Venelin Tsachevsky Bulgaria’s EU membership: the adaptation to the new status is not over Electronic Publications of Pan-European Institute 16/2010 ISSN 1795 - 5076 Bulgaria’s EU membership: the adaptation to the new status is not over Venelin Tsachevsky1 16/2010 Electronic Publications of Pan-European Institute www.tse.fi/pei Opinions and views expressed in this report do not necessarily reflect those of the Pan-European Institute or its staff members. 1 Venelin Tsachevsky was born in 1948 in Sofia. He holds a master’s degree on World economy from the University for National and World Economy in Sofia. In 1975 he got a Ph.D. degree on international economic relations and in 1989 a second Ph.D. on international relations. He was counsellor at the European Integration Directorate in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. As professor of political studies he delivered lectures on the theory of foreign relations and Bulgarian foreign policy in several universities. In 2007 - 2009 he was a guest professor at Helsinki University on South Eastern and Bulgaria’s development and foreign policy. Venelin Tsachevsky is author of around 300 publications about the development and foreign policy of Bulgaria, the regional cooperation and integration of the Balkan countries to the European Union and NATO. In 2003 - 2006 he was Ambassador of Bulgaria to Finland and was decorated with the order “Guard Cross” for his contribution to the development of the Bulgarian-Finnish relations. Venelin Tsachevsky PEI Electronic Publications 16/2010 www.tse.fi/pei Contents 1 CHRONOLOGY OF BULGARIA’S ROAD TO THE EU MEMBERSHIP 2 2 TERMS OF BULGARIA’S EU MEMBERSHIP 4 3 THE NEW STATUS OF BULGARIA SINCE THE BEGINNING OF 2007 11 4 THE FIRST THREE YEARS OF BULGARIA’S EU MEMBERSHIP – POLITICAL DIMENSIONS 16 5 THE EU AS AN ECONOMIC PARTNER OF BULGARIA 21 6 THE MECHANISM FOR COOPERATION AND VERIFICATION FOR BULGARIA 25 7 CONCLUSION 35 MAIN EVENTS IN BULGARIA’S EU INTEGRATION 40 REFERENCES 45 1 Venelin Tsachevsky PEI Electronic Publications 16/2010 www.tse.fi/pei 1 CHRONOLOGY OF BULGARIA’S ROAD TO THE EU MEMBERSHIP In the early 1990s the accession to the EU became a priority aim of the Bulgarian foreign policy. The achievement of this aim started along with the declared readiness of the EU to continue its enlargement towards Central and Eastern Europe. There was a common desire of all European countries to put an end to the division in the continent following the Second World War and to create united, peaceful and prosperous Europe based on democratic values, solidarity and cooperation. At that time the EU enlargement to the East could not happen immediately since the East European countries needed to meet the criteria for membership. That process was conditioned by the development of individual relations on the part of the EU with each European country within the framework of a common approach to the integration policy. The first stage was the signing of Europe Agreements in the 1990s followed by the accession negotiations that started at the beginning of the first decade of the new century. It was the fifth EU enlargement. Bulgaria was among the ten former socialist countries in Central and Eastern Europe that took part in this process. Here are the main events in the evolution of the relations between Bulgaria and the EU. The country established diplomatic relations and the European Economic Community (EEC) on August 8, 1988. Two years later (May 8, 1990) Bulgaria and the EEC signed the Convention on Trade, Business and Economic Relations. It envisaged gradual elimination of the quantitative limitations on Bulgarian import to the Community, and making mutual concessions in the field of trade in agricultural goods. The PHARE Programme was opened for the country. On March 8, 1993 Bulgaria and the EU signed the Europe Agreement and the Provisional Agreement on Trade and Related Matters. The Europe Agreement provided a framework for development of a profound political dialogue and for establishment of a free trade zone covering the trade between Bulgaria and the EU. The EU expressed its political commitment to support Bulgaria’s democratic and market economy reforms necessary for its fulfilling the criteria for EU membership. The Europe Agreement came into force nearly two years later - on February 1, 1995. Bulgaria became the eighth East European country to submit its application for EU membership on December 15, 1995. 