The latest developments on Romania's political and economic scene, culminating with the resignation of Prime Minister Emil Boc and the announcement of a new cabinet led by the chief of the country''s Foreign Intelligence service is the 'canary in the mine' for other European countries, which should learn from this situation, writes a comment published by the Financial Times. Romanian Cornel Ban (in picture), fellow at The Watson Institute for International Studies within the Brown University in the US wrote about his home country's situation for the FT, in an article headlined: 'Eastern Europe must heed Romanian canary in the mine'.

Ban warns Eastern European politicians against ignoring the social costs of austerity measures, as citizens begin thinking about distribution of wealth, not only about corruption. He mentions the ongoing protests in the country, which have continued for the last four weeks, highlighting the protesters' doubts over planned privatization and deregulation reforms and the emergence of a new civil society in the country. Ban sees the beginnings of what he terms a legitimate grass roots left wing movement, in favor of public ownership of national institutions.  These developments, he believes, could lead to the end of the "almost automatic endorsement of the market" and the "old post-communist settlement" in which political parties could count on an "economically liberal and elite civil society." Read the full comment here.

Cornel Ban holds a PhD from the University of Maryland, Department of Government and Politics, a JD from Babes-Bolyai University Law School, Cluj-Napoca, Romania, and a BA from Babes-Bolyai University. He has published comments in the Financial Times before, one of which looks at comparisons made between popular protests against Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu in the late 1980s and against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Read this article here.

editor@romania-insider.com