Romania is the richest country in the EU in terms of resources, but it is impoverished by the European Union, according to MEP Diana Şoşoacă.
NEWS: I have heard here that you are concerned that a new gas pipeline from Russia will go to Hungary and Serbia. Honestly, I sincerely hope that it will also pass through Romania, so that we too can have the cheapest gas possible. Because you, the great powers of the European Union, have stolen our gas, taken all our resources, Romania being the country with the most resources in the European Union, but which we cannot get our hands on.
We have the highest prices, the lowest wages, the lowest pensions. A pension is 200 euros. Try living like that. Also, you said you would help the countries of Eastern Europe. How will you help? Because in the 18 years since we joined the European Union, we got nothing left. You have destroyed our industry, you have destroyed our agriculture, all our land belongs to foreigners, to Italy, to Spain, to the Israelis, to the Austrians. The oil and gas belong to the Austrians.
NARRATIVE: The EU is deliberately impoverishing Romania, the richest country in natural resources in the organization.
PURPOSES: To amplify anti-Western sentiments, to promote a sovereignist discourse, to provoke protests and social anti-establishment movements.
Romania has many resources, but it is not the richest country in the EU.
WHY THE NARRATIVE IS FALSE: In a speech delivered at the European Parliament, MEP Diana Şoşoacă probably set a new record in terms of the amount of fake news and disinformation squeezed in just 70 seconds.
Her speech begins strongly, with the statement that Hungary and Serbia will be connected to Russia by a gas pipeline. In reality, Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó has announced that works are to begin soon on the construction of a new oil pipeline between Hungary and Serbia , which will enable the supply of fuel to Central Europe.
The narrative of Romania's unparalleled wealth of natural resources, heavily promoted by sovereignist propaganda, is refuted by all official statistics. The largest natural gas reserves in Europe belong to Norway, followed by Ukraine and the United Kingdom. Among the member states of the European Union, the Netherlands ranks first, followed by Poland and Romania, which are tied for second place. Norway also leads the ranking of European countries in terms of oil reserves , followed by the United Kingdom. In the European Union, Romania is indeed at the top of the ranking, but tied with Italy and very close to Denmark. In terms of uranium deposits , Romania does not appear in the relevant rankings, with Ukraine ranking first in Europe and the Czech Republic, Denmark (through Greenland), Spain, Slovakia, and Hungary holding the first positions in the European Union. The richest European country in iron ore is Ukraine, with the EU member states being irrelevant globally in this area. In terms of agricultural land, Romania ranks only 5th in the European Union , after France, Spain, Germany, and Poland. Although our country thus accounts for 8.1% of the total agricultural land in the EU, the value of agricultural production is significantly lower, only 4% of the EU total, which shows a major gap between the agricultural land area and production efficiency.
Contrary to Diana Şoşoacă's statements, Romania's natural gas is not being stolen by the Western powers. The largest natural gas producer in our country is Romgaz, a company owned by the Romanian state through the Ministry of Energy, which ensures some 50% of the domestic natural gas production. Next is OMV Petrom, a company controlled by the Austrian group OMV, but in which the Romanian state, also through the Ministry of Energy, holds a 20% stake. The third largest natural gas producer in Romania is the American company Black Sea Oil & Gas, which is responsible for only about 10% of Romania's total natural gas production. Together, the three companies cover 98% of the country's natural gas needs, strongly refuting the hypothesis that they have been sold off to Western countries.
Similarly, the statement "we have the highest prices, the lowest wages, the lowest pensions. A pension is 200 Euro" is profoundly untrue. According to Eurostat, last year, Romania had the second lowest level (39%) of prices for consumer goods and services in the final consumption of households among Member States, after Bulgaria (41%). In 2024, Romania had the lowest prices in the EU for food, furniture, and household equipment, as well as for recreational and cultural services. The average salary in Romania in 2024 was 1.478 Euro , higher than average salaries in Greece (1,418), Hungary (1,408), and Bulgaria (1,125), and not far behind Poland (1,505). Similarly, the average pension in Romania – 382 Euro – is higher than in Bulgaria – 226 – and very close to Slovakia – 386 – and Croatia – 388. Diana Şoşoacă didn’t even get the minimum pension right , which is 1,281 lei , the equivalent of approximately 255 euros. In addition, Romanian pensioners with incomes below 2,574 lei also receive an annual allowance of 800 lei, which is approximately 13.5 euros per month.
The last statements, related to the destruction of the Romanian economy, are part of the eternal meta-narrative according to which Romania is a Western colony that has completely lost its sovereignty and independence, being merely a victim of the great European powers, which seek its physical and moral destruction. This narrative has been circulating in the local media since the 1990s, with roots in the anti-capitalist propaganda that preceded the 1989 Revolution. It is used by supporters of the sovereignist movement and those nostalgic for communism, and is also fueled by Russian propaganda, which thus justifies Moscow's brutal actions in Eastern Europe, in countries such as Ukraine, Moldova, and Georgia, which it seeks to protect from the "Western aggression.”
Sovereignty dies, but it does not surrender
CONTEXT: Since the start of the invasion of Ukraine, Russia has been portraying itself as a victim of the Western community, while at the same time perpetuating false narratives suggesting that Eastern European countries are subject to the same process. In reality, it is the current international status of Eastern European states as members of the EU and NATO that guarantees their independence and security, unlike the period between 1944 and 1991, when they were part, against their will, of the sphere of influence of the USSR, a totalitarian state coordinated by Russia and the power in Moscow. And although it is true that some decisions made by the governments of these states are in line with similar ones promoted by the West, they do not in any way reflect a status of submission to it, but are merely an expression of adherence to common values such as democracy, freedom of expression, respect for human rights, etc.
"We will not sell our country" has been the motto of the sovereignists nostalgic for communism since the 1990s. Coined, according to some, in the offices of the former Securitate and later taken up in various forms by Russian propaganda, the slogan has provoked antagonism within Romanian society, leading to the (re)birth of extremist nationalist movements that support primitive and extremely toxic patriotism and contest Romania's accession to the Euro-Atlantic community and the bodies that govern the Western world, especially the European Union and NATO.
And to temper the tearful lamentations of Romanian sovereignists over Romania's riches heading west, we remind them of the period 1944–1958, when our country was under Soviet military occupation, disguised as a "liberation" from Nazi rule, and when almost all of the country's resources went to Moscow, in a process that unofficially transformed it into a Soviet colony.
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