Regionalization in Romania: Necessity or EU Request?
Regionalization in Romania: Necessity or EU Request?

Summary/Abstract: Early on, after the experience of communism, Romania embraced the European path. However, the traditional centralized state structures inherited from the communist period made the transition difficult. In 1998, eight development regions were created in Romania to manage the pre-accession European funds. Yet, each region had only two institutions: the Agency of Regional Development (ARD) and the Council of Regional Development (CRD). We aim to shed light on the implications triggered by the creation of these eight regions, by focusing on the division of competences between the central, regional and local unities. Part of a PhD thesis, this paper intends to question the regionalization process in Romania: How did it happen and who supported it?; Which were the main changes in the central and local administrations?; How did the European regulations apply in the regionalization of Romania? This study is based on empirical work including around fifteen interviews with civil servants involved in this important reform. The civil servants work either in the two institutions previously mentioned or in the ministries and in the central apparatus of the state. Our purpose is to create a comparison between Romania’s regionalization path and the one followed by other countries, such as France. In this sense, the scope of the present research is to assess whether the reform represents a direct application of an EU request or if Romania forged its own path.

• Details
• Contents