Romania

Romania has only improved on e-citizenship but is stagnating at a mediocre level of judicial independence for an EU country. Its media groups have managed to maintain a decent level of freedom due to an increase in government funds after the pandemic, though this also had a negative impact on media independence from the government. Altogether, the media plays an ambiguous role; entire media outlets already belong to or are being bought by corrupt individuals, many of whom have already been sentenced to jail and are thus advocating against anti-corruption measures and against the general interest. Social media is only an extension of this moral ambiguity of traditional media. A renewed bid to join OECD might step up some reforms, but some long-standing post-communist governance features do not allow much progress. A chief problem is the extensive meddling of secret services in a variety of civilian affairs – such as organizing direct vote counting or participating in public procurement through semi-covert companies in a variety of policy areas. The result is a substantial secret segment of an otherwise transparent budget.