Development and Structure of the Bulgarian Export After the Country’s Accession to the EU

2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 147
Author(s):  
Oleg Lozanov ◽  
Stela Zhivkova
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Negative Results ◽  
Eu Membership ◽  
Economic Practice ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Accession Process ◽  
Development Structure ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Eu

Nowadays the European Union includes 28 countries. The last country that has signed an accession treaty was Croatia in 2013. The previous enlargement of the Union was in 2007 when Bulgaria and Romania became members. The accession process for these two countries took some time and was related to quite a lot of changes in the economic practices of both countries. The present article reviews the changes that occur in the Bulgarian foreign economic practice, more particularly in the export activity after Bulgaria's accession to the European Union in 2007. The paper analyses the trends in the development, structure and geographical distribution of the country's export during the 10-year period of the country’s EU membership (2007-2016). The main reasons and factors for the main trends are outlined. On the basis of a detailed comparative analysis of the situation before and after the EU accession, the authors try to assess the impact of European integration on the Bulgarian export practices, highlighting both positive and negative results. The paper also elaborates specific recommendations for improvement of the competitiveness of the Bulgarian economy in the context of the country's export changes.

Enlargement Policy and European Union Politics

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eli Gateva
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Eu Enlargement ◽  
Potential Candidate ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Eastern Enlargement ◽  
Accession Process ◽  
Integration Project ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Eu

Enlargement has always been an essential part of the European integration. Each enlargement round has left its mark on the integration project. However, it was the expansion of the European Union (EU) with the 10 Central and Eastern European Countries (CEECs), Cyprus, and Malta, unprecedented in scope and scale, which presented the EU with an opportunity to develop a multifaceted set of instruments and transformed enlargement into one of the EU’s most successful policies. The numerous challenges of the accession process, along with the immensity of the historical mission to unify Europe, lent speed to the emergence of the study of EU enlargement as a key research area. The early studies investigated the puzzle of the EU’s decision to enlarge with the CEECs, and the costs and benefits of the Eastern expansion. However, the questions about the impact of EU enlargement policy inspired a new research agenda. Studies of the influence of the EU on candidate and potential candidate countries have not only widened the research focus of Europeanization studies (beyond the member states of the Union), but also stimulated and shaped the debates on the scope and effectiveness of EU conditionality. Most of the analytical frameworks developed in the context of the Eastern enlargement have favored rational institutionalist approaches highlighting a credible membership perspective as the key explanatory variable. However, studies analyzing the impact of enlargement policy on the Western Balkan countries and Turkey have shed light on some of the limitations of the rationalist approaches and sought to identify new explanatory factors. After the completion of the fifth enlargement with the accession of Bulgaria and Romania in 2007, the research shifted to analyzing the continuity and change of EU enlargement policy and its impact on the candidate and potential candidate countries. There is also a growing number of studies examining the sustainability of the impact of EU conditionality after accession by looking into new members’ compliance with EU rules. The impact of EU enlargement policy on the development of European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) and comparative evaluations of the Union’s performance across the two policy frameworks have also shaped and expanded the debate on the mechanisms and effectiveness of the EU’s influence. The impact of the Eastern enlargement on EU institutions and policymaking is another area of research that has emerged over the last decade. In less than two decades, the study of EU enlargement policy has produced a rich and diverse body of literature that has shaped the broader research agendas on Europeanization, implementation, and compliance and EU policymaking. Comprehensive theoretical and empirical studies have allowed us to develop a detailed understanding of the impact of the EU on the political and economic transformations in Central and Eastern Europe. The ongoing accession process provides more opportunities to study the evolving nature of EU enlargement policy, its impact on candidate countries, the development of EU policies, and the advancement of the integration project.

scholarly journals Northern Cyprus as an ‘inner neighbour’: A critical analysis of European Union enlargement in Cyprus

2018 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 37-49 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Casaglia
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Eu Enlargement ◽  
Negotiation Process ◽  
The European Union ◽  
European Union Enlargement ◽  
Northern Cyprus ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Turkish Cypriot ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Eu

This article analyses the impact of Cyprus’s accession to the European Union (EU) on the northern part of the island, and tackles the political actorness of the EU with regard to the enduring Cypriot conflict. Much literature has critically analysed the EU enlargement process, underlining its imperialistic features and its problematic nature. At the same time, scholars have highlighted the EU’s difficulties in acting as a political actor and its impact on situations of ethno-national conflict. This article brings together these critical aspects by analysing them in the peculiar context of Cyprus. It retraces the negotiation process and the Turkish Cypriots’ in/visibility throughout it, and presents research conducted following Cyprus’s accession in three different periods between 2008 and 2015. We propose an interpretation of Northern Cyprus as an ‘inner neighbour’ of the EU, because of its anomalous and liminal status, the suspended application of the acquis communautaire, the unresolved conflict and the ambiguity of the border management of the Green Line, the line of partition between north and south. All these problematic features of Northern Cyprus’s situation are examined in detail to identify the unique position of this entity within the EU. In addition to this, and supporting the importance of a bottom-up understanding of the EU’s normative and symbolic projection, the article presents the opinions of Turkish Cypriot citizens about their expectations before and after 2004, and how their ideas and imaginaries related to the EU have evolved and interacted with the process of Europeanisation.

