Survey: Romania, among the countries least influent and relevant in the EU, two months before taking over the rotating Presidency of the Council of the European Union

A survey by the influential think-tank European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) that measures the level of influence Member States have within the European Union shows that Romania is among the countries least relevant in shaping policy at the European Union level.

Out of a total of more than 800 experts throughout the European Union who have been interviewed in the survey (ranging from politicians to ministers, journalists, and people in academia) only 0.8% believe their country would contact Romania for policy matters concerning the EU. Only five other countries scored lower than Romania (Cyprus, Bulgaria, Slovenia, Malta, and Croatia respectively) all with populations much smaller as a percentage of total the EU, considerably smaller than that of Romania.

Poland, on the other hand, an Easter-European state much similar in size and population with Romania, came in at number 6 most influential country in the EU, behind only the EU traditional heavyweights like Germany, France, Great Britain, the Netherlands, and Italy.

The survey was conducted by ECFR between April 24 and June 12, 2018, with the full report published on October 30. One of the questions participants had to respond to was the following: „Which other EU member states your government would contact most on European policy matters (you can select up to five countries)?”

What the results show is that Romania and Bulgaria have little or no say when it comes to major EU policy decisions.

You can read the full survey here.

Traducerea: Ovidiu Harfaș