COMPARISON BETWEEN THE LEGAL PARTICULARITIES OF ROMANIA’S AND THE UNITED KINGDOM’S MEMBERSHIP OF THE EUROPEAN UNION
COMPARISON BETWEEN THE LEGAL PARTICULARITIES OF ROMANIA’S AND THE UNITED KINGDOM’S MEMBERSHIP OF THE EUROPEAN UNION

Summary/Abstract: Since its early accession to the European Economic Community (the predecessor of the European Union), the United Kingdom has, at times, shown itself reluctant to fully integrate and adopt the acquis communautaire. The UK has chosen to negotiate several opt-outs – more than any other Member State – regarding certain EU policies, with notable examples being the Monetary Union and the Schengen Agreement. Despite being granted such exemptions, the UK has remained a more sceptical member of the EU and has become the first to ever invoke the applicability of Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union, starting the process of withdrawal from the organisation. According to the terms provided by Article 50, the completion of said process should take place in the first half of 2019, coinciding with the rotating Presidency of the Council being taken over by Romania, who only joined the EU in 2007. Its legal standing is noticeably different compared to that of the UK: Romania’s participation in the aforementioned EU policies, which the UK has opted out of, is mandatory, but conditioned by the fulfilment of specific criteria. Romania is also, alongside Bulgaria, the object of certain safeguard measures designed to address the specific issues faced by the two states. The purpose of this article is to compare certain legal particularities that characterise Romania’s and the United Kingdom’s membership of the EU, and to determine their consequences with regard to each of the two states’ relationship with the organisation, as well as to the complex position the EU finds itself in during the first half of 2019.

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