8. Membership of the European Union

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisa Webley ◽  
Harriet Samuels
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Eu Membership ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Complete Series ◽  
Explanatory Text ◽  
Parliamentary Supremacy ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Eu

Titles in the Complete series combine extracts from a wide range of primary materials with clear explanatory text to provide readers with a complete introductory resource. This chapter, which provides an overview of the relationship between the European Union and the UK, and the impact of this relationship on Parliament’s legislative supremacy, begins by considering the nature of the EU and the sources of EU law. It then examines how EU membership affects the UK legal order, and its implications for parliamentary supremacy, and also discusses what the reform of the EU means for parliamentary supremacy. It considers, briefly, the impact of different Brexit options on the UK’s constitutional framework.

9. Estonia: Excelling at Self-Exertion

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Piret Ehin
Keyword(s):  
Political Institutions ◽  
Institution Building ◽  
Attitudinal Change ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Track Record ◽  
Eu Membership ◽  
International Environment ◽  
Before And After ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Eu

This chapter examines Estonia’s relations with the European Union. Estonia showed dedication in pursuing integration with the EU as it sought to strengthen statehood in a complex international environment. In the course of its post-communist transition, Estonia’s homegrown reforms gradually gave way to policy change and institution building driven by EU accession conditionality. The small nation’s track record as an EU member state points to continued compliance with EU law and pre-accession demands. However, legal alignment has not always been accompanied by behavioural and attitudinal change. The chapter first provides an overview of Estonia’s integration with the EU before discussing the pattern of its relations with the EU before and after accession. It then assesses the impact of EU membership on Estonia’s public opinion, political parties, political institutions, governance, and public policy.

8. Sweden: Shedding Exceptionalism in the Face of Europeanization

2020 ◽  
pp. 178-202
Author(s):  
Anna Michalski
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
European Union ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Administrative System ◽  
Long Period ◽  
Eu Membership ◽  
The Face ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Eu

This chapter examines the adaptations that have occurred in Sweden’s political and administrative system following its admission to the European Union on 1 January 1995. Sweden became a member of the EU on 1 January 1995 after a long period of hesitation. After fifteen years of membership, reticence has given way to a more positive stance, best characterized as pragmatic support. The chapter first considers patterns in Sweden’s membership in the EU before discussing Swedish public opinion towards the EU and the impact of Sweden’s EU membership on the country’s political parties, political institutions, public administration, and sub-national actors such as the civil service. The chapter goes on to explore Sweden’s approach to EU public policy and concludes by comparing its experience with those of other member states, including Austria and Finland.

European Union Enlargement Policy

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eli Gateva
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Eu Enlargement ◽  
Potential Candidate ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Eastern Enlargement ◽  
Accession Process ◽  
Integration Project ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Eu

Enlargement has always been an essential part of the European integration. Each enlargement round has left its mark on the integration project. However, it was the expansion of the European Union (EU) with the 10 Central and Eastern European Countries (CEECs), Cyprus and Malta, unprecedented in scope and scale, which presented the Union with an opportunity to develop a multifaceted set of instruments and transformed enlargement into one of EU’s most successful policies. The numerous challenges of the accession process, along with the enormity of the historical mission to unify Europe, lent speed to the emergence of the study of EU enlargement as a key research area. The early studies investigated the puzzle of the EU’s decision to enlarge with the CEECs, and the costs and benefits of the Eastern expansion. However, the questions about the impact of EU enlargement policy inspired a new research agenda. Studies of the influence of the EU on candidate and potential candidate countries have not only widened the research focus of Europeanization studies (beyond the member states of the Union), but also stimulated and shaped the debates on the scope and effectiveness of EU conditionality. Most of the analytical frameworks developed in the context of the Eastern enlargement have favored rational institutionalist approaches highlighting a credible membership perspective as the key explanatory variable. However, studies analyzing the impact of enlargement policy on the Western Balkan countries and Turkey have shed light on some of the limitations of the rationalist approaches and sought to identify new explanatory factors. After the completion of the fifth enlargement with the accession of Bulgaria and Romania in 2007, the research shifted to analyzing the continuity and change of EU enlargement policy and its impact on the candidate and potential candidate countries. There is also a growing number of studies examining the sustainability of the impact of EU conditionality after accession by looking into new members’ compliance with EU rules. The impact of EU enlargement policy on the development of European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) and comparative evaluations of the Union’s performance across the two policy frameworks have also shaped and expanded the debate on the mechanisms and effectiveness of the EU’s influence. The impact of the Eastern enlargement on EU institutions and policy making is another area of research that has emerged over the last decade. In less than two decades the study of EU enlargement policy has produced a rich and diverse body of literature that has shaped the broader research agendas on Europeanization, implementation, and compliance and EU policy making. Comprehensive theoretical and empirical studies have allowed us to develop a detailed understanding of the impact of the EU on the political and economic transformations in Central and Eastern Europe. The ongoing accession process provides more opportunities to study the evolving nature of EU enlargement policy, its impact on candidate countries, the development of EU policies, and the advancement of the integration project.

