Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

The burden of belonging: Romanian and Bulgarian foreign policy in the new era

2009; Routledge; Volume: 11; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/19448950903152136

1944-8961

Ronald H. Linden,

Russia and Soviet political economy

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Acknowledgements I would like to acknowledge with gratitude the support for this work from the National Council for Eurasian and East European Research and the European Union Center of Excellence of the University of Pittsburgh. Research and translation assistance was provided by Galina Zapryanova, Deyan Peykov and Emilia Zankina and is gratefully acknowledged. Notes 1 In his discussion of the ‘Nine Rules’ of diplomacy, Hans Morgenthau wrote, ‘Never allow a weak ally to make decisions for you. [Strong nations] lose their freedom of action by identifying their own national interests completely with those of the weak ally.’ Hans J. Morgenthau, Politics Among Nations, 7th edn, rev. by Kenneth W. Thompson and W. David Clinton, McGraw-Hill, New York, 2006, p. 564. 2 See, for example, Geoffrey Pridham, ‘European Union accession dynamics and democratization in Central and Eastern Europe: past and future perspectives’, Government and Opposition, 41(3), 2006, pp. 373–400; Frank Schimmelfennig, The EU, NATO and the Integration of Europe, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2003; Wade Jacoby, The Enlargement of the European Union and NATO: Ordering from the Menu in Central Europe, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2004; Ronald H. Linden (ed.), Norms and Nannies: The Impact of International Organizations on the Central and East European States, Rowman and Littlefield, Lanham, MD, 2002; Frank Schimmelfennig and Ulrich Sedelmeier (eds), The Europeanization of Central and Eastern Europe, Cornell University Press, Ithaca, NY, 2005; Milada Vachudova, Europe Undivided: Democracy, Leverage, and Integration After Communism, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2005; Karen Henderson (ed.), Back to Europe: Central and Eastern Europe and the European Union, UCL Press, London, 1999; Alan Mayhew, Recreating Europe: The European Union's Policy towards Central and Eastern Europe, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1998. 3 In the annual ‘Monitoring Reports’ on applicant states, these aspects were covered under Chapters 26 and 27. See, for example, European Commission, ‘Romania: 2005 Comprehensive Monitoring Report’, SEC (2005) 1354, 25 October 2005. 4 John McCormick, The European Union: Politics and Policies, 4th edn, Westview Press, Boulder, CO, 2008, Ch. 15; Paolo Foradori, Paolo Rosa and Riccardo Scartezzini (eds), Managing a Multilevel Foreign Policy: The EU in International Affairs, Lexington Books, Lanham, MD, 2007. For background on the development and mechanisms of CFSP, see Fraser Cameron, An Introduction to European Foreign Policy, Routledge, New York, 2007. 5 Ian Manners and Richard G. Whitman, The Foreign Policies of the European Union Member States, Manchester University Press, Manchester and New York, 2002. 6 Paolo Foradori, Paolo Rosa and Riccardo Scartezzini, ‘Introduction: the system of European foreign policy’, in Paolo Foradori, Paolo Rosa and Riccardo Scartezzini, Managing a Multilevel Foreign Policy, p. x. 7 Ronald H. Linden, ‘Twin peaks: Romania and Bulgaria between the EU and the United States’, Problems of Post-Communism, 51(5), September/October 2004, pp. 45–55. 8 NATO, ‘Study on enlargement’, available at < www.nato.int/docu/basictxt/enl-9502.htm>. For a critical assessment, see Zoltan Barany, ‘NATO expansion, round two: making matters worse’, Security Studies, 11(3), Spring 2002, pp. 123–157. 9 For generally critical judgments, see the section entitled ‘Is East-Central Europe Backsliding’, of the Journal of Democracy, 18(4), October 2007, pp. 5–63; Nations in Transit 2007, Freedom House, New York, 2007, pp. 26–27. 10 Ondrej Schneider, Central Europe's Lost Voice in the European Union, Center for European Policy Analysis, Washington, 2008. 11 J. F. Brown, Eastern Europe and Communist Rule, Duke University Press, Durham, NC and London, 1988, Chs. 8 and 10. 12 On this point see, Blagovest Tashev, ‘In search of security: Bulgaria's security policy in transition’, in Tom Lansford and Blagovest Tashev (eds), Old Europe, New Europe and the US, Ashgate, Aldershot, 2005, pp. 141–142. 