The Romanian economy experienced a contrasting trend in recent years. Some of its features are similar to those of other Central and Eastern European Countries, that have joined the European Union in May 2004 and 2007, but some of them are very specific. Indicators of convergence and catching-up seem to show a GAP between Romania and other European countries, and even other CEEC. Indicators of convergence and catch-up are usually used to analyse the effectiveness of EU policies applied in all European countries. Apparent Romanian lag may be the result of too important weight of the rural sector in the economy. This sector is characterised, for example, by too many farms and very small agricultural holdings that induces a certain loss in productivity, also by low income and poverty. This result is consequence of both the story and original policy choices. This paper consists of two parts. In the first one, we detail the specificities of new member states and particularly Romanian. The second part allows analysing the link between the agricultural sector and development. Notably, the Kuznets curve can be used as a tool in order to better understand the mechanism of this link. The Kuznets hypothesis is applied to the case of Romania and allows us to draw some conclusions about the recent developments.