2 Venelin Tsachevsky PEI Electronic Publications 16/2010 www.tse.fi/pei In 1998 the European Commission (EC) started to draw up annual reports which included its assessment of Bulgaria’s progress on political, legislative, economic and other reforms. Up to the country’s accession to the EU in early 2007, the EC published ten annual reports in total on the progress achieved by Bulgaria in meeting the criteria for membership. On December 10, 1999 in Helsinki the European Council decided to start EU accession negotiations with Bulgaria included in a group of six East European countries (along with Romania, Slovakia, Lithuania, Latvia and Malta). The negotiations for EU membership with Bulgaria were launched on February 15, 2000. In the EC regular report published on October 9, 2002 Bulgaria was recognized as a "functioning market economy". The EC expressed its support to Bulgaria’s accession to the EU in 2007. On a technical level the negotiations were concluded on June 15, 2004 but the political decision to declare the negotiation process as complete was made by the European Council on December 17, 2004. The last Monitoring Report of the EC (issued on September 26, 2006) on the progress achieved by Bulgaria in meeting the criteria for membership was crucial for determining the date of the country’s accession to the EU. The signing of the Treaty of Accession (together with Romania) took place on April 25, 2005 in Luxembourg. Bulgaria ratified the Treaty on May 11 the same year, while the ratification process by all EU Member States was completed on December 20, 2006. The Accession Treaty entered into force on January 1, 2007 when Bulgaria and Romania became the 26th and 27th member states of the EU. This was the final point of the fifth EU enlargement. 3 Venelin Tsachevsky PEI Electronic Publications 16/2010 www.tse.fi/pei 2 TERMS OF BULGARIA’S EU MEMBERSHIP The preparedness of Bulgaria at the start of the negotiations for EU membership was less compared with that of the majority of the other countries in Central and Eastern Europe that were included in the fifth EU enlargement. That was one of the reasons for Bulgaria’s lagging behind these countries, with the exception of Romania, in the pace of the accession negotiations. It resulted in the later date for its joining the EU. Throughout the accession talks the EU exerted a constant pressure on Bulgaria in order to accelerate the implementation of the necessary reforms and to meet the membership criteria. This pressure continued even after the country’s accession to the EU. In December 2006 the EC decided to set up a special monitoring of Bulgaria up to three years after the country has joined the EU. The monitoring covered six areas of concern - the judiciary, the fight against corruption and organized crime, the use of financial aid provided by the EU, food and air safety. Bulgaria committed itself to fulfilling the so called "accompanying measures" under the supervision of a “cooperation and verification mechanism”. Since June 2007 the EC has been publishing annual reports on the progress in these areas. In the event of any shortcoming or insufficient progress in implementing the accompanying measures, the EC could impose various sanctions, including a cut to EU funds provided to Bulgaria. The most stringent measures were the eventual introduction of „safeguard clauses” that could limit some Bulgaria’s rights as an EU member state. The monitoring period expired in early 2010 but due to the unsatisfactory progress achieved by Bulgaria, the EC decided to continue its supervision over the areas of concern for at least another year. During the accession negotiations the most difficult issue was to reach mutual consent on the energy chapter that was temporary closed in November 2002. The main concern was the EU insistence that Bulgaria shut down Units 1-4 of the nuclear power plant (NPP) in Kozloduy. The argument was that these units were using Russian-made old generation nuclear reactors considered to be dangerous in their exploitation. The EU did not change its position, although, according to the reviews by recognised international institutions, including the International Atomic Energy Agency, the technical safety of the Bulgarian NPP in Kozloduy was in compliance with the international safety standards. 4 Venelin Tsachevsky PEI Electronic Publications 16/2010 www.tse.fi/pei Finally, a mutual agreement was reached, according to which the first and second reactors were to be shut down in late 2002. The third and fourth energy units were decommissioned four years later on the eve of Bulgaria's EU accession. Bulgaria was promised financial compensations. By early 2007 their value was about 450 million euro. Under Article 30 of the Accession Treaty, EU has committed itself to providing an additional 210 million euro in 2007 – 2009. This assistance was insufficient to fully compensate Bulgaria’s financial losses from the premature closure of the part of its only nuclear power plant that at that time generated about 45% of the national electricity. By various estimates, the total direct and indirect losses for Bulgaria resulting from the decommissioning of the four nuclear power units amounted to 2 - 5 billions euro. The closure, especially of the third and fourth energy units of the NPP in Kozloduy aggravated the national energy balance.