RETURN TO EUROPE
ROMANIA – TIMISOARA.COM

DOCUMENTARY / A 2008 / HD CAM / 52 & 45 MINUTES
directed by Robert Neumüller

Synopsis

When it joined the EU on 1 January 2007, Romania, together with Bulgaria, became the first of the former Communist Balkan states to return to Europe. 17 years earlier, after the fall of the dictator Nicolae CeauÅŸescu in December 1989, the country was still extremely economically backward and socially impoverished. The first post-communist years did not change much here. It is only with the prospect of EU membership that the decisive impetus came for the change to democracy and a market economy.
The documentary analyses these changes which arose during the process of Romania’s accession, using the city of Temeswar as an example. This city with its 400,000 inhabitants and an Austro-Hungarian past located in the far west of the country has experienced an unparalleled economic boom in recent years as an attractive location for Western businesses. Full employment and an IT industry with a promising future are today typical features of Temeswar, which was where the revolution against CeauÅŸescu started in 1989. The portrait also shows, however, that the development of democracy and a welfare state have not been able to fully keep up with the rapid development of the free market. Stories of heroes of the revolution and former Securitate members, of successful entrepreneurs, workers and socially-engaged intellectuals and discussions with EU commissioners in Brussels reveal the opportunities but also the need for action of the European Community which concerns not only Temeswar and Romanian but also our joint political and social system of “Europe”.

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