Reflections on Romania twenty years on

This is not my first time in Romania. I have always had a fascination with central and eastern Europe, and it’s one I share with my wife Linda. When the Berlin Wall came down she and I were students together at Cambridge, and Linda just had to get on the first plane to Berlin to be part of that historic event. She had no plan, no accommodation – she spent the night in the metro station at Berlin zoo. But she was one of those who chipped away at the concrete of the Berlin Wall and played her part in tearing it down.

Sighisoara, bird’s eye view, 20 years ago

The following summer, 1990, we both took the train to eastern Europe to see the countries which had been cut off from the West for so long, and we came here to Romania. I really treasure my memories of that summer. There was an extraordinary atmosphere – of excitement but uncertainty, possibility and danger. I still remember the buildings in Sibiu which had been raked by gunfire. But I also remember the warm welcome we got from everyone we met in Romania. It wasn’t easy traveling around the country
that summer. It was sometimes hard to find somewhere to eat, somewhere to stay, even something to drink. But we always found someone to help us out. In Brasov I remember we were met at the station by an old lady, Maria, who offered us accommodation at her house, fed us superbly and helped us out with tickets for the next leg of our journey. She sent us a card at Christmas for years afterwards.

Linda MacLachlan, the Ambassador’s wife

And when I joined the Foreign Office, we continued to work in central and eastern Europe. Our first posting was to Vienna, dealing with the conflict in Yugoslavia and the break-up of the Soviet Union, but also Romania and its relations with Hungary and Hungary’s with Slovakia. Then we were in Moscow for four years (where two of our three daughters were born), and then just next door to here, in Ukraine, for the Orange Revolution and all the drama and excitement that brought us.

Ambassador Harris 20 years ago in Sighisoara as a student

Ambassador Harris 20 years after, during visit to Sighisoara in the same place as above

And now we’re back in Romania. I could not have imagined twenty years ago that I would return here as British Ambassador. And I could not have imagined that I would be returning to a country that was a member of NATO and a member of the EU. Three things strike me after twenty years.

The first is the astonishing achievement of Romania’s accession to the EU and NATO, in spite of the trauma that Ceasescu’s regime wreaked on Romania’s society and its economy. I’m proud that the United Kingdom was at the forefront of those advocating Romania’s accession and in supporting Romania in its journey towards membership.

The second is the enormous number of links that have grown up between Romania and the UK since the revolution. When I was appointed to this job, I discovered that lots of my friends – as well as my relatives – had connections to Romania. They had been here on holiday, or they knew someone from Romania or they had supported a charity or were involved in a business working here. Far from being cut off from the UK, Romania is now intensely connected to the UK and the relationship is thriving.

And the third point is the important position Romania occupies in Europe. It is at the crossroads – a ‘Latin island in a Slavic sea’, a key member of the EU and NATO with influence in the Balkans, the Black Sea and beyond. And so returning here as Ambassador as opposed to a student gives me a great opportunity. I am thrilled to be in a position to create a new partnership between Romania and the UK now that both countries are in the EU and NATO, to promote the trading relationship as we meet the common challenge of overcoming the effects of the economic crisis, and to support an even greater intensification of the ties between our two peoples.

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