As Romania prepares to join the European Union (EU) in January 2007, a Romanian official warned that the accession would virtually erode all national identity in a panel discussion held last Friday in Boylston Hall.

Dan Dimancescu, Romania’s honorary Boston consul, said that his country was particularly vulnerable given the country’s fragile nature.

“Romania is still a very fragile country institutionally,” he said. “EU entry will bring some vitality, but it will bulldoze cultural identity.”

The cultural loss would largely be attributed to rapid modernization, the consul said. Just outside Bucharest, the Romanian capital, billion dollar complexes and modern offices that are “ugly culturally” are already going up, he added.

Dimancescu, a 1976 graduate of Harvard Business School, expressed further concern about the economic challenges the country would face. While the consul agreed that the integration would open the country’s doors to more markets, he said that it would also cripple small businesses and increase social division.

“We must deal with the killing of small enterprises,” said Dimancescu. “Salaries going up will lead to social tension. Someone will try to take advantage of the situation.”

With large corporations moving in to invest in the country, Dimancescu said that Romania would fall victim to “capital colonization.”

“Consumer stores are foreign-owned,” he said. “The profits are going out of the country. Retaining wealth in a country is extremely hard. Perhaps the situation will get worse after Romanian entry.”

Dimancescu was joined on the panel by Frank J. Bailey, the honorary Boston consul for Bulgaria. Bulgaria will also join the EU in 2007.

The panel was hosted jointly by the Harvard Romanian Association and the Harvard Bulgarian Club.