The principle of solidarity in asylum and migration within the context of the European Union accession process

2017 ◽  
Vol 24 (5) ◽  
pp. 687-702
Author(s):  
Neža Kogovšek Šalamon
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Majority Vote ◽  
Burden Sharing ◽  
Candidate Country ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Member States ◽  
Eu Membership ◽  
Accession Process ◽  
And Migration ◽  
The Eu

This article addresses the question of the principle of solidarity in the fields of asylum and migration within the context of accession negotiations between the European Union and the candidate countries for EU membership. When a candidate country fulfils the membership conditions, it is expected that they will share the values of solidarity, mutual assistance and burden sharing in the fields of asylum and migration which will naturally impinge on their state sovereignty. This article is based on the hypothesis that solidarity in the field of asylum and migration has not been discussed within the enlargement process, meaning that the ‘new’ Member States were not aware of the concrete forms that this principle could take in the future. This hypothesis was tested on three case studies by analysing the accession documents of one candidate country from each of the three enlargement cycles (Slovenia, Bulgaria and Croatia respectively). This article concludes by showing that by agreeing to the EU Treaties, its solidarity clause and the majority vote rules, either as Member States or candidates, the states undertook the duty to transpose obligations in the fields of asylum and migration, even if they did not necessarily agree with them.

scholarly journals Theorising Europeanisation in European Literature: Conceptualisation and Operationalisation

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Daviti Mtchedlishvili
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Political Systems ◽  
Acquis Communautaire ◽  
Eu Membership ◽  
Gradual Development ◽  
The Difference ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Eu ◽  
Academic Debate

There has been an extensive academic debate on the impact of the European Union on its member states, on the candidate countries for EU membership and the countries in its geographical neighbourhood. This paper analyses the notion and working conceptualisation of ‘Europeanisation’, which is to say, the EU’s impact on domestic political systems, when EU rules, norms and laws are first defined and consolidated in the making of EU decisions and then incorporated in the logic of domestic discourse, identities, political structures and public policies. The paper suggests to analyse the Europeanisation process in three ways. Moreover, the article elucidates the gradual development of the Europeanisation theory from so called “internal” to “external” Europeanisation, whereby the EU tries to transfer its Acquis Communautaire (the legal order of the European Union) to the international level. However, research on the Western understanding of Europeanisation confirms that the analysis of the process, when the European neighbourhood states adopt the EU acquis (the objectives of the European Union, its policies and the rules governing these policies) from the viewpoint of institutional framework has significant limitations. To deal with some of these issues, the paper outlines the conceptualisation of Europeanisation and examines the difference between Europeanisation and European Integration.

8. Poland: An Awkward Partner Redeemed*

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nathaniel Copsey
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
European Union ◽  
Domestic Politics ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Political Class ◽  
The Czech Republic ◽  
Eu Membership ◽  
Early Decision ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Eu

This chapter examines the pattern of Poland’s relations with the European Union during the period 1989–2011. After the fall of communism, Poland took an early decision in 1989 to place European integration at the centre of its plans for democratization and modernization. Post-accession opinion in Poland on the EU was initially divided between an increasingly Europhile public and an occasionally Eurosceptic political class. By the time of the Polish Presidency of the EU in 2011, however, Poland had largely shed its reputation for awkwardness and had achieved a few policy successes, particularly in terms of relations with its Eastern neighbours. The chapter explains how Poland came to join the EU and assesses the impact of its EU membership on domestic politics, public opinion, institutions, governance, and public policy. It concludes by comparing Poland’s experience with those of its Visegrád neighbours, the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Slovakia.

7. Sweden: From Scepticism to Pragmatic Support

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Michalski
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
European Union ◽  
Public Opinion ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Administrative System ◽  
Long Period ◽  
Eu Membership ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Eu

This chapter examines the adaptations that have occurred in Sweden’s political and administrative system following its admission to the European Union on 1 January 1995. Sweden became a member of the EU on 1 January 1995 after a long period of hesitation. After fifteen years of membership, reticence has given way to a more positive stance, best characterized as pragmatic support. The chapter first considers patterns in Sweden’s membership in the EU before discussing Swedish public opinion towards the EU and the impact of Sweden’s EU membership on the country’s political parties, political institutions, public administration, and sub-national actors such as the civil service. The chapter goes on to explore Sweden’s approach to EU public policy and concludes by comparing its experience with those of other member states, including Austria and Finland.

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