This chapter examines Romania’s relations with (Western) Europe since the eighteenth century. It focuses on political and legal structures as well as cultural and social contexts. It shows that, on the one hand, Romania’s orientation toward Europe meant independence from other powers and the possibility of founding an independent state. On the other hand, social challenges as well as the ethnic and religious-cultural composition of the population, interdependencies, criticism of institutional transfers, and aspirations for self-assertion have repeatedly led to a return to the national. The analysis of these complex relationships and tensions leads to the thesis of Romania’s slow “return” to Europe since 1989.