Bulgaria's Quest for EU Membership

The book examines the outcomes of the fifth enlargement of the EU through the case of Bulgaria, an example of an accession state that has exhibited many of the difficulties inherent in reforms of transition and democratization in South-East Europe. The analysis focuses on the instance of EU-Europeanization prior to the state's accession into the EU. This allows for a coherent investigation of the effects of transformation that emanate from the preparation of the country for accession into a supranational union that has its own legal framework and market economic rules, promoting deep forms of integration.



The analysis investigates the change at domestic level in the variables that the process of Europeanization impacts on: public institutions, policies and actors' cognition. To present the full range of outcomes, the analysis takes stock of changes in three areas of the acquis communautaire: (1) reforms of the rule of law, (2) industrial restructuring and (3) public procurement policy. The analysis of the rule of law demonstrates that path-dependent patterns are by and large preserved. Failure to establish adequate institutional capacities has led to an ineffective first-generation industrial restructuring. Second-generation industrial reforms have delivered much better outcomes, primarily as a result of the international recognition that the accession process granted the state. The third field - public procurement policy - has produced mixed evidence of Europeanization. It shows both path-dependent institutional patterns, as well as support for change in the way that domestic actors react to the application of the acquis. In conclusion, the book offers a new tentative model for conducting parallel reforms of democratization and European integration in accession states, characterised by a greater number of intervening variables. This is useful for the further enlargements of the EU to the countries of the Western Balkans and Turkey.