Europeanization of good governance in Romania: where and why does it fail, and what can be done about it?

Abstract

What impact does the European Union (EU) have on good governance Romania? The analysis shows that EU-driven governance reforms improve substantive legality (the alignment of domestic legislation with international best standards), state capacity but weaken formal legality (the inner morality of law), many aspects of impartiality, efficiency-effectiveness and the coherence of state structures and policies. As a result, good governance is undermined. The persistence of bad governance is explained by three fundamental problems of Europeanization: 1. focus on quantity instead of quality, 2. partisan empowerment of change agents, 3. biased assessment of reform progress. The main argument is supported by an indicator-based analysis and qualitative interviews with representatives from the EU and Romania.