[English] I imagine the men are
strong and open-hearted.
Romania is a country that has suffered from the Schengen debate with the UK, as well.
Sort of the free movement angle, which I think is unfair.
Yeah, I love Romania and the people.
[Romanian] Someone will open up and receive you,
set you up at the table, help you with any information ...
let you rest and so on.
[French] - About Romania? - About Romania!
- Before I come back to it, why are you asking me that question?
- Romania!
A country and a people at times
much maligned in the European press.
But what do other Europeans really
think about Romania and Romanians?
- Of Dracula!
And how the Romanians themselves react to
the image of their country in Brussels when
I travel to Romania on Thursday.
Hey, hey! I'm Conor, the Language Tsar,
and today I am in Brussels in Belgium,
but on Thursday I'm gonna go to South-Eastern Europe to Romania.
Romania entered into European Union in 2007,
but how much do the citizens of the EU's
capital here in Brussels really know about Romania?
I'm gonna find out.
[Dutch] - Romania … I think of mountains, mountains … a beautiful country …
green I think as well … I also think they have a coast ... I think about the capital. I have to think now of the name.
- What is the name of the capital city? - Bucharest!
- Yeah, Bucharest is the capital, not Budapest!
[French] - Before I had Romanian friends. I know them. They are nice.
There are 2 types of Romanians that I know:
there are the Romanians with white skin like you …
… and there are other Romanias who are Gypsies.
They have problems with their government. Corruption! That’s it. There’s a lot of corruption.
[English] - What comes to mind when you hear the word Romania?
- My model friend from when I was a teenager
- Ah, excellent! So you think of beautiful Romanian girls.
- Yes, I think so. I actually have a Romanian neighbor too.
And she is very pretty as well.
I imagine that the nature should be beautiful.
I know that the economic situation is not that easy.
[French] - I’m a fan. - Yeah?
- Of Dracula films.
Unfortunately, he draws blood from his victims.
[German] - Dracula comes from there!
- Dracula comes from Transylvania.
- Exactly! That’s in Romania, right?
[Spanish] - What comes to us is Dracula!
In Spain, for example, they are hard working people.
[Catalan] - The stereotypes of Romania:
in our country there are some that are not very positive, to be honest.
For example, there's the stereotype that people from Romania come to rob and things like that.
And on the other hand, which is more positive, that they are warm and likeable
even if you want to sleep at their house, they don't have any problem.
I’ve been to Romania, to Transylvania.
- Transylvania.
There’s a big difference between the stereotype of the country
and the reality of the country when you arrive physically.
[Dutch] On the positive side, the weather is always nice in Romania.
You have a beautiful coast besides the Black Sea in Romania.
There are many cities, old cities, small cities but there's also the mountains, so it's a very diversified landscape.
On the negative side, shall I continue with that? - Yes!
- On the negative side, there is always a lot of corruption in Romania.
According to her, the negative side is that there's still a lot corruption in Romania.
... by government officials, I personally think that's because it's a ''remnant'' of the communist regime.
- And when I visited Bucharest
I was...
really
like positively impressed
by the city. More or less the same as
the one...
that exists for the Bulgarians. - Ok, which one?
- That it's a kind of developing country
And it's very often associated
with corruption
But I think that this image is
improving now
It's influenced by French culture. - Ah, pretty good!
- Yeah, and this is something that you can see
on the street.
[Dutch] - I was in Romania in the 1990s
So actually I can only talk about what I saw there in the 90's.
- And what have you seen there? That was just after Ceaușescu.
The people are very nice, I think. That is clear.
What I noticed that is that they still had a lot of things to improve, the trams that were pretty bumpy etc.
- It’s a little better there today.
- Perhaps it is! I can only speak about the 1990s.
- Very very nice country!
Very nice country! Very nice people.
Only positive experiences in Romania.
And I have been to many places in Romania
The one more positive experience than the other.
It's a really very good, very
nice country, very nice people ... people, they make some friends
They visit the country
The stereotypes ... - They disappear
So you've seen, Paro, that people have stereotypes about the country
until they get to know the culture. - Exactly, exactly!
[German] - I’ve only ever heard good things about Romania.
- I know people from Romania, from Bucharest.
I have worked with them - very nice people, very talented for languages
I have only met people that are very talented for languages from Romania
- I know only that the cuisine is heavy.
- Heavy! - Heavy like stews and a lot of meat.
- Meat. - A lot of carbs, potatoes.
It's traditional, and it's also
I'm going to use
a bit loaded word,
but a bit 'old-fashioned'
Traditional society, but also where there might be
some resistance regarding Bucharest.
But maybe also a bit old-fashioned, yeah.
[German] Unfortunately I’ve never been to the country. I would like to visit it.
I have colleagues that I work with that are from Romania.
They are really nice but unfortunately haven’t been there.
- I was once in Timisoara. - Cool!
- I really liked it. Really positive! - Very positive!
- Stereotypes … - There were a lot of stereotypes.
The country is developing and it's establishing itself gradually within the European Union.
