Europeanization and Democratization - CIRES

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initiatives since early 80`s).
Furthermore, the structural complexity of Romania explains the more difficult
path of the reforming process required for the EU accession. In this sense,
Romania shares a lot of structural similarities with Poland: a rather large
territory and population comparing with other candidate countries, a large
and underdeveloped agricultural sector as well as a complex but obsolete
industrial sector which had to be reformed. In the specific context of the
post-communist transition, the obsolete heavy industry legacy has proved to
be a continuous obstacle considering its difficult and socially painful
dismantling process.
``EU Conditionality`` and Romania
Like in the rest of CEECs countries, EU-Romania relations have implied a
gradual build-up of ``EU conditionality``. This was introduced first with the
launch of the PHARE program and the European Agreement in early 90`s. At
the same time it has to be mentioned that, initially, the EU conditions were not
backed up by the promise of membership. Rather, better access to the
common market as well as enhanced political cooperation with Brussels and
the Member States were the chief benefits envisaged by the European
Agreement. A clear momentum has been represented by the 1993
Copenhagen Council were the accession criteria/conditions were clearly
stated. However, until 1995, when Romanian officially forwarded his
application for EU membership, the ``EU conditionality`` has not been firmly
embedded in the Romanian political discourse.
The Copenhagen criteria/conditions were clarified and extended through the
Accession Partnerships and especially in the course of the accession