As Romania inches ever closer to membership of the EU, it faces increasing and rapid change. Bucharest is teeming with new cafes, restaurants and hotels, and the entire country seems to have been transformed into a giant construction site. A massive retail boom has led to hypermarkets and shopping malls mushrooming across the country.
No major city has been spared the development of thriving new neighbourhoods, dotted with hastily built villas. Bus loads of Romanian labourers fan out across western Europe, resulting in annual remittances that last year were estimated at between €2bn-€4bn. It is almost as if, unable to bring Mohammed to the mountain, Romania has decided to move the mountain to Mohammed.
