Democracy, market liberalisation and Europeanisation: Romania's accession to the European Union

In 2007, the fifth enlargement of the European Union was finally completed with the accession of Bulgaria and Romania. The two countries were not part of the 2004 enlargement, due to some major concerns regarding their capacity to meet the Copenhagen criteria. Decades under communist rule had left these countries in a dire state, especially Romania, which had experienced one of the most totalitarian regimes under Nicolae Ceausescu. After the dictator was overthrown, Romania embarked on a process of democratic transition and economic reform. However, throughout the 1990s, it struggled to fully implement the reforms necessary to consolidate democracy and a liberal economic system. Violent events and Iliescu's reluctance in steering the country on the right path gave Romania a poor reputation among EU members, and the country became a laggard in the accession process. Things only started to change at the turn of the century, thanks to a new conviction among political leaders that membership was necessary for Romania, and that everything must be done to achieve that goal. However, critics remained sceptical of Romania's ability to fulfil the requirements of membership. The objective of this thesis is to analyse Romania’s accession to the European Union, focusing in particular on its difficult reform process to comply with the Copenhagen criteria. I aim to examine whether European integration favoured or hindered Romania’s democratic consolidation and liberalisation. For this, it will be useful to focus on the different actors, both in Romania and in the EU, and their motivations. The assumption of my thesis is that there are successes as well as limits of conditionality-based democratisation, and that while European integration set Romania on the correct path, democratic transition didn't end with European Union accession, but more efforts were required afterwards to achieve democratic consolidation.