent vulnerabilities continue to weaken institutional performance. Fragmented public administration, frequent ministerial turnover, politicised appointments, and inconsistent policy continuity undermine reform momentum. Rising populist sentiment, low trust in political institutions, and intensifying electoral volatility add extra layers of uncertainty. Drawing on European Commission Rule of Law Reports, Eurobarometer trends, OECD accession benchmarks, and Transparency International indicators, this article examines Romania’s governance trajectory, identifies sources of institutional drift, and outlines strategic pathways for strengthening democratic resilience. More
The “Movements of the Earth” and the “Phases of the Moon”
No. 58, Mar.-Apr. 2026 There is, in the way humanity names its grand projects, a form of allegorical memory that refuses to fade. The Apollo program was not merely a technological demonstration; it was an invocation of order, light, and reason amid the epic tensions of the Cold War. Today, Artemis brings onto the stage not another god, but a sister – a possible correction to “solarian” excesses. Artemis embodies rhythm, cyclicality, a return that is less triumphalist and more contemplative. NASA itself speaks, in recent communications, of “sustainable exploration,” suggesting that the epic is no longer about “reaching” the Moon, but about “settling” upon it. Myth does not disappear, it refines itself: from heroic gesture to ecosystemic one. In this sense, naming no longer legitimizes ambition alone, but responsibility as well – an ethics of human presence beyond Earth, in which mythological symbolism functions as a cultural compass within an increasingly “abstractly-technological” universe. More
The Hungarian Elections: The Prodigal Son Gets the Fatted Calf
No. 58, Mar.-Apr. 2026 On April 12, 2026, Péter Magyar and his Tisza party rewrote history. With nearly 80 percent turnout, Tisza secured 138 seats in the 199-seat Hungarian parliament on 53.6 percent of the vote, handing Viktor Orbán his first electoral defeat since 2006 and ending sixteen years of Fidesz rule. The celebrations along the Danube were genuine. They were also, in some important respects, premature. More
Shifting from Theories Made to Explain Humans to Humans “Made” to Explain Theories
No. 58, Mar.-Apr. 2026 In Friedrich Hayek’s words, “the curious task of economics is to demonstrate to men how little they really know about what they imagine they can design”. The shortsighted tendency to reduce higher-order interdependencies to linear relationships that miss out on essential details is conveyed by Robert Lucas’ “critique”. Phillips, the creator of the namesake “curve”, proved that until the ’50s, high levels of inflation were linked to a low unemployment rate. The statistical methods used then depicted the connection as strong and stable. In the early ’70s, adherents of the Keynesian school of thought, pervading both academic circles and the overall establishment, believed that pursuing inflationary policy would raise employment and generate just enough growth to escape the economic deadlock of those times. Acting on these predictions, the Federal Reserve issued currency to unprecedented levels, while the government patched up the upsurging deficit through debt. More
What Makes a Good Life: The State, God, or Money? (Part I)
No. 58, Mar.-Apr. 2026 What makes a good life – state institutions, religion, or money? In this first part, I will trace the deep historical entanglement between political power and religious authority, from Saint Augustine to Karl Marx and Max Weber, setting the stage for a contemporary reflection continued in Part II. More
Central Coercive Diplomacy in the Gulf
No. 58, Mar.-Apr. 2026 In Vienna, the room is familiar: delegates, translators, carefully calibrated phrases. But the subject is anything but routine. As news of strikes and counter‑strikes ripples across screens, the nuclear file – the one issue that can turn a regional war into a global panic – returns to the centre of the agenda. The head of the world’s nuclear watchdog warns that military action around nuclear facilities is uniquely dangerous. Outside the conference hall, markets price war risk, shipping companies reroute, and Gulf capitals measure how quickly a confrontation they did not choose could move onto their territory. More
Why the Intelligentsia’s Drift to the Left Ends in a Shipwreck
