romania is a semi-presidential unitary state. it was created when moldavia and wallachia joined together in 1859. it was given its independence in the treaty of berlin of 1878. at the end of world war ii, some of its land (close by what is now known as moldova) was occupied by the ussr. after the iron curtain fell in 1989 romania was liberated from the communist regime. during the 2000s, romania made changes to the country, such as reform the democratic system, human rights acts, freedom of speech acts, economy and law. that let romania join the european union on january 1, 2007.