Strategic receptivity and institutional resilience in the Romanian public sector: a triangulated data-based diagnosis

This article develops a data-based diagnosis of strategic receptivity and institutional resilience in the Romanian public sector using a triangulated indicator framework that distinguishes between (1) the state's capacity to deliver modern digital public services, (2) social legitimacy as reflected in citizens' trust in national government, and (3) operational resilience captured by effective citizen uptake of online public services. Drawing on DESI 2025 (Digital Public Services), Standard Eurobarometer 104 (Autumn 2025), and Eurostat (sending filled forms online, 2025), Romania is benchmarked against a comparator group (Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Estonia) and the EU average. The results reveal a Romania-specific structural gap: while trust in national government is at the EU average, Romania's strategic receptivity remains well below the EU benchmark and - more critically - citizen use of online administrative channels is exceptionally low. This decoupling between formal capacity and real-world uptake is conceptualized as "hollow receptivity": the institutional shell of digital governance exists, but the operational core that converts capacity into routine use remains underdeveloped. The article argues that improving resilience in Romania depends less on producing new strategies and more on strengthening implementation discipline through end-to-end service redesign, interoperability, procedural simplification, and a credible digital-by-default administrative routine.