ROMANIA'S REAL CONVERGENCE TO THE EUROPEAN UNION Dragos Mihai Ungureanu , Permanent Representation of Romania to the European Union Ruxandra Dana Vilag, Romanian-American University Bucharest George Horia Ionescu, Romanian-American University Bucharest Florian Bogdan Stoian, “Lucian Blaga†University of Sibiu

In the process of European integration, switching in 1999 to the third stageof Economic and Monetary Union, has intensified the need to coordinate economic andsectoral policies of the Member States. The process of coordination is necessary toharmonize national economic policy objectives in order to minimize the negative impactof economic policy measures taken by some member countries to other member countriesand reduce the temptation for Member States to have behavior riders. Real Convergenceis an essential goal of Romanian integration into the European Union. Attenuation of thedevelopment gaps maintained between Romania and the EU can not be achieved solelythrough the use of market forces. Economic transformations occurring globally andincreased risk aversion contributed to a signifiant reduction of capital flows to Romania,increased pressures upon exchange rate.