Romania was structurally handicapped after joining EU: they were forced to de-industrialize and lost their competitive manufacturing sectors, because Romania was not allowed to compete with other EU members.

I've seen this claim a lot, about various countries, but couldn't find any more detail on what the mechanisms of forced deindustrialisation might have been.

It's pretty typical for post-communist countries to lose their industries after being exposed to international competition, and probably even more so if you enter an open market like EU, but I wouldn't call it forced

UPD: ah, OK, they were indeed forced to privatise their industry, and it probably wasn't very competitive