Europeanization in the Making: Perceptions of the Economic Effects of European Integration in Romania

Abstract

Using data collected through a national omnibus survey conducted in September 2017, this contribution studies the Romanian public's attitude towards the European Union. Our goal is to observe and explain patterns of EU support in Romania, a country that continues to keep its pro-European orientation despite little economic progress after European integration and the low salience of European issues in the Romanian public space. In this sense, we challenge one of the most frequent approaches towards EU support: the utilitarian theory, according to which citizens' perceptions of CEE countries' European integration are shaped by the economic benefits brought by integration. The study first analyses hard data on the economic effects of European integration and then it aims to assess Romanian citizens' perceptions of the EU. The aim of the investigation is to identify shifts (if any) in Romanians' attitudes towards the EU and factors that can explain citizens' apparent unreserved trust in the EU. Our assumption is that the pro-European attitudes in a country where Europeanization is still ``in the making'' are shaped by the perceived desirability of European values and the disenchantment with the national governments' performance.