Romania continues to make the headlines in international media after the violent incidents in Bucharest’s Victoriei Square on August 10, when the riot police brutally intervened against the anti-government protesters.

US newspaper Washington Post wrote in an editorial that “the slow erosion of democracy in Central Europe advanced another step last week, when Romania’s corruption-ridden government resorted to brute force to answer protests against its subversion of the rule of law”.

“The employment of violence was just the latest tactic of the ruling Social Democratic Party (PSD) in what has been a relentless campaign to shield itself from consequences for rampant graft and other criminal activity,” reads the Washington Post article, which suggests that “the Trump administration should sanction Romanian officials involved in corruption and the use of violence against peaceful demonstrators”.

Meanwhile, an editorialist of German magazine Der Spiegel suggests that Romania should also be punished for trampling on EU principles, just like Poland.

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editor@romania-insider.com