The recession may be easing in some of Europe’s bigger economies, but for many of the countries of Eastern Europe economic woes still loom large.

Weak economic performance in Romania – where gross domestic product shrink by 8.8 per cent in the second quarter of the year – has exacerbated social and political tensions and could prove a stumbling block to Emil Boc, the Romanian prime minister.

Al Jazeera’s David Chater reports from Bucharest, the Romanian capital.