The Relations Between Romania and European Union (1993-2003)

Abstract

With the collapse of the communism regimes in central and eastern Europe, the states from this area, among which Romania, expressed their aspiration to integrate in the big European family represented by the European Union. In this respect the European Union proposed “association agreements” to these countries, agreements to which Romania adhered in February 1993 (in 1995 Romania presented its request for admission in the EU). Further on, in 1997 Romania launched “The national program for the adoption of the acquis comunautaire”. An important moment for Romania has arrived at Helsinki during the meeting of the European Council (10-11 December 1999), which decided to organize bilateral intergovernmental conferences for all the 13 candidate states in order to begin the accession negotiations, which were opened by Romania on the 16th of February 2000. The Helsinki decision regarding the beginning of the admission negotiations with Romania was a political one; Romania having acute economical, juridical and administrative problems. In the European Commission 2003 country report regarding Romania, there are positive appreciations with regard to the fulfillment of the political criteria and for the progress made in the adoption of the acquis comunautaire as well as for the economical progress but Romania still did not receive the statute of functional market economy. On the other hand the malfunctions still persist in the domains of public administration, agriculture, justice and the fight against corruption.