This context has however changed dramatically since 1989 and has in effect passed through three distinct phases. Firstly, Romania went through a traumatic and euphoric transition in trying to break free of its communist legacy and restore its position as a fully sovereign state. In the second phase Romania chose to align its policy thinking and institutions to qualify for NATO and EU membership, which finally occurred in 2004 (for NATO) and 2007 (for the EU). And in the third phase – essentially from full EU membership onwards – Romania has had to change gears again and to think of how to actively participate in these institutional arrangements, and to contribute to shaping their thinking. These developments, taken together, have completely transformed the landscape within which the modern Romanian state and its people now have to operate. If we take up the narrative from the second point onwards, on joining NATO and the European Union, Romania had to converge and comply with the rules, practices, principles and procedures of these two institutions, while simultaneously reorganizing its domestic system, understood in its broadest terms.