A serious economic crisis, avoiding loans and IMF monitoring and a firm Prime Minister – Brussels officials' view on Romania

Officials in Brussels say that the crisis in Romania is more serious than Romanian authorities acknowledge or publicly admit and that the future Prime Minister must be firm in adopting unpopular measures. European officials also say that Romania should avoid taking a loan from the International Monetary Fund, a move that would also impose IMF monitoring over Romania.

The Government to be put up must have a strong Parliamentarian support, since it would be difficult to impose unpopular decisions without 50% of the MEPs’ votes. According to the HotNews.ro sources, the next prime minister should be a „man who knows economy”, with a „strong and firm personality”. „He may be a PM to sacrifice, because he will adopt rough, unpopular measures”, Europeans say.

Specialists in the European Commission say that the economic situation is far more serious than Romanian institutions say. There is also a risk for IMF monitoring, in case Romania is forced to take a loan. The national currency will also be very weak in 2009 and the fact that Romania is not in the Euro currency zone will make foreign loans more difficult.

EC officials don’t have a good eye for IMF loans, saying that it would also represent the EC lack of capacity to help one of its member states.