Romania and the European Union

Abstract

The accession of Romania and Bulgaria to the European Union (EU) is portrayed as one of the most challenging enlargement waves in the history of the EU Integration Process. A member of the EU since 2007, Romania had to overcome significant obstacles to qualify for EU membership. Not fully prepared for EU accession, Romania required post-accession monitoring through the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism in order to stimulate compliance in the fields of corruption, the judiciary, and the rule of law. The problems of the unfinished transition have impacted on its positive post-accession evolution in the first 10 years of EU membership. It has accomplished limited results in the field of democratic consolidation, combating high-level political corruption and experiencing episodes of democratic backsliding. Also, in this period, it has failed to materialize strategic opportunities; it proved unsuccessful in its efforts to join Schengen or in adopting the currency. Playing a more substantial role in EU policymaking proved to be another shortcoming of the Romanian political elite, stressing the incremental pace of Europeanization. Still, despite this pessimistic account, in many respects, Romania has not fallen behind. It had a general compliant behavior with EU legislation, in line with other EU member states; support for the EU has remained high throughout the decade, an indication of the benefits it has brought to broad categories of people. It is not surprising, as more than 3 million people work in an EU member state. Economic growth was another positive side of the first 10 years—despite the adverse effects of the economic crisis—with a substantial GDP growth rate. And not to be dismissed , a great benefit was the consolidation of civil society.

The Romanian Presidency of the Council of the European Union. Great Expectations?

“…Promoting National Interests? The Schengen Agenda Nevertheless, as shown previously in a paper published by one of the authors on the relationship between Romania and the European Union, Romania disposed of limited maneuver in the case of national interests (Cugleșan 2020). An indicator is that the Romanian authorities still needed to unlock several Member States' opposition to the Schengen issue during the sixmonth rotating Presidency.…”

¿Rebelión a bordo? A vueltas (de nuevo) con las relaciones entre ordenamientos en el espacio jurídico europeo

“…Segunda, apenas ingresado en la Unión, el país fue golpeado duramente por la crisis financiera de 2008, y hubo de solicitar asistencia a la Unión Europea al año siguiente. Durante un tiempo, esto generó las condiciones en las que los Gobiernos rumanos optaron por presentarse como «alumnos aventajados», lo que incluía, al menos aparentemente, cumplir con las recomendaciones de la Comisión emitidas al amparo de la Decisión 2006/928 (Cuglesan, 2020).…”