The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 8 letter word ROMANIAN
I've seen this crossword clue in Financial Times
R
O
M
A
N
I
A
N
More clues leading to the result ROMANIAN
- European or Asian controlled borders?
- National obsession little man embodies
- No wild enthusiasm amongst sailors for Vlad?
- European Right working to curb unreasonable desire
- Capital Italian island with a new following from another country?
- European moved quickly to admit Arab
- Say, Vlad the Impaler, Emperor Caesar and writer Fleming
- European in an Asian country, in Iran maybe
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "National" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case national = romanian.The cryptic/wordplay part
In cryptic crossword there's often an wordplay/cryptic part as well.This part involves a more complex hint, such as an anagram, homophone, hidden word, etc.
Sadly, We don't have an explanation for this specific crossword clue yet.