The Jiu Valley (Romanian: Valea Jiului) is a region in southwestern Romania, in Hunedoara county, situated in a valley of the Jiu River between the Retezat Mountains and the Parâng Mountains. The region was heavily industrialised and the main activity was coal mining, but due to low efficiency, most of the mines were closed down in the years following the collapse of Communism in Romania.

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LUPENI, Romania (AFP) - The rattling lift stops with a screech as a dozen men appear out of the semi-darkness. "If I found another job, I would leave tomorrow," says Viorel, one of 2,500 miners in Lupeni in southern Romania.

"Nothing has changed here in 100 years," says the 38-year-old miner, who has spent half his life digging for coal 300 metres (985 feet) under the earth in this mine dating back to 1892. Coal mining "has no future" anymore, he adds.

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Just up the hill in this forgotten manufacturing town, it's feeding time at the rundown Buhusi Zoo, tucked behind a bouquet of Soviet-style apartment buildings. Mihai Gheorghiu, the deputy director, cracks open the freezer and the stench of meat tumbles out. As if on cue, a rumbling emerges from the cages.

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Livability in Jiu Valley can be described in terms of human resources, migration phenomena, income poverty, and subjective well-being of its population.

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At the request of the Romanian authorities and local community of Jiu Valley, a World Bank team performed the assessment of economic competitiveness and poverty in the Jiu Valley Region of Romania. The study is a first step toward establishing a World Bank operation to support the design and implementation of a comprehensive economic development strategy for this region. The objective of this Analytical Advisory Assistance is to assess the region’s sources of competitiveness and driving forces for economic growth, as well as its poverty incidence and causes. This knowledge is critical for designing targeted and optimal interventions for the implementation of a pro-poor growth development strategy.

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Romania will join the European Union in January 2007. Good news for the millions who will flee west for work, says Tom Gallagher: but inside the country, Bucharest's road to Brussels is the fruit of an unedifying alliance between corporate businessmen and European leftists that will benefit only a tiny elite.

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As many as two million people were killed or persecuted by the former communist authorities in Romania, an official report says.

The report was presented to parliament by Romanian President Traian Basescu. It was the first such official inquiry into Romania's communist-era crimes.

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