Sorta, i guess. We're still in the transition period IMHO.
At the last election, the Romanian diaspora saved us from a humiliating election where the communists would continue what they are doing. The ruling communists at the time made it so that voting abroad was extremely difficult, with 8+ hours of waiting in line to cast your vote. And despite this, the diaspora stood in line for hours and rioted and complained just to cast their vote. The European Union was outraged when they heard what happened and demanded better voting conditions for the Romanians working abroad. In the country, the citizens from the cities voted against communism but they could never hope to match the number of votes from the peasants, senior citizens and the impoverished counties. In this time, the communist party ran a smear campaign against all Romanians working abroad, calling them traitors and against the opposition candidate who is a LUTHERAN (so a traitor to the state religion).
In the second row of election, the diaspora had slightly better conditions to vote (there were no longer european cities with 10.000+ romanians with a single voting booth). The communists lost.
Now we have a president who is NOT ethnically Romanian (he is a Saxon) and is NOT orthodox (here the religion defines being a Romanian in the eyes of many). He seems like a nice, humble, hard working man.
This was a disastrous blow to the communists who only preach balkan-style ultranationalism (see Greece, Serbia, Albania etc). Now, they do not control the whole governing apparatus of the country. They still have the very important position of prime-minister tho, but not for long.
As for work conditions, it depends, i guess. The EU did impose some more humane working conditions and rights, however without hard proof and vague orders the common worker has little hope against corporations. And even if someone does take legal action, the Hague is their only hope as our judicial system is the most corrupt in the EU and our laws can be interpreted in any way possible. Very few can afford the energy and time to be in trials that last more than 10 years just to fight a very complex corrupt system.
Slowly but surely things are changing tho. The old guard is dying, and people who have seen how things work in the west come back with new ideas. Someday they might not even be in the minority.
P.S. I know i seem to be painting a picture of the "west" as a bastion of justice and order. But trust me when i say this, with all it's flaws and corruption, it is FAR better than anything here.
