Romania: Euroscepticism—Contamination of the Mainstream Parties, Limited Support Among the Citizens

Abstract

Romanians remain among the most optimistic pro-Europeans, but trust in the European Union (EU) continued to decrease in the first half of 2018. Mainstream and high-level political leaders, supported by parts of the media, are responsible for the deepening of the Romanian citizens’ distrust in the EU and not only because the EU has been used as a scapegoat by the governing coalition. Forecasts for the next elections (presidential in November 2019 and local and parliamentary ones in 2020) show that citizens will, however, provide broad support to pro-European political forces and sanction populist parties, partially due to their anti-EU rhetoric but mainly due to their failure of fulfilling their electoral promises.