Romania and European Union. The Discursive Perspective of Political Relations

Eastern enlargement had tested the EU’s capacity of integration of former communist states. The role of EU in Romania`s democratization is fully acknowledged by literature, but Romania still has problems in reforming its judicial system and eradicating corruption. This article aims to investigate how discourses refect the political relations of Romania and EU between 2014 and 2019. In doing so, this paper analysis 20 formal public discourses of Romanian and European politicians and uses newspapers and official sites as sources. The results indicate that Romania faces another political crisis in 2017 consisting in passing of new justice law and Emergency Ordinance 13 that creates impunity for high-level officials who have been convicted for corruption. The UE responds with the CVM reports that shows Romania still has a long way to go in order to become a fully integrated EU member state.