Prof. dr. Bogdan Murgescu  (Bucharest University)

Conference at Yokohama City University (December 11, 2008)

 

 

 

Romania's EU accession

- summary -

 

 

Romania’s accession to EU membership on January 1, 2007, represents a milestone in Romanian history. Together with NATO membership since 2004, EU membership roots firmly Romania into the Western World and shapes thus its evolvement in the 21st century.

The accession to full EU membership was the coronation of a long process, which has started informally with the Revolution of December 1989 and officially with the formal application submitted in 1995. In the first part of my paper, I will outline the main moments of the accession process:

  • 1999 – decision of the Helsinki EU Summit to invite Romania (together with other 11 mostly post-communist states) to start accession negotiations
  • 2000 – start of the accession negotiations
  • 2002 – removal of visa requirement for the Romanian citizen travelling to the Schengen Area
  • 2004 – successful closure of accession negotiations
  • 2005 – signature of the Accession Treaty in Luxembourg
  • 2005-2006 – ratification of the Accession Treaty by Romania, Bulgaria and all 25 EU members at that date
  • 2007 - Romania became a member of the EU.

In Romania, the accession to EU membership was supported by a huge majority of the population and by all relevant political forces. This consensus, shaped politically already in the Snagov Declaration of 1995, was based on several motives:

  • EU membership was perceived as a formal recognition that Romania is part of the West, seen both as a club of the rich countries, and as the core of the civilized world
  • NATO and EU membership are perceived as security guarantees towards Russia
  • EU membership is a chance for overcoming economic backwardness
  • EU accession was a pressure for internal reform and institutional progress
  • Romania’s integration into the EU is a chance towards individual accomplishment

In my presentation, I will focus on 2 issues:

  • the tradition of Romania’s alignment to the West, and the cultural hegemony of pro-Western ideologies during the 19th-20th centuries
  • the problem of the economic backwardness of Romania, and the experience of other countries which have become EU members being relatively underdeveloped economically compared to EU average

In the last part of the presentation, I will outline the Romanian contribution to the economic and political potential of Europe, and the Romanian positions regarding the main issues in the future development of the EU.