Eastern Europe’s “Terrible Twos”

Under the pressure of compliance with the Maastricht convergence criteria governments implement painful welfare state reforms.

The populist backlash against corruption, the CEE transition-era elites, and the liberal consensus has led to a democratic crisis, but does not portend systemic change.

The 2004 elections saw the defeat of the former communists who ruled Romania for most of the period since the fall of communism. Will the country's new, democratic, and pro-European…