History of Romania since 1989 unstable coalitions which have been subject to similar allegations. During the period Romania has become more closely integrated with the West, becoming a member of NATO in 2004 and of the European Union in 2007. 1989 marked the fall of Communism in Eastern Europe. A mid-December protest in Timișoara against the eviction of a Hungarian minister (László Tőkés) grew into a country-wide protest against the Ceaușescu régime, sweeping the dictator from power. On 21 December, President Nicolae Ceaușescu had his apparatus gather a mass-meeting in Bucharest downtown in an attempt to rally popular support for his regime and publicly condemn
Nicolae Matei as 57.5 ha woodlands. The estate was inherited by his male offspring, Virgiliu, but was expropriated in March 1949 after the rise to power of the communist regime. The Virgiliu's inheriter, Nicolae Matei, born in 1940, has partially recovered the Nicolae Matei's property and lives in Bogdăneşti, in the family's house. Eventually his offspring moved to Cork, Ireland where both his granddaughter Ruxandra Colan Petcu and his great-granddaughter Ioana Petcu-Colan have pursued careers as musicians. Nicolae Matei Nicolae Matei (1863–1933) was a Romanian politician who served as Deputy from 1905 to 1914 and as Senator from 1914 to 1933. He