Post-accession compliance with EU law in Bulgaria and Romania: a comparative perspective

Florian Trauner

No 1, Working Papers of the Vienna Institute for European integration research (EIF) from Institute for European integration research (EIF)

Abstract: This paper takes stock of academic literature and official sources on post-accession compliance in Bulgaria and Romania, the only new member states where the Commission has preserved the right to monitor key reforms beyond accession. The data used in the analysis suggests that the formal compliance with EU law has not decreased since their accession, quite the contrary. Bulgaria and Romania have performed well with regard to the transposition of EU law, yet signs of shortcomings appear at the enforcement level, most likely even on a greater scale than in other CEECs. Moreover, it is argued that in the first two years of membership the EU's extended conditionality did not yield the same results in Bulgaria and Romania. While Romania managed to convince the Commission of its good will and determination to meet the benchmarks set by the EU, Bulgaria failed to do so and faced conditionality sanctions. The analysis concludes by presenting some directions for further research.

Keywords: enlargement; Romania; political science; European law; political science; European Commission (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2009-03-15
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:erp:eifxxx:p0004

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