The Effects of the European Union's Democratic Conditionality: The Case of Romania during Accession

The EU's political conditionality has been a powerful although not always effective instrument for promoting democratic standards in accession countries. It has exploited the leverage that Brussels enjoys over them because a failure to comply can call EU entry into question. However, because of domestic constraints the implementation of the conditions has not been as straightforward as is sometimes assumed. In Romania's case, problems of state capacity and government reluctance over reform have persisted for much of the accession period. The country's record before EU entry shows a limited, and in some cases belated, effort in overcoming deep-rooted problems of political effectiveness over conditionality. On the whole, there was more success in Romania with formal responses to the EU's political conditions than with inducing behavioural changes to underpin their implementation. Nevertheless, it may be said that Romania's record here was more impressive when viewed diachronically in terms of its own democratic development than cross-nationally when compared with other candidate countries from post-communist Europe.