A lacking legitimacy in the transposition of the EU's equal opportunity directives: The case of Romania

Synopsis The academic feminist analyses of the European Union's eastern enlargement were also focused on the process' legitimacy. This article argues for an analytical differentiation between legitimacy in reference to an external process – the European Union's enlargement – and as a marker for an internal process, at the national level, of legislative change and institutional building. Focusing on the Romanian case between 2000 and 2004, it analyzes the internal processes surrounding EU-mandated gender equality legislative and institutional reforms, and tests them for legitimacy. It concludes that that internal legitimacy was profoundly lacking and reveals a democratic deficit in Romania.