Yep, but realistically, Romania (as well as Poland and the rest of Eastern Europe) will end up in the same kind of middle income trap just like Portugal within the next 10-20 years.
Indeed. Portugal got by in Europe while it could advertise its services as significantly cheaper (Italy and Greece did the same). Romania, Poland and all will live to see another nation take its place, and if not finding a way to produce high value add products and processes, face the same kind of stagnation as Portugal.
For example, in Hungary, a lot of Orban's political consolidation was itself due lagging economic growth in the aftermath of the GFC and Eurozone crisis, as well as FDI moving towards cheaper Romania, Bulgaria, and Serbia.
Hungary's HDI and GDP growth began stagnating around 2014-15, which was around the time mass dissatisfaction against Orban arose.
> It's been 10 years, and he's still in power, so I guess the Hungarian people aren't that dissatisfied with him
Gerrymandering, control of all Hungarian language media in a country where most people are monolingual in a unique language, and selective judicial prosecution are the main things keeping Orban afloat.
