ABSTRACT
Although there was little enthusiasm within the EU in 1997 for Romania’s accession, the significance for Romania of the European Council’s decision at Luxembourg to have an ‘evolutive and inclusive’ accession process cannot be understated. Fears that ‘the West’ was willing to forget Romania and consign it to some Southeastern European ‘grey zone’ between East and West would persist (Phinnemore, 2000a),1 but Romania was now part of a process that assumed the country’s eventual accession. As the Luxembourg European Council had made clear, Romania was ‘destined’ to join the EU (Council of the European Union, 1997: 10). Yet it was far from clear how long it would be before accession would take place. The EU, ever a cautious mover on enlargement, was saying very little. There was no timetable. Moreover, although Romania had been rehabilitated, there was plenty that it still had to do to satisfy the EU that it would one day be in a position to fulfil the Copenhagen criteria. Economically and politically, the country still faced a struggle to become a credible candidate.
