Between Rhetoric and Action: Reflections on Romania’s European Union Accession and Political Conditionality – The Views from Brussels and Bucharest

The role of political elites is an important theme in the study of EU enlargement; but how this relates to domestic politics is often neglected. This theme is applied to Romania, with a focus on the problems of implementing the EU’s political conditions. Firstly, attention is given to the conditiona...

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Main Author: Geoffrey Pridham
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: European Institute of Romania 2006-10-01
Series:Romanian Journal of European Affairs
Subjects:
Online Access:https://rjea.ier.gov.ro/wp-content/uploads/articole/RJEA_Vol6_No3_Between-Rhetoric_and_Action.pdf
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author Geoffrey Pridham
author_facet Geoffrey Pridham
author_sort Geoffrey Pridham
collection DOAJ
description The role of political elites is an important theme in the study of EU enlargement; but how this relates to domestic politics is often neglected. This theme is applied to Romania, with a focus on the problems of implementing the EU’s political conditions. Firstly, attention is given to the conditionality policy adopted by Brussels with respect to Romania; and then, secondly, attention turns to Bucharest. The analysis of Romanian responses is based on a distinction between political will and political capacity. While there are some positive elite characteristics relating to the will factor, although complicated by instrumental attitudes towards conditionality, various problems of political capacity help much to explain Romania’s persistent difficulties for much of the accession period in meeting Brussels’ demands.
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spelling doaj-art-20078092ec3e4dcaa00a235542a08fca2025-08-20T03:31:28ZengEuropean Institute of RomaniaRomanian Journal of European Affairs1582-82711841-42732006-10-0163524Between Rhetoric and Action: Reflections on Romania’s European Union Accession and Political Conditionality – The Views from Brussels and BucharestGeoffrey Pridham0Professor of European Politics at the University of Bristol, UKThe role of political elites is an important theme in the study of EU enlargement; but how this relates to domestic politics is often neglected. This theme is applied to Romania, with a focus on the problems of implementing the EU’s political conditions. Firstly, attention is given to the conditionality policy adopted by Brussels with respect to Romania; and then, secondly, attention turns to Bucharest. The analysis of Romanian responses is based on a distinction between political will and political capacity. While there are some positive elite characteristics relating to the will factor, although complicated by instrumental attitudes towards conditionality, various problems of political capacity help much to explain Romania’s persistent difficulties for much of the accession period in meeting Brussels’ demands.https://rjea.ier.gov.ro/wp-content/uploads/articole/RJEA_Vol6_No3_Between-Rhetoric_and_Action.pdfdemocratisationeu accessioneu enlargementpolitical elitesromania
spellingShingle Geoffrey Pridham
Between Rhetoric and Action: Reflections on Romania’s European Union Accession and Political Conditionality – The Views from Brussels and Bucharest
Romanian Journal of European Affairs
democratisation
eu accession
eu enlargement
political elites
romania
title Between Rhetoric and Action: Reflections on Romania’s European Union Accession and Political Conditionality – The Views from Brussels and Bucharest
title_full Between Rhetoric and Action: Reflections on Romania’s European Union Accession and Political Conditionality – The Views from Brussels and Bucharest
title_fullStr Between Rhetoric and Action: Reflections on Romania’s European Union Accession and Political Conditionality – The Views from Brussels and Bucharest
title_full_unstemmed Between Rhetoric and Action: Reflections on Romania’s European Union Accession and Political Conditionality – The Views from Brussels and Bucharest
title_short Between Rhetoric and Action: Reflections on Romania’s European Union Accession and Political Conditionality – The Views from Brussels and Bucharest
title_sort between rhetoric and action reflections on romania s european union accession and political conditionality the views from brussels and bucharest
topic democratisation
eu accession
eu enlargement
political elites
romania
url https://rjea.ier.gov.ro/wp-content/uploads/articole/RJEA_Vol6_No3_Between-Rhetoric_and_Action.pdf
work_keys_str_mv AT geoffreypridham betweenrhetoricandactionreflectionsonromaniaseuropeanunionaccessionandpoliticalconditionalitytheviewsfrombrusselsandbucharest