Comparison Between the Legal Particularities of Romania's and the United Kingdom's Membership of the European Union

• Author: Maria-Cristina Solacolu
• Position: PhD Candidate, Faculty of Law, 'Nicolae Titulescu' University of Bucharest (e-mail: maria.solacolu@gmail.com).
• Pages: 78-87

LESIJ NO. XXVI, VOL. 2/2019

COMPARISON BETWEEN THE LEGAL PARTICULARITIES OF ROMANIA’S

AND THE UNITED KINGDOM’ S MEMBERSHIP OF THE EURO PEAN UNION

Maria-Cristina SOLACOLU

∗

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.

Keywords: Opt-out – Integration – Area of Freedom, Security and Justice – Schengen

Agreement – Economic and Monetary Union.

1. Introduction

The United Kingdom, while a strong

proponent of the free market and of the

liberalisation of trade, has often been

considered one of the more reticent Member

States with regard to the integration process

and the transfer of powers toward the

∗ PhD Candidate, Faculty of Law, “Nicolae Titulescu” University of Bucharest (e-mail:

maria.solacolu@gmail.com).

1 The United Kingdom decided not to take part in the Schuman Plan, that lead to the establishment of the

European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) in 1952, and later withdrew from the negotiations held at Messina

regarding the creation of the European Economic Community (EEC) and the European Atomic Energy Community

(Euratom). The UK finally joined the European Communities in 1973; its first application to join the European

Communities had been made in 1961, and its second in 1967, but both had been vetoed by France.

2 Helen Parr, Britain’s Policy towards the European Community. Harold Wilson and Britain’s world role, 1964–

1967, Routledge, 2006, p 1.

European Union, starting with its refusal to

participate in the founding of the European

Communities1 - a decision which has since

been called a mistake by some historians2 –

and continuing, after the UK’s eventual

accession, with its attempts to steer the

organisations towards enlargement, as

opposed to the deepening of the integration