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Governments and EU officials are struggling to formulate a coherent response to the economic and financial turmoil that has started to engulf the eastern part of the old continent. EurActiv brings a round-up of national situations with contributions from its network.

Romania's "huge bureaucracy" means EU funds allocated to Romania are not being used, the country's President Traian Basescu told parliament in Bucharest on Monday (9 March). EurActiv Romania looked into the situation.

President Basescu strongly criticised the Romanian authorities for their inability to absorb funding under EU programmes. On Monday, the country asked the EU and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a bailout to save it from a possible financial crisis. Basescu said that from a total of nine billion euros put at the disposal of Romania by the Union, a total of 5.5 billion has not been used, covering the years 2007, 2008 and 2009. 

Central and eastern European countries have called for solidarity among member states, as several western states look to national solutions to get themselves out of the current economic crisis. The gathering of nine member states, who all joined the bloc after 2004, also offered their public support to the European Commission to uphold the principles of the internal market and fight against protectionism.

The newer member states have been alarmed by signs that richer member states intend to try and buy their way out of the crisis, an option not open to central and eastern countries. They have been calling for an EU response as a way of avoiding this trend, which could lead to a run towards economic nationalism.

The Wall that represented the geographical and political division of Europe was taken down 20 years ago, bringing euphoric hopes of unity. Yet today there is a new division in Europe - a solidarity gap.

The Russian-Ukrainian dispute became the opening act of the East-West drama that called into question the EU's credibility among its new members. The lack of long-term support on the part of the European Commission for the integration of Europe's gas transmission systems and the initial reluctance of key European leaders such as Sarkozy, Merkel or Berlusconi to enter the fray resulted in a 14-day stalemate for a number of recently-admitted EU members. One immediate result was that previously high levels of support for the union fell by nearly 20% in Bulgaria during the weeks of the crisis. Last week, fresh news of Ukraine firm Naftagoz' inability to pay Gazprom has conjured the spectre of a new gas crisis, raising new fears in EU's East.

Meanwhile, the protectionist statements by French President Nicolas Sarkozy amid the growing financial difficulties of the new member states became an alarming signal for the prospects for their economies. With their banks owned mostly by West European banking institutions and their financial balances highly dependent on foreign direct investment from the established industrial countries, the new member states face the risk of financial turmoil in the months to come.