Romania, which takes over the EU's rotating presidency on Tuesday for the first time since it joined the bloc in 2007, is a former communist country with a population of 20 million.
It is also known as a breeding ground for film-makers, hackers and a travel destination prized by Prince Charles.
1. Diaspora, past and present
Since the fall of communism at the end of 1989, around four million Romanians have left the country. While the exodus has emptied villages and created shortages of skilled labour, it has also generated large transfers of money to the families left behind -- $4.3 billion or two percent of gross domestic product in 2017.
The phenomenon is not new. Many intellectuals left Romania before World War II and made a name for themselves in Europe's arts world -- from playwright Eugene Ionesco and sculptor Constantin Brancusi to composer Georges Enesco and poet Paul Celan.
Francesco Illy, who invented the espresso machine, and Johnny Weissmuller, who played Tarzan on the silver screen, are both from Timisoara, a town in the west of the country that was formerly part of the Austro-Hungarian empire.
2. Silicon Valley or Hackerville?
Romania's IT sector is booming to such an extent that experts see it as the future "Silicon Valley" of Eastern Europe.
A number of homegrown companies, including Bitdefender or UiPath, have been able to make their mark internationally, while thousands of young IT workers are recruited every year by the sector giants.
At the same time, Romania is regarded as a nest of cyber crime: Ramnicu Valcea -- a sleepy town in the south which was home to a number of hackers arrested in recent years -- has been nicknamed "Hackerville" by foreign media.