EU accession and party competition in post-communist Romania

Chiva, MC

Abstract

This paper examines the impact of the EU on party competition in post-communist
Romania by testing Robert Ladrech’s model for the Europeanization of
Central and East European party systems. It argues that, although it certainly
holds true for a variety of post-communist cases, Ladrech’s model has a very
limited explanatory power in the Romanian case after accession, for two reasons.
First, the post-accession period has seen further institutionalization of the
party system through the gradual disappearance of the extreme-right from
within the ranks of parliamentary parties, and through increased competition
between established parties on the centre-left and the centre-right of the political
spectrum. Second, there has been little change in parties’ stances on European
integration. Thus, Romanian formations’ consensus on the benefits of EU membership
has continued to exist in the period after accession, while conflicts over
the EU’s socio-economic acquis, such as those emerging in Poland and the
Czech Republic, have failed to materialize. The main explanation for this situation
is the fact that Romania continues to be subject to monitoring in the form
of the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism, which has essentially extended
the EU’s conditionality into the post-accession period. Given continued monitoring
by the European Commission, the distinction between the impact of the EU
before and after accession is therefore less clear-cut in Romania’s case than in
the case of other post-communist EU member states.

Citation

Chiva, M. (2014). EU accession and party competition in post-communist Romania. Southeast European and Black Sea Studies, 14(1), 65-82. https://doi.org/10.1080/14683857.2014.882616

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Nov 19, 2013
• Online Publication Date: Feb 14, 2014
• Publication Date: Feb 14, 2014
• Deposit Date: Dec 1, 2015
• Journal: Southeast European and Black Sea Studies
• Print ISSN: 1468-3857
• Electronic ISSN: 1743-9639
• Publisher: Routledge
• Volume: 14
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 65-82
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/14683857.2014.882616
• Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14683857.2014.882616