Romania on the Road to a Failed State

The definition of a failed state is blunt: a political entity in which governance collapses, leading to instability, poverty, corruption, and the inability of the state to protect its own citizens. The usual examples are Somalia, Sudan, or Syria.
Romania is not there yet. One element is still missing: war. Apart from that, all the symptoms are already present.
Internally, the state no longer functions coherently. Externally, Romania no longer has a policy—only reflexes. And the combination of the two is extremely dangerous.
The World of Yesterday Is Gone. Romania Refuses to Accept It
We are living through a historical rupture. The world order built after 1945 and consolidated after 1991 has collapsed. A new world is emerging slowly and violently, marked by rapid realignments and the absence of clear rules. Old empires cling to a lost hegemony, while major powers act with raw realism, stripped of ideological restraint.
In this context, Romania’s leadership—the Presidency, the Government, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs—remains mentally anchored in a world that no longer exists. It behaves as if old guarantees were still valid, as if alliances were automatic, and as if declarative loyalty could substitute for strategy.
France has effectively “taken charge” of Romania—something that should alarm us, not reassure us. Brussels shows up when money is needed, not when real security is at stake. Meanwhile, the weak peaks of Romania’s political class are constantly present in Kyiv, Paris, and Brussels, performing rituals of obedience with no clear mandate and no tangible results.
They kiss the silver tassels on their masters’ boots while the world undergoes fundamental change.
The EU and NATO Are No Longer Certainties
Let us be clear-eyed: the European Union is undergoing a slow process of fragmentation, and NATO is no longer the absolute security guarantee Romania mechanically invokes. Article 5 is increasingly a political formula rather than an operational certainty. The Baltic states understand this better than anyone.
The United States pursues its interests without sentimentality. Pressure on Europe is increasing, and old taboos have fallen. The discussions around Greenland show clearly that the world has entered a phase of brutal geopolitical realism.
Romania, positioned on the front line facing Russia, remains suspended between declarative loyalties and uncertain guarantees. Who actually protects it? Who assumes the risk? Who guarantees real security, not paper assurances?
The Failure of Romanian Diplomacy
Romanian diplomacy should never have placed the country in the impossible position of appearing to choose between the European Union and the United States. That is not foreign policy—it is strategic recklessness.
A serious state multiplies its options. Romania has reduced them on its own.
Has there been any genuine, state-level analysis of Romania’s options in the new world order? A real strategic document, not speeches and press releases? An evaluation of risks, alternatives, and national capabilities? The answer is simple—and grave: no.
Internal Collapse Completes the Picture
Internally, the situation is just as alarming. The state is weak, administration is politicized to the point of incompetence, the economy is deindustrialized, and corruption is no longer a deviation but a system.
The political class no longer governs. It defends itself. It builds nothing. It has no national project, no horizon. There is only improvisation, external obedience, and contempt for citizens.
Where To, and With Whom?
This is the essential question—one that no one at the top dares to ask, let alone answer.
Romania urgently needs a redefinition of its national interest, without slogans and without inferiority complexes. It needs a realistic foreign policy adapted to a multipolar world. It needs to rebuild the internal state before demanding external protection. And it needs a political elite capable of strategic thinking, not of executing obsolete reflexes.
Otherwise, Romania will not become a failed state through a dramatic war, but through a slow implosion—managed, “civilized,” European—where no one will be guilty and no one will be held accountable.
And then the question will no longer be where to, and with whom, but why we did not choose when we still could.