[English] - I find the system of Romania quite similar
to Bosnia, and so the system is not quite good.
It's falling apart: the system, the politics, the corruption.
That's not really good.
I've heard some quite negative stories about Romania and
Romanian people but I was the for a youth exchange, so
all of my impressions were really really good. Really love the people
and I still have quite a lot of friends
from Romania.
[German] - When I think of Romania, I think of good looking and well-dressed women.
- Uh, wow!
- My colleague is Romanian and she is always dressed stylishly.
To be honest, I think the women are very beautiful, again
that's a sort of uninformed basis.
- From where does this image come from?
Does it come from popular culture, cinema, TV, music?
- Honestly, quite often the assistants in the European Parliament.
- I just think of the nature
the bears ... - There are bears. - Scary bears.
- Hard-working if you ask me ... beautiful women.
I'll go back to that. Viva Romania!
[Italian] - Have a nice day!
- So they were the interviews I've done in Brussels.
So I'm gonna go now to the airport, fly to Bucharest and see what people
in Romanian's capital think of those positive
and negative images of the country.
Let's go and see how they react!
- Let's go along the streets of Bucharest! - Ok. Let's go!
[Romanian] - Girls in Romania are really beautiful! - Truly the most beautiful!
- That Romanian girls are very beautiful, I think this is a subjective opinion.
- No! Girls in Romania are the most beautiful girls,
the most beautiful at least in Europe!
- Wow! In Europe!
Really beautiful? - Very beautiful!
- Yes, I agree.
- Girls in Romania are the most beautiful in the world so say most people.
- Yeah, we have very beautiful women
because they take care
and take care that when I get out of the house to look as good as possible
- Yes, Romanian women are beautiful but
I can say that all women in the world are beautiful.
We have a philosopher in Romania
who died and was called Petre Ţuţea
and said we love women not only because they are beautiful
but also because they make men.
This is a very important expression.
- Really corrupt! Very, very corrupt! The most corrupt! - The most corrupt? - The most corrupt!
- Underdevelopment and corruption go hand in hand, true!
It's normal to be underdeveloped when it's corrupt.
- The country is not corrupt; politicians are.
Those in the state apparatus, the institutions are corrupt not the country.
The country is beautiful.
- Corruption and underdevelopment go hand in hand.
You cannot grow when everyone steals for them.
They don't care about our national interests.
Yes, Romania has a big problem with corruption.
We have to solve this and the help received from the European Union and the European Parliament has helped us very much.
You go to an institution if you want to make a project you need to know someone.
So you are brought into contact indirectly or directly in contact with corruption.
You are already corrupt.
Each region is beautiful. It depends on you are looking for.
If you want to go to the mountains in Transylvania
everyone knows about Dracula Castle.
- Where is it? - In Transylvania, in Bran.
We have all possible forms of relief: plains, mountains, Danube Delta, rivers, forests, everything.
Absolutely everything!
We have a beautiful country.
We could improve many aspects of infrastructure
but it is not impossible.
A personal, purely subjective opinion: Transylvania.
I think that in the mountains in Transylvania.
I think you find there something that does not exist in other countries in Europe.
Transylvania has many natural landscapes.
Ardeal, Ardeal, Ardeal [Transylvania] ...
all over the mountains is beautiful.
- In relation to the Roma, in the end
We drove them away. We are suspicious of them and they have now left.
What they do there is not done by the Romanian people!
- But it is a big problem because it is very difficult to integrate some people who refuse integration.
They must also accept integration.
I will say something that you may not like to those in Belgium, in Germany and other countries:
No longer confuse Romanians with the Roma!
- I hope that action will be taken by all states and not only Romania.
And on the other hand, the Roma community and the Gypsies that lead the Roma community
to bring about to the reduction of this phenomenon as it is very serious.
It is serious for Romania and is also serious for the community itself.
It is a vicious circle which will not go away without good leadership.
- Probably as you said earlier because of the Roma going to other countries and begging
and making the country look somehow.
But we should not generalize.
- I think just investing in education is the only thing we can do.
And let's become a bit more attentive to the things that matter to us and our image.
- I think we should, at least, young people,
become more united and be more concerned with what is happening around us.
Let's not be so ignorant anymore. That is, from us younger people to start the change.
The most important is education
and the future and the way people educate their children.
A corrupt man should teach his child not to be corrupt, which is very difficult.
There is actually change.
- Yes, from my point of view, Romania is a very corrupt country, a corruption that is fuelled by education,
education in the family.
I think Romanians who go abroad are serious
and go for studies are those who want to make a difference.
We are sorry that there are also negative things about us
but we think that each country has its flaws.
We accept them but we want to change them!
And my trip to Romania ends here
at the beautiful Voroneț Monastery
So, if you enjoyed this video, give it a big thumbs up.
And subscribe for more, because I'm gonna go to
Ukraine tomorrow, and gonna be shooting lots of videos there.
And I gonna be back in Romania and shooting more footage in
the coming months.
So, it's 'la revedere' ['goodbye' in Romanian]
from Bukovina, in the north of Romania.