For Romania, as in the rest of Eastern Europe, the E.U. club also has a psychological dimension. After membership in the NATO alliance, which Romania won last March, a place in the E.U. would provide a further sense of belonging. The country is proud of its European roots, which it claims date back to the invasion by Roman imperial troops. Romania's language developed from Latin.
"The E.U. for us is the final break with the Soviet world," said Roxana Dica, a researcher for the show. "Being European means we can be ourselves, but part of something else, to which we have always belonged."
"The Winding Road to Europe," a new Romanian sitcom, is set in a rural bar called La Europa. A racy cast of characters tries to make sense of E.U. rules.
(Daniel Williams -- The Washington Post)
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"The Winding Road" is E.U.-funded, but Giurgiu is looking for private money to avoid the bureaucratic tangles of getting funding from Brussels. The program is shot at Romania's public television studios and is shown Sundays at noon -- the time farmers typically return from church for a midday meal. "Priests tell me that they run out of church to get home," Giurgiu said.
The pub is called La Europa and its clientele are the stereotypes of Romanian village life: the conservative farmer, the drunkard, the wily bar owner, the dreamy barmaid, the city cousin who maintains a country house, the town crier and a teacher. All frequent La Europa for a shot of plum brandy and news.
The professor has started to raise snails in anticipation of trade with the E.U. The barmaid dreams of travel. The conservative farmer is a skeptic. The drunk is the voice of truth. Puns and off-color jokes provide most of the laughter.
During the episode on animal husbandry, the villagers contemplate E.U. rules that lay out details on how, when and where to breed farm animals. "The activity is to be performed in a special place, in solitude, but in easy reach of the animals," explains the town crier to the laughter of a studio audience.
"Winding Road" is not the only TV primer for the E.U. Romania's public television network is also producing a series of quiz shows for children to introduce them to the rest of Europe. Called "Little Stars," the show familiarizes children with European cultural and popular icons, whether it's the Roman Colosseum, Don Quixote or famous soccer players.
It stops short of directly propagandizing E.U. membership. Steluta Matios, the "Little Stars" producer, said that after the long rule of Nicolae Ceausescu, the communist dictator who was executed in 1989, Romanians were wary of being told what to do. "We don't want to say 'Join the E.U. or else,' " Matios said. "Our goal is to make Romanians feel at ease in Europe."
