Bulgaria and Romania, twin Cinderellas in the European Union: how they contributed in a peculiar way to the change in EU policy for the promotion of democracy and rule of law

Battered by Geopolitical Winds, Bulgaria Struggles to Restart Much Needed Reforms

“…Bulgaria, along with Romania, has been labelled an EU laggard since accession (Dimitrov and Plachkova, 2021; Dimitrova, 2020). In the early 2000s, during the final stages of Eastern enlargement, concerns about rule of law, especially the accountability of certain parts of the judiciary and prosecution, state capture and the role of organized crime led the EU to postpone Bulgaria's (and Romania's) accession to 2007.…”

“…Post‐accession, the EU created a monitoring mechanism for both Bulgaria and Romania, the so‐called Cooperation and Verification Mechanism (CVM) that involved regular reports from the European Commission focusing on areas of persistent concern such as the rule of law. This mechanism, however, resulted in no great success in improving the rule of law (Dimitrov and Plachkova 2021; Dimitrov et al, 2014, Gateva, 2013). The main reason was that institutional adjustments remained formal and piecemeal, while underlying, informal relations structured politics along patron‐client lines (Dimitrova, 2018; Mungiu‐Pippidi, 2015) and undermined the ability of the institutions of governance – the judiciary and regulators ‐ to fulfil their functions.…”

One decade onwards: assessing the impact of European Union membership on Bulgaria and Romania

“…The first theme relates to political developments. Dimitrov and Plachkova (2020), as well as Mendelski (2020), discuss the national specificities with regard to the rule of law, and why this continues to be a contentious issue in both countries, a decade following accession. The former argue that both countries still diverge from the conventional multi-dimensional socio-political European space whilst the Cooperation and Verification mechanism (CVM) amounted to an instance of policy failure and design flaws.…”