section_path: Politics/Foreign relations
section_name: Foreign relations
paragraph_text: Foreign relations
  
  Since December 1989, Romania has pursued a policy of strengthening relations with the West in general, more specifically with the United States and the EU, albeit with limited relations involving the Russian Federation. It joined NATO on 29 March 2004, the EU on 1 January 2007, while it joined the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank in 1972, and is a founding member of the World Trade Organization. Romania is recognised as a middle power for its military capabilities, as well as its active diplomatic engagement on the global stage.
  
  In the past, recent governments have stated that one of their goals is to strengthen ties with and helping other countries (in particular Moldova, Ukraine, and Georgia) and better integration with the rest of the West. Romania has also made clear since the late 1990s that it supports NATO and EU membership for the democratic former Soviet republics in Eastern Europe and the Caucasus.
  
  Romania applied to join to the Schengen Area in 2007, acquiring full membership in 2025 along with Bulgaria. In December 2005, President Traian Băsescu and United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice signed an agreement that would allow a U.S. military presence at several Romanian facilities primarily in the eastern part of the country. In 2009, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton referred to Romania as "one of the most trustworthy and respectable" US allies". However, by 2025, relations had worsen, with US vice president JD Vance in February scolding " flimsy suspicions " and "enormous pressure from its continental neighbours" for causing the annulment of the 2024 Romanian presidential election in which Călin Georgescu won the first round.
  
  Relations with Moldova are a special case given that the two countries share the same language and a common history. A movement for unification of Moldova and Romania appeared in the early 1990s after both countries achieved emancipation from communist rule but lost ground in the mid-1990s when a new Moldovan government pursued an agenda towards preserving a Moldovan republic independent of Romania. After the 2009 protests in Moldova and the subsequent removal of Communists from power, relations between the two countries have improved considerably.