Romania's convergence has been built on consumption and transfers—wages rising faster than productivity, European funds supplementing domestic investment, and a fiscally fueled domestic market—yet what has not been built is the foundation: the employment base, industrial capacity, and an active demographic, according to CONAF President Cristina Chiriac.

In an analysis sent to AGERPRES on Thursday, she notes that Romania marks 20 years in the European Union with two figures that should not coexist: the second-fastest rate of convergence in the Union over the last decade, yet also the only economy in Central and Eastern Europe forecast to contract in 2026.

'How can an economy converge for two decades and yet remain the only one to contract? The answer lies in the structure of that convergence, not its speed. Romania's convergence was built on consumption and transfers—wages rising faster than productivity, EU funds supplementing domestic investment, and a domestic market fueled by fiscal measures. What was not built was the foundation: the employment base, industrial capacity, and an active demographic profile,' points out the CONAF president.

At the time of accession, Romania and Bulgaria started from the bottom of the Union rankings, with purchasing power at 65% below the European average. Today, Romania's GDP per capita, expressed in purchasing power parity, has reached 81% of the EU average, up from 58% in 2016. According to the cited source, only Ireland has progressed faster, though its figures are distorted by the accounting practices of multinational corporations. Poland, the regional benchmark, gained only 12 points over the same period.

'Measured in euros (chain-linked volume, 2020 prices, Eurostat data), the picture looks different for the same period: Poland doubled its GDP per capita between 2006 and 2025, while Romania rose from approximately €7,230 to €13,190—a pace trailing that of Poland and Bulgaria. While a star performer regarding convergence in purchasing power parity terms, Romania shows merely solid results in real euro terms. The choice of metric changes the narrative. Only one indicator supports the country's performance without reservation: labor productivity. Relative to 2015 levels, Romania reached approximately 138%—the fastest rate of catch-up in the region, surpassing both Poland and Bulgaria (Eurostat data). The financial balance confirms this: for every euro contributed to the Union budget, Romania received roughly three. Over €100 billion in European funds flowed into the economy between 2007 and 2025, against a contribution of approximately €32.6 billion. On paper, Romania is the success story of the enlargement,' notes Cristina Chiriac.

For 2026, it cites estimates for Romania from the Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies (wiiw), according to which a 0.1% contraction will be recorded, in a region growing by an average of 2.2%.

Industrial output fell by 3.5% in April 2026 compared to April 2025—ranking last in the Erste regional comparison—against a backdrop where Poland's output rose by 2% and Serbia's by 3.2%, the CONAF representative points out.

It also notes the average annual inflation rate of 8.3%, more than double the CEE regional average of 3.9%.

'Simultaneous contraction and inflation—textbooks call this stagflation. Twin deficits: a current account deficit at 7.9% of GDP and a projected budget deficit of 6.2%. Romania has been subject to the excessive deficit procedure since 2020, with the deadline for correction extended to 2030; according to the ECB's June 2026 Convergence Report, none of the three countries under the procedure (Romania, Hungary, Poland) will bring their deficit below 3% before the end of 2027,' the analysis further notes.

At the same time, Romanian 10-year government bonds are trading at 6.7-7%—making them the most expensive in the region—while the foreign trade balance for goods has been in deficit every year since 2006, without a single year of surplus.

Moreover, while in 2008 Romania had one of the lowest debt levels in the region—just over 11% of GDP—it now rivals Poland for the third-highest public debt in the region, trailing only Hungary and Slovakia (according to Eurostat data). 'It was not the crisis that built up the debt; the debt accumulated during the years without a crisis,' Chiriac points out.

Regarding convergence, the trend has been driven by a shrinking base population. Romania has the highest number of citizens residing in another EU Member State—approximately 3.1 million people in 2023, ranking first in the Union (according to Eurostat data)—while broader estimates, including those living outside the EU, place the diaspora at between 16% and 20% of the total population. The fertility rate, which had risen to 1.71 prior to the pandemic, subsequently fell sharply.

'An economy converging through consumption looks good right up until the moment consumption needs to be reined in. That moment is now. Fiscal consolidation hits a structure lacking shock absorbers: no expanding industrial base, no pool of mobilizable labor, and no budgetary wiggle room. There is one resource that twenty years of convergence have left untouched: the inactive half of the potential workforce. Romania has one of the widest gender employment gaps in the European Union—a growth reservoir systematically left out of the equation. Regional comparisons like those published this year measure GDP, inflation, and deficits. Hardly any of them measure who is missing from the economy. This is a methodological omission, not a lack of data; the data exists—disaggregated and publicly available—at Eurostat. A country facing simultaneous recession and a labor shortage cannot afford the luxury of ignoring this reservoir. Yet it continues to ignore it, edition after edition, report after report,' notes Cristina Chiriac.

On June 29, 2026, the 'Women in Economics' symposium series—hosted by ASIROM—launched its inaugural edition by opening a discussion on measuring what regional comparisons overlook.

'2026 is not just a year of contraction. It is also the year when Romania has record European funds at its disposal—15-16 billion euros, or nearly 4% of GDP, according to ING—with the NRRP deadline expiring in the summer and a real risk of losing some of these funds due to administrative inefficiency. Twenty years of membership have shown that Romania knows how to converge when the money is flowing. They have not shown that it knows how to build the structure that generates growth once the money stops. The difference between the two is the difference between an economy that has played catch-up and one that has truly built itself up. As the twentieth anniversary approaches, the question remains: which one will we be celebrating?' notes the head of the employers' association. AGERPRES (RO - writing by: Andreea Marinescu; EN - writing by: Catalin Cristian Trandafir)

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