On top of that, they often under-declare their real profits - a form of structural corruption that the mainstream anti-corruption discourse, often weaponised by one faction of the ruling class against the other, has conveniently ignored. Not only do they pay very low wages to a largely well-qualified workforce, but there is also one of the lowest, flat-rate corporate taxes in the EU - 16%. The maximisation of profits mostly benefits foreign companies, particularly from Germany, Austria, France, Netherlands and the US. In other words, Romanian capitalism is, in fact, a very authentic form of capitalism, as the maximisation of profits is less hampered here than in most European countries. This is precisely what has happened in Romania since 1989, where the political left and the labour movement have been too weak to pose any effective resistance. The absence or weakness of such collective bottom-up pressure allows capitalism to continue with its unhindered exploitation and oppression, in which decent wages, dignified working places or public investments are hurdles that are to be avoided. Wherever capitalism has provided prosperity and rights to ordinary people, it did so despite itself, under the pressure from below of people organising and fighting against bosses and their political cronies. They believe that an otherwise fair and efficient system has been perverted by indigenous corruption and clientelism. Many Romanians believe this dire state of affairs is not as much a result of capitalism per se but of the “wrong” kind of capitalism applied in Romania. Between these extremes lies a fragile middle class, concentrated in a few urban centres like Bucharest, Cluj and Timisoara. Romania is, therefore, a highly polarised society, the third most unequal in the entire EU after Bulgaria and Lithuania, with extreme levels of wealth and poverty more typical for a neo-colonial country. The state institutions and main political parties serve the different factions of this ruling class. Meanwhile, the ruling class is made up of, on the one hand, oligarchs and bureaucratic networks which often emerged from the ruins of the former Stalinist nomenclature and, on the other, a comprador elite that defends the interests of foreign capital. That comes along with a drop in the number of secure jobs after 1990 from 12 to 6 million.
Around 40% of those working in the private sector are on the minimum wage, which - despite its successive increases over the last few years - is only €446 per month, more than €100 less than the living wage. Today, around a third of the population is at risk of poverty, while 20% of the active workforce live under the poverty threshold. The majority of those who have remained are confronted with poverty, low wages, job insecurity, precarious public services and a political caste that is solely in the service of capitalist elites.Īfter 30 years of neoliberal policies, living standards in Romania are very far away from the shiny promises of the “free market” ideology of the 1990s. Capitalist restoration, which followed the December 1989 uprising, led to the large scale collapse of industry and agriculture, forcing millions to emigrate.
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