Diana Bozhilova
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.
Dr. Diana Bozhilova is an A.C. Laskaridis Research Fellow at the Hellenic Observatory at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). She obtained her Ph.D from King’s College London where she has also taught in European Studies. Her earlier education was spent at both the Humboldt University and King’s College, becoming an Associate there. Dr. Bozhilova is a published author on judicial reform and industrial restructuring in refereed academic journals. This is her first monograph. She has an active research profile in the politics of South-East Europe, currently working in the field of energy co-operation and regionalism. She also writes and researches in European Enlargement Policy, Public Procurement Policy and Industrial Policy.
International organizations can promote democratic standards of governance and provide incentives for further economic development of nation states through their policies of enlargement. The European Union (EU), in particular, is known to have used its enlargement policy vis-à-vis the Central and Eastern European countries (CEECs) as means of its most prolific and pervasive exercise in export of ‘democracy’ to-date. Yet, the fact that some of the CEECs have failed to attain levels of governance efficiency comparable to those of the EU-15 member states, as well as continue to lag far behind the mean economic development of the EU-27, is indicative of shortcomings in the accession process that have not yet been subject to rigorous academic discourse.
This book offers an examination of the outcomes of the fifth enlargement of the EU through the case of the EU integration of Bulgaria, an example of an accession state (before January 2007) that has exhibited many of the difficulties inherent in reforms of transition and democratization in South-East Europe and the Balkans. This allows for a fully 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 clearly defined legal framework, market economic rules, as well as established civil rights and liberties for its citizens, thus promoting deep forms of political and economic integration.
