Joan Hoey is a senior analyst in the Economist Intelligence Unit’s eastern Europe team, which she joined in 1995. She is responsible for the EIU’s coverage of political and economic developments in Romania and also has a wider interest in the former communist Balkans, including Bulgaria and the former Yugoslavia. Before joining the EIU, she worked as a freelance journalist and analyst covering eastern Europe. She was a senior research associate for the Russia, eastern Europe and Balkans research programme at the Centre for Defence and International Security Studies at Lancaster University in 1994-95. She is a regular media contributor and speaker at conferences on the region.