The protests going on these days in Bucharest and elsewhere in Romania are the result of the lack of freedom from corruption and the lack of property freedom, according to Lucian Croitoru, advisor to Romania’s National Bank (BNR) Governor Mugur Isarescu.

“Romania has some of the lowest scores in the European Union on these two freedoms. Romania has no property freedom,” Croitoru said, cited by local Hotnews.ro.

According to him, Romania has went through three big phases. The first one was in 1989, when it broke from communism and a great deal took place as those who had political power also took the economic and legislative powers. The second phase started in 2005, when the fight against corruption started. It started difficultly and was only accepted in the past years. Now, Romania must regain its economic freedom, which was confiscated in 1989.

“If we grow the economic freedom, we will also have highways, better healthcare infrastructure as side effects,” Croitoru said in a conference on Friday.

At the same conference, his colleague Valentin Lazea, BNR’s chief economist, presented nine structural reforms that he considered absolutely necessary to have a higher economic growth in Romania.

These nine reforms are: the education reform, policies to increase the birthrate, attracting foreign investments, an intelligent immigration policy, upgrading the Bucharest Stock Exchange to emerging market status, agriculture land consolidation, electronic payments, stimulating investment and export based economic growth, and revitalizing public-private partnerships for big investment projects.

editor@romania-insider.com