The Rule of Law in Bulgaria
The Rule of Law in Bulgaria

State of Affairs Ten Years after Bulgaria's Accession to the European Union

Summary/Abstract: The article puts into contrast the realities and challenges of Bulgaria and its legal system in the era of communism and the current situation. When Bulgaria joined the European Union on 1 January 2007, the old member states deliberately accepted the shortcomings in Bulgaria’s quality of justice and hoped that membership would inspire a positive development in the rule of law. An instrument for continuous monitoring of post-accession development was established with Bulgaria’s Accession Treaty. Despite of all the criticism in the European Commission’s annual monitoring reports, however, not much domestic impetus for sustainable and effective judicial as well as political reform was created in the country. According to the author, Bulgaria’s failings in terms of rule of law should not be accepted by an EU that defines itself as a community of values – not least for the sake of Bulgaria proper.

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