Excerpts from Books and Wikipedia
"Just how Romania managed to persuade EU leaders to endorse its 2007 accession still remains a mystery to many Europeans. Romania exhibits some of Europe’s worst social indicators: its economy is weak, its incomes are low, its governance has not been sufficiently upgraded from communist times, and political infighting and corruption are endemic. But this is an important country, located in the lower basin of the Danube River and occupying much of the heart of eastern Europe. And like a number of other countries in this region, it was incorporated into NATO before it was allowed to join the EU. With 19.4 million inhabitants and a pivotal location on the Black Sea, Romania is a bridge between Central Europe and the realm’s southeastern corner, where EU-member Greece faces its historical adversary, Turkey, across both land and water." [Geography: Realms, Regions, and Concepts, 17th Edition, p. 189]