Assistant Professor Nicoleta SIRGHI
Assistant Professor Ioana VADASAN
1
West University of Timisoara,
Romania
Faculty of Economics and
Business Administration
Master Program: European
Studies and International
Relations
2
Motivation of our paper
Romania’s road to the EU
The advantages of being a
member of the European Union
 Structural funds
 Persons’ freedom of movement
3
Structure of the paper
Short history of Romania’s
relations with the EU
Structural funds
The persons’ freedom of
movement
Conclusions
4
Short history of Romania’s
relations with the EU
 1974 - commercial relations with the EEC
countries
 1980 - official recognition of the EEC
 1991 – Trade and Cooperation agreement
 1995 - Demand
 1997 – Commission response
 1999, December – decision to start de
negotiations
 2000, February – start of the negotiations
5
Short history of Romania’s
relations with the EU
 2004, December – temporary closing of
the negotiations
 2005, April the 25th – Signature of the
Adhesion Treaty
 2006, September – Announcement of the
adhesion date
 2007, January the 1st – Romania is the 27th
EU member
6
Advantages. Structural funds
 2007-2013: more than 30 billions of Euros
7
Romania’s level of
development
8
Disadvantages
Structural funds
 The contribution to the EU budget
 1.1 billions Euros in 2007
 1.4 billions Euros in 2008
 1.5 billions Euros in 2009
 Insufficient absorption of structural funds
 21% in 2007
 60% in 2008
 ????? in 2009
9
Absorption degree in other
EU countries, 2004-2006
19.30%
Cyprus
23.50%
Czech Republic
24.50%
Poland
25.20%
Latvia
25.60%
Lithuania
26.20%
Malta
27.60%
Slovakia
29.40%
Estonia
32.60%
Hungary
34.10%
Slovenia
0.00%
5.00%
10.00%
15.00%
20.00%
25.00%
30.00%
35.00%
10
Advantages. The persons’
freedom of movement
 The possibility of travelling (the Schengen Area)
 The possibility of studying abroad
 The possibility of working abroad (2 + 3 + 2)
 2007-2008
 2009-2011
 2012-2013
11
2+3+2
 No more restrictions: Estonia, Finland, Poland,






Slovakia, Czech Republic, Cyprus, Sweden, Slovenia,
Latvia, Lithuania, Bulgaria, Spain, Denmark, Greece,
Hungary and Portugal
Netherland (until July the 1st 2009),
Belgium and the United Kingdom (until 2011),
Ireland (until 2012),
Germany, France, Austria, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta
(until 2013).
The member states of European Economic Area
(Liechtenstein, Island and Norway) have also
maintained the restrictions until 2013.
Switzerland (2016?)
12
Disadvantages. The persons’
freedom of movement
 External migration: reasons
 The price differences (wage differences,
profit rates differences, interest rates
differences)
 Income difference
 Differences in the level of economic
development
13
Medium wage
14
Disadvantages. The persons’
freedom of movement
 External migration: consequences
 About 2-2.5 millions Romanians work abroad
 Lake of qualified labor force in Romania
 In the destination countries:


the wages have dropped by only 0.08% due to
immigration
the unemployment has raised by only 0.04%.
15
Labor force productivity, %
120
111.9
100
104.5
100
111.4
104.4
100
110.9
104.2
100
110.7
104
100
110.4
103.8
100
110.2
103.7
100
109.7
103.6
100
80
UE 27
UE 25
60
UE 15
40
29.1
31.1
34.3
36.2
39.9
42
44
R omania
20
0
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
16
The crisis. Consequences
 Structural funds
 Labor force
 Unemployment increase
 Home return
17
CONCLUSION
EU membership could be an
opportunity, but it depends on
each member state to take
advantage of it
18
Thank you for your
attention
nicoleta.sirghi@yahoo.com
ioanacaz@yahoo.com
19