No. 58, Mar.-Apr. 2026 I am referring to the intellectuals who made their political début as more or less notorious dissidents before the Romanian Revolution and were fully acclaimed as such during the ’90s and early 2000s. Many became flagbearers of the “anti-corruption battle” in the recent years, alongside with their disciples. When asked for their stance, they all declare themselves “rightists” or at least reject the “leftist” political option, after the criminal experiment of the Communist totalitarianism. More
The Economic Consequences of the War in the Middle East
No. 58, Mar.-Apr. 2026 The war in the Middle East has already had a strong impact on energy prices, particularly those of oil and natural gas. It is therefore reasonable to expect that inflationary pressures will intensify in the period ahead. Beyond these inflationary effects, however, everything ultimately depends on how the conflict evolves – and on that point the greatest uncertainty prevails. More
Romania Leads Europe: Pensions Cover Costs Better Than Anywhere Else
No. 58, Mar.-Apr. 2026 Romania stands first among a group of only four EU countries where pensions exceed spending, according to a German study published on datapulse.de. With a positive ratio of 21%, Romania surpassed Czechia (+18%), Poland (+4%), and Spain (+3%). In context, two other countries are close to breaking even (Bulgaria, with -2%, and Denmark, with -7%), while all the rest are beyond the -10% threshold. More
From a World of Wars to a War of the Worlds
No. 58, Mar.-Apr. 2026 The decades following the 2nd World War witnessed different armed conflicts scattered around the globe, varying in magnitude and consequences on the geopolitical stage. To name a few: the war in Korea, Indo-Pakistan war, the Vietnam War, Israel and war with the United Arab Republic, the Algerian war of Independence, the Cyprus division, the Falkland conflict, Iran vs. Iraq and so on. When we consider the term war in its broad meaning, we refer to an open armed conflict between two or more countries or a serious civil war that engulfs a country or large part of it, not guerilla fighting at low intensity in various provinces or separatist movements like ETA or IRA. It is true that the spatial distribution was not homogenous in mathematical terms, but it had nevertheless a wide dispersion. Moreover, another fundamental distinction must be made. From the point of compulsory conflict there are wars of necessity and wars of choice. The first one is clear; it is an action that must be taken in order to defend against or something. Can be taken pre-event (preemptive strike) or post-event (retaliation). It is easier to explain and to legitimize. On the other hand, war of choice is a bit harder to categorize and to legitimize. It can have multiple triggers, some real, some covering other interests. More
Security and Black Sea Strategy: Romania at the Crossroads of NATO and Regional Stability
No. 58, Mar.-Apr. 2026 Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine has recast the Black Sea from a perceived strategic periphery into one of the most contested maritime and hybrid theatres in the Euro-Atlantic space. In this environment, Romania has shifted from the margins of European security debates to a pivotal position within NATO’s eastern-flank posture. This article examines Romania’s evolving defence and deterrence architecture, NATO’s recalibrated force posture, and the regional security complex shaped by Russia’s militarisation of Crimea, Ukraine’s constrained maritime access, Moldova’s structural fragility, and Turkey’s balancing behaviour. It situates Romania’s Black Sea strategy at the intersection of military, energy, and hybrid-security dynamics, drawing on NATO strategic documents, national defence planning materials, cyber-security reporting, and Eurobarometer survey data. The central argument is that Romania’s long-term stability depends on a coherent Black Sea strategy anchored in credible deterrence, resilient institutions, and proactive regional leadership that integrates security, energy, and governance agendas rather than treating them as discrete policy silos. The article’s policy contribution is to argue that Romania should prioritise a sequenced agenda that links naval modernisation, hybrid-resilience measures, and energy-security investments within a single Black Sea framework, enabling a shift from a reactive frontline posture to a more strategic regional role. Unlike most existing Black Sea security studies, it advances an integrated, Romania-centred perspective that connects defence posture, offshore infrastructure, and institutional capacity. More
