Annals of the University of Oradea: Economic Science (Jul 2015)
THE EFFECTS OF REGIONAL POLICIES IN ROMANIA
Abstract
If we were to consider that Romania was formed by the unification of provinces that experienced a strong unity through culture, language, religion, as well as through the intense trade relations existing between them over time, we may say that our country has an important historical experience regarding regionalisation. After 1989, Romania underwent a radical change of economic and political organisation (from a centralised economy to a free, market economy) and the approximation to the Western economic structures, the European Union (EU). Under these conditions the national authorities had to take into account the principles and the organisation and functioning of the European capitalist economies. During the communist period, Romania had an administrative-territorial and economic organisation that favoured centralised decision making. In the case of market economies, organisation allows and encourages the decentralisation of decision making. In the mid '90s, the economic and social realities of Romania lead to the achieving of the regionalisation of the national territory in accordance with the subsidiarity principle of the EU. Regionalisation sought to identify the most appropriate spatial and territorial framework for guiding the economic development processes, by facilitating the use of tools and resources provided by the European Union. The regional development policy is a continuation of the policies of national economic growth and development, both aiming at improving the economic and social life of the national communities. The final aim of this paper is to identify the economic and social situation of the development regions in Romania. The study provides insight into Romania's relations with the European Union, with regard to the access and use of the pre-accession European funds. Furthermore, the paper achieves a qualitative analysis, through a positive approach, but also a quantitative one of the economic and social situation of each development region in Romania, taking into account the final aim of the regional development policy. The time period considered for the analysis starts in the year when negotiations for EU membership officially began and goes on for as long as possible, depending on the availability of official statistics. A heuristic presentation of the evolution of regional development in Romania is targeted through the analysis of certain economic indicators representative for the situation of the human communities in each development region.
