On Friday, the country's ambassador to London, Ion Jinga, claimed such "alarmist" and "inflammatory" coverage could lead to Romanians being assaulted in the street. He argues that all the Romanians who want to work in the UK are already there, on work permits or self-employed. In an article in the Times, the Romanian prime minister strikes a more emollient tone, inviting Britons to come and enjoy a "strong pint" in Bucharest's Old Town or a "quiet holiday" in the sleepy Transylvanian villages beloved by Prince Charles.
Improved job rates in Romania mean that "Britain can rest assured", he writes. This argument cuts little ice with Migration Watch chairman, former diplomat Sir Andrew Green, who says the presence of a settled Romanian population in the UK is a "pull factor" that will encourage more to make the journey.
The press has seized on a report by Migration Watch claiming 50, Romanians a year will travel to the UK when working restrictions are lifted. Migration Watch's chairman cites events from , when the government grossly under-estimated the number of migrants that would travel from new EU states such as Poland.
The government said there would be net immigration of between 5, and 13, a year. In fact, Census data showed the Polish population alone had risen in England and Wales from 58, in to , 10 years later. Romania has been trying to reshape its image for some time. The government has launched a number of advertising and PR campaigns in recent years aimed at improving the country's perception abroad.
In , it launched a global "Why I Love Romania" poster campaign, trumpeting the achievements of famous Romanians such as tennis player Ilie Nastase, gymnast Nadia Comanenci and scientist Nicolae Paulescu, who discovered insulin.
Last year, it launched a campaign to attract more tourists to the Carpathian Mountains, which was much mocked in the Romanian press. And a Romanian ad agency, GMP, has produced tongue-in-cheek ads hitting back at, so far unfounded, claims that the UK is considering a campaign to deter Romanians from coming to the UK.
And Harry has never been photographed naked once. The campaign slogan is: "We may not like Britain, but you will love Romania. Ronnie Smith, a British business consultant based in Romania, says the UK "ought to be ashamed" of its coverage of Romania but he does not believe the country's government has the resources, or the will, to respond effectively. There should be but there won't be, not to the extent that's needed," he says.
Romania's image problem may even be traceable to the late 19th Century, when travellers returned from Transylvania with tales of a strange, forbidding land, says Dr James Koranyi, a history lecturer at Durham University. But most observers believe Romania's recent past, as a Communist dictatorship, looms far larger in the public mind.
For many people in the West, images of children abandoned in Soviet-era orphanages are the first thing they associate with Romania, says Liam Lever, a British journalist who writes for English-language Romanian news site Romania Insider.
Like other members of the growing expatriate British community in Romania, he believes outdated stereotypes are holding the country back. Like its smaller neighbour Bulgaria, Romania remains one of the most corrupt countries in Europe, according to Transparency International, despite EU-inspired efforts to clean up its political system.
Little wonder, say critics, that the Roma have relocated in their thousands to other EU countries, including the UK. Ten Romanian police officers were sent to London last year to help tackle begging and anti-social behaviour.
The campaign, with no media budget, not only helped get the British campaign cancelled, but also gathered 87 million page impressions and was reported by hundreds of media outlets abroad, generating an estimated EUR 2 million in free media coverage. More about the Eurobest Winners here. Daily News. More about the Eurobest Winners here Shaun Turton shaun romania-insider. Recommended stories. Discover Romania. Romania Insider Free Newsletters Subscribe now.
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