Joining the European Union - Pros and Cons

Project Overview | Country Background | The Legacy of Commuism -10 years of severe economic instability | Romania and the European Union | Economic and Social Improvements conducive to EU Integration | Joining the European Union - Pros and Cons |Sources Cited

In April 2005, Romania signed the accession treaty with the European Union, which stipulated that the country would join the EU on January 1, 2007 [|6]. The EU however, reserves the right to postpone Romania’s admission in the EU till January 2008, if it will be estimated that the country is not fully prepared to successfully meet membership requirements. While some believe that joining the EU will result in significant gains for the country, others believe the contrary, as they consider that the country is not yet ready for a successful integration.

Arguments supporting the idea that the country should join the EU but is not yet ready

While suporting the fact that Romania should join the EU, some critics argue that the country is not fully prepared to do so. As determined by the European Union, there still are a significant number of areas that the government has to improve in order to satisfy the admission criteria imposed by the EU and the most important areas the country needs to achieve improvement is public administration, judicial system and fight against corruption [|21]. Corruption is probably one of the biggest problems that Romania currently faces. Although the government did adopt measures to fight against corruption, their successful implementation depends on the “independence, effectiveness, and accountability of the National Anti-Corruption Prosecution Office” ([|31].

Although the country achieved satisfactory progress towards macro stability, and accelerated privatization, the government needs to improve public administration, fight against tax evasion -especially at the level of customs--a sector in which the Government is "firmly determined to eliminate any illegal practice, abuse or corruption act, without any kind of compromise”, reduce poverty, improve the health care sector, strengthen its institutional development and social protection institutions and adopt protective measures for the environment [|21]. Despite improvements, “Macro-economic stability remains fragile. Privatization is far from complete. Soft budgets constraints continue to exist in the form of payment arrears, which also discourages financial intermediation. The financial sector is underdeveloped. In agriculture, credit is hard to come by because of a lack of collateral and a vast smallholder sector has developed with no organized marketing outlets; above all, alternative employment has to be created to absorb the labor surplus before efficiency gains become possible” (Romania – Country Assistance Evaluation - 13). Although Romania did achieve significant economic improvements in the last few years, the country lacks far behind its neighbors. For example, although the inflation rate decreased significantly, it was twice as much that of Hungary and ten times that of Lithuania (Romania – Country Assistance Evaluation). Also, although in 2004 the country managed to significantly increase its GDP per capita to that of 7000 euro (in PPS) that is only 31.4% of the EU average [|26].

In addition, many argue that the government hasn't yet adopted sufficient protective measures for Romania’s 1 million Roma, 80% of who live in poverty. Although the World Bank provided substantial support for improving the lives of Roma, also known as gypsies, they still face severe institutional discrimination (they don’t have access to social services and are often refused basic human rights, like the right to education and health services) and are mostly unemployed, mostly due to the fact that the end of communism resulted in many state owned factories close. In order to Romania to become a functional member of the EU, in which democratic values are successfully implemented, the government has to initiate more development programs that can help the Roma become better integrated in the social and economical life of the country. They need to have the same rights as the other people and that they should feel comfortable being who they are. Roma children should be materially and socially supported to go to school, as while 79% of Romanian teenagers between 15-18 years old go to school, only 36% of the Roma do [|10]

In addition, some scholars argue that in order for the country to benefit from a successful integration, the government needs to take certain other steps (Country brief, 2006):

-eliminate administrative barriers so that the business climate is encouraging enough for foreign investors

-reform public institutions and improve governance

-reform the legislative process and the judiciary

-reform the pension system

-develop rural areas and reducing poverty

-Reform the energy sector

Pros

The Romanian government is very confident that joining the EU will result in significant gains for the country:

-economic growth

-rise in direct foreign investment

-free movement of goods, services, capital and people

-increased political stability in the region

-access to European funding

-the ability of Romanian leaders to participate in the decision taking process of the EU

-increased consumer protection

-increased access to high quality healthcare, etc.

-ability of Romanians to work in EU countries

-ability to travel, work and study anywhere in EU countries link titlelink title

Cons

Although gaining acceptance in the EU is the ultimate goal of the government, there are voices that say that Romania’s acceptance will not be as beneficial for the country. In an article published right before the Romanian elections in November 2004, journalist Tom Gallagher considers that the EU's decision to pour billions of euros into a state with weak administrative capacity has just intensified corruption [|3]. He considers that Romania is likely to become a EU member not so much due to the economic and social improvements it registered since the fall of communism, but due to its strategic geopolitical position and due to the fact that the lowering of tariff barriers in line with EU requirements will allow France, Italy and Germany, all of which have stagnant economies, to export goods into a country with 22 million consumers (Gallagher 4). Also, Romania has some of Europe’s best arable land, which can be bought at low prices by foreigners. In conclusion, Gallagher calls Romania “Europe’s very own Puerto Rico”, a country that has no proper democracy or market economy –“an exploited dependency of a neighboring Goliath [|3].

It is expected that Romania’s peasants (who currently comprise 44% of the population and earn their living by subsistence agriculture), will suffer devastating losses; once the EU Agrarian Reform will be implemented, the percentage of those employed in agriculture will be reduced to about 5% of the country’s population. For these people, the process of transition to finding alternative ways of employment will be very painful (it is estimated that an immediate consequence of joining the EU will be that approximately 33% of the country’s population will have to change their workplace). The unemployment situation will be even worse, many argue, as it may take up to 7 years from the date of the integration, for Romanian to gain the right to work in EU countries (CITE).

People will be further negatively affected by an increase in unemployment caused by the elimination of custom taxes for goods imported from the EU, which will cause an influx of foreign goods in the country. In addition, it is expected that there will be a significant rise in prices, which will be entirely incurred by consumers. As in 2004 it was estimated that Romania’s coefficient of commercial integration with the EU was the lowest of the candidate countries, scholars seriously doubt the smoothness of the transition process and many heavily criticized the government of not properly informing Romanians of what European integration actually entails, out of fear of a popular uprising of those immediately negatively affected by union.

Many Romanians are afraid that Romania will lose sovereignty after joining the EU. In addition, they are worried that Romanians will lose their cultural identity. Currently, ancestral customs /traditions that are still kept intact in many rural parts of the country. However, some people argue that once the EU Agrarian Reform will be implemented (measure which will reduce the number of those employed in agriculture to only 5 percent of the country’s population and will force most peasants to move into cities in order to find alternative ways of earning a living), Romanians will lose their cultural spirituality.