In the context of this year’s European Parliament elections, Libertatea asked three experts what was the impact of Romania’s accession to the European Union.
In addition to the fact that Romania is a net beneficiary of non-refundable funds, receiving three times more money than it gave, they also emphasize other advantages of the fact that our country is part of the community space:
– The standard of living has increased due to the infusion of money, both European and as a result of foreign investments
– Circulation only on the basis of the bulletin, without a passport and without waiting for visas at embassies
– The fact that Romania is obliged to comply with a series of rules, from banking to public finance to environmental policies or the rules of democracy
– Expertise received both from European institutions and thanks to Western companies that came to Romania
– Modernization of the economy
– We import products without customs duties, we export the same
– Agriculture and highways made with European money.
The four basic freedoms of the EU
Cristian Păun, professor of economics at the Academy of Economic Studies (ASE) in Bucharest, says that Romania’s great advantage is that it is part of a group with rules that are the basis of development.
“The benefits are the four freedoms: free movement of people, goods, services and capital. Unfortunately, I did not take full advantage of the four freedoms. The only freedom exploited in our country was leaving the country. And the import of goods, so Romanian producers could no longer raise prices as they wanted,” said Păun, for Libertatea.
Romanian companies have not expanded to other countries
However, he believes that Romania has not capitalized on the freedom of capital, and domestic companies have not made their way to the West, as multinationals have come to our country.
“We have not made much use of the free movement of capital, as Poland has done. Romanian companies have not internationalized, they have not expanded to other countries. And we didn’t do as well as Hungary and Slovakia, which attracted a lot of foreign investment and are now net exporters. We go and travel in Greece and Bulgaria, but we do not open businesses in Greece, for example hotels”, he points out.
We hate foreigners for colonizing us, but we colonize others and we have 5 million Romanians gone to the EU.
Cristian Păun, ASE teacher:
The rules are basic
He says that the good part of EU membership is the common rules.
“The good part is that the EU has come up with some macroprudential rules on the deficit and government spending, as well as rules related to democracy and justice,” he says.
Romania must respect a budget deficit, i.e. the difference between state revenues and expenditures, of 3% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), according to European regulations.
Following the pandemic, several states ended up with deficits above this level, and this year, our country must meet a 5% target.
Integration is not complete: we are not in the euro and the Schengen area
It is also important that our integration is not complete: we are not in the euro area and we are only partially in the Schengen area, with air and maritime space, says Professor Păun.
Romania partially joined the Schengen area from March 31, 2024, due to Austria’s opposition, which claims that migrants reach the West through Romania. Our country has been complying with the technical conditions since 2011, and Austria has consistently resisted for the past two years.
Entering the Schengen zone would mean no more border controls, which means increasing the speed of exports, so more money entering Romania annually.
Our country loses 200 million euros monthly due to the fact that we did not join and land, and annually, the estimates are 2.5 billion euros. In ten years, the cumulative amount is 25 billion euros, according to Răzvan Nicolescu, the president of the Association for Clean Energy.
Austria did not exercise its veto on Croatia’s accession to Schengen, although this route was more used by migrants to reach the West.
Joining the euro
For economics professor Cristian Păun, however, joining the euro is more important than Schengen, and he gives as an example Croatia, a state that joined the EU after Romania in 2013, but which adopted the euro as its currency in 2023.
“We would have spent less time in customs if we solve the scanners that have not been working for 10 years. Unfortunately, for the euro zone we no longer respect almost any criteria, and real convergence is also a problem”, concludes the economics professor.
Banking regulations as in the euro area
Dan Suciu, the spokesperson of the National Bank of Romania (BNR), shows that joining the EU has also raised banking standards.
The financial contribution of the European Union is enormous to the development of Romania, plus we are in a club with some values and that helps us. From the NBR’s point of view, banking procedures are the same as in the euro area.
Dan Suciu said:
At the same time, the expertise received helps a lot: “Governor Mugur Isărescu is part of the board of governors (the main decision-making body of the European Central Bank – no), we have very frequent contacts”.
Asked what Romania would look like without the European Union, he points to the east of the Prut.
