Romania and The European Union: From Marginalisation to Membership?

by Papadimitriou; Dimitris

• ISBN13: 9780415373265
• ISBN10: 0415373263
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2008-05-14
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

This new book explores Romania's relationship with the European Union since the collapse of the Ceausescu regime in 1989 and its efforts to gain EU membership. The authors present the reader with a clear sense of the debate, with full coverage of Romania's inclusion in the Phare programme, its official application for EU membership, Luxembourg's decision not to invite Romania to open accession negotiations, the Helsinki decision to begin accession negotiations, and the state of the current accession negotiations. Alongside analysis of these developments, key issues are tackled in depth, including: * the changing face of Romania's political elite as it comes to terms with the demands of European integration and pursues the domestic reforms required to secure entry * the process of macroeconomic reform in accordance with the EU's Copenhagen criterion, concerning the need for a 'functioning market economy' * public administrationreform, the slow pace of which has been identified as a key obstacle to Romania's entry into the EU. This book will be of great interest for all students and scholars of politics, economics and of European integration in particular.

Table of Contents

List of illustrations	p. x
Acknowledgements	p. xi
List of abbreviations	p. xii
Introduction	p. 1
The dynamics of EU enlargement	p. 1
Europeanisation, conditionality and domestic reform	p. 10
The main arguments of the book	p. 14
From isolation to incomplete rehabilitation: the politics of cautious rapprochement, 1989-1997	p. 17
The European Community and communist Romania	p. 18
The PHARE programme and the negotiation of the trade and cooperation agreement	p. 20
Romania's 'Europe' agreement	p. 24
The Copenhagen criteria and the EU's pre-accession strategy	p. 31
The Romanian EU membership application and the Commission's opinion	p. 34
Conclusion	p. 39
1997-2007 -from rehabilitation to accession: the struggle for a credible candidacy	p. 40
The accession process	p. 40
Helsinki ... and Kosovo	p. 43
Progress in negotiations: meeting the Copenhagen criteria: 2000-2002	p. 46
Explaining Romania's progress: open windows, rhetoric ... and some piggy-backing?	p. 51
From Copenhagen to closure: 2002-2004	p. 54
Explaining closure	p. 58
Onwards to membership: 2005-2007	p. 60
Conclusion	p. 62
A maturing democracy? Romania's political system on the road to EU membership	p. 64
1989-1991: Revolution and the absence of a European narrative	p. 66
1992-1996: Factionalism, shifting policies and agendas	p. 68
1996-2000: Coalition and the Europeanisation of politics	p. 77
2000-2004: New social democrats and a new commitment to integration	p. 83
2004-2007: Change but consensus on Europe	p. 87
Conclusion	p. 90
Postscript	p. 91
Stop-go economic transition: the long road to a functioning market economy	p. 93
Communist legacies and the politics of economic gradualism	p. 94
The failure of economic gradualism 1989-1996	p. 97
The road to nowhere: the democratic convention in power (1996-2000)	p. 99
Unlikely reformers: the social democrats in power (2000-2004)	p. 101
Beyond the Sisyphus Curse: in search of institutional stability and good governance	p. 104
Conclusion	p. 106
Recasting the Romanian state: the challenge of good governance	p. 108
Post-communist executive reform and coalition building	p. 109
EU enlargement and public administration reform	p. 111
Twinning	p. 115
Decentralisation and regional reform	p. 119
Conclusion	p. 123
Plugging a leaky border: complying with the justice and home affairs acquis and preparing for Schengen	p. 124
Securing the EU's borders - the challenges for Romania	p. 125
An elusive and dynamic acquis	p. 127
Assistance and advice	p. 128
Conditionality and Euro-Atlantic integration	p. 131
Progress with plugging	p. 132
Institutional change	p. 136
Change and challenges on Romania's borders	p. 137
From Europeanisation to Schengen member?	p. 139
Conclusion	p. 140
Notes	p. 147
Bibliography	p. 157
Index	p. 178
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