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Radio France Internationale
Radio France Internationale
World
Jan van der Made

Romania at a crossroads: confronting communist nostalgia on election day

Exhibition in the Communism museum, Bucharest, 15 May 2025. © RFI/Jan van der Made

As Romanians head to the polls in a pivotal presidential election, the country’s struggle to come to terms with its communist past is taking on new urgency. The legacy of Ceausescu’s regime, and the nostalgia or disillusionment it inspires, now shapes debates about national identity and the direction Romania will take in a moment of deep political division and rising populism.

Gabriel Boga was only ten years old when it happened: the fall of the Ceausescu regime in December 1989. "The atmosphere changed overnight. There was freedom."

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