“If we want to see what Romania would have looked like without the EU, we should have gone to the Republic of Moldova until the last few years. It’s like time travel. But for several years, since they also turned to the EU, progress can be immediately seen there as well”, claims Suciu.
Anca Dragu, former finance minister of Romania in the Cioloș cabinet, is now governor of the Bank of Moldova, while other Romanian experts are in the administration in Chisinau.
“The EU brought us order”
Tax consultant Emilian Duca says that the EU has both good and bad parts, but that overall, the advantages are much greater.
The sovereigns want to be at the top, but the EU first of all brought us a little order and know-how (expertise – no) in the administration of the market economy. It’s clearly discontent because we have to follow rules, and our trait as a people is that we don’t want to follow rules.
Emilian Duca, consultant:
Also, the amounts received led to an increase in the standard of living. “I could have received even more. I was skeptical, but overall we did well, and this was seen in the standard of living, which increased after accession”, says Duca.
“Then there is modernization: it’s no longer like it was in communism when it was said “they pretend to pay us, we pretend to work”, he points out.
Regarding Schengen, Duca says that at the moment, our only real connection with the West is through Austria and Hungary, “and they are not dying for our sake”.
What are the cons?
The negative side of the EU is the left-wing policies and some of the measures taken by the authorities in Brussels, which irritate parts of the population.
“The minus is represented by all the left-wing policies, which harm the interests of the population. If the EU requires me to selectively collect garbage, for me as a citizen it is additional work, but for society it is a plus.
The same in agriculture: the EU requires that 4% of the land is not used, so it causes a loss to the farmers, but in the long term, this policy protects the land”, explains the expert.
Highways and agriculture on European money
Another argument is the fact that most of the European money went to agriculture and infrastructure.
“Romanian farmers do agriculture on European money, and the state builds highways with EU funds. If it was also found for hospitals, it would have been even better. But you can’t steal money there and the administration doesn’t work,” says the tax consultant.
He states that the Romanians who are now leaving for Western countries are no longer doing so because of poverty, the main factor being the poor quality of services in Education and Health.
The standard of living has increased
A recent study by professors Christian Năsulea and Diana-Florentina Năsulea from the Bucharest Academy of Economic Studies, plus Radu Nechita from the Babeș-Bolyai University in Cluj, shows that the standard of living has increased.
“Overall, Romania’s accession to the EU has been a success story: living standards have risen significantly since 2000, when this prospect of accession became a realistic expectation. From 17% of the EU average in 2000, Romania’s real GDP/capita increased to 24% in 2007 and reached 35% in 2023 (Eurostat, 2024). In some more prosperous areas, the standard of living is above the EU average and higher than in some regions of “Old Europe”, says the study of the three.
Romania surpassed Hungary in terms of purchasing power parity, and a comparison with Serbia shows the impact of Romania’s accession to the EU.
“A comparison with Serbia suggests the impact of Romania’s accession to the EU: Serbia oscillated around 36th (2005) and 37th (2021) in the ranking of the Economic Complexity Index, with an increase in GDP/capita from 2,207 dollars in 1995 to 9,230 dollars in 2021, while Romania grew from 1,650 dollars to 14,927 dollars in the same period”, according to the study called “Revitalization of the Single Market for the next 30 years”.
Without the EU, the administration would have been abusive like in Russia
Fiscal consultant Emilian Duca wonders why Romanians would want to leave the community space, since the benefits are multiple.
“Why would you want to leave the EU? For the authorities in Romania to fine you and then come one with political protection? The administration was created to be abusive in any Eastern state and it is seen in Russia…”.
Lack of education in sovereignists and nostalgic communists
He shows that the lack of education is the main cause for sovereignists and communist nostalgics, who believe that the influence of the EU is negative.
“Dissatisfaction is due to lack of education, it’s easier to believe that a third party is to blame for everyone’s difficulties than that their choices are to blame,” points out Emilian Duca.
“Those who wonder why we should still be in the EU should ask themselves why Ukraine wants so ardently to be part of the Union and NATO,” he concludes.
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