Romania 'not normal in EU'

IT WOULD be easy to think of Romania as a European country. But according to the country's president, it's really not - at least not a normal one.

Asked yesterday whom he supported in elections this autumn in Moldova, much of which used to be part of Romania, president Traian Basescu said he hoped the pro-European alliance would remain in power. But then he told foreign journalists, perhaps jokingly, "Be careful, I said pro-European, not pro-Romanian. It's not the same thing."

Considering Romania a normal European country, he quipped, "is a bit much."