13 ‘Act Concerning the Conditions of Accession of the Czech Republic, the Republic of Estonia, the Republic of Cyprus, the Republic of Latvia, the Republic of Lithuania, the Republic of Hungary, the Republic of Malta, the Republic of Poland, the Republic of Slovenia and the Slovak Republic and the Adjustments to the Treaties on which the European Union is Founded’, AA2003/ACT/en 1, Articles 38 & 39. 14 ‘Monitoring report on the state of preparedness for EU membership of Bulgaria and Romania’, Communication from the Commission, Brussels, 26 September 2006. 15 Sensitive to the fact that Romania and Bulgaria are now EU member states, the process under which these two countries submit reports is called the ‘Mechanism for Cooperation and Verification for Romania and Bulgaria’. The reports can be accessed at: < http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/secretariat_general/cvm/progress_reports_en.htm>. In 2009 both the performance of Romania and Bulgaria and the verification mechanism itself came in for criticism from the European Parliament. See Valentina Pop, ‘MEPs turn screw on Romania and Bulgaria corruption’, euobserver.com, 24 April 2009. 16 European Commission, ‘Report from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council on the Management of EU-funds in Bulgaria’, COM(2008) 496, 23 July 2008, available at < http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/secretariat_general/cvm/docs/bulgaria_report_funds_20080723_en.pdf>. Subsidy Watch, Issue 27, September 2008, < http://www.globalsubsidies.org/en> and euobserver.com (‘MEPs turn screw’) reported that funds for Romania were also frozen. For its part, Bucharest complained that loans from the EU were being inappropriately tied to the (lack of) progress specified in the reports. ‘Interview with Romania's Foreign Minister Cristian Diaconsescu’, EVZ, 28 May 2009 [World News Connection, 28 May 2009], ‘Romania Senate speaker concerned about “hidden” terms for EC's EUR5b loan’, Mediafax, 6 May 2008. 17 Tashev, ‘In search of security’, op. cit., pp. 127–150. 18 NATO, ‘Study on enlargement’, op. cit.. 19 Gergana Noutcheva and Dimitar Bechev, ‘The successful laggards: Bulgaria and Romania's accession to the EU’, East European Politics and Societies, 22(1), Winter 2008, esp. pp. 117–127; David Phinnemore, ‘Beyond 25—the changing face of EU enlargement: commitment, conditionality and the Constitutional Treaty’, Journal of Southern Europe and the Balkans, 8(1), April 2006, esp. pp. 15–19. 20 Laurentiu Stefan-Scalat, Department of Political Science, University of Bucharest, unpublished manuscript on ‘Oligarchs’. 21 Christopher Condon and George Parker, ‘Justice minister's corruption crusade puts Romania back on road to EU’, FT.com, 15 May 2006. 22 Claudia Ciobanu, ‘ROMANIA: what are intellectuals doing with politics’, Inter Press News Service Agency, 8 May 2007, < http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews = 37591>. 23 Venelin I. Ganev, ‘Ballots, bribes and state building in Bulgaria’, Journal of Democracy, 17(1), January 2006, esp. pp. 86–88; Kristen Ghodsee, ‘Left wing, right wing, everything: xenophobia, neo-totalitarianism and populist politics in contemporary Bulgaria’, Problems of Post-Communism, 55(3), May/June 2008, pp. 26–39. 24 Krassen Nikolov, ‘Mayor with charisma bids for power in Bulgaria’, Bulgarian National Radio, 4 December 2006, < http://www.bnr.bg/RadioBulgaria/Emission_English/Theme_Politics/Material/bbdr.htm>. 25 See President Parvanov's statement to this effect before the European Parliament, ‘Address by President Georgi Parvanov to the members of the European Parliament 01-02-2007’, Brussels, available at < http://www.president.bg/en/news.php?type = 3> and the proposal by Energy Minister Rumen Ovcharov, ‘Rumen Ovcharov proposes a plan for saving Kozloduy npp units 3 and 4’, published on 26 January 2007, updated on 30 January 2007, available at < http://www.bnr.bg/RadioBulgaria/Emission_English/Theme_BulgariaES/Material/rovchplan.htm>. For Ataka's position on Kozloduy, see its website at: < http://www.ataka.bg/index.php?option = com_content&task = view&id = 13&Item = 29>; for GERB's view, see the interview with Boiko Borisov, Standart, 2 February 2007. 26 Boiko Borisov, ‘Kuneva should protect us from the expensive electricity’, Standart, 2 February 2007 (Meglena Kuneva was Bulgaria's Minister for Europe and the European Commissioner for Consumer Protection). For vote results in the European Parliament elections in Bulgaria, see < http://www.bta.bg/site/izbori2007/index.html>. 27 Michael Mihalka, ‘Conclusion: values and interests: European support for the intervention in Afghanistan and Iraq’, in Lansford and Tashev, Old Europe, New Europe and the US, pp. 188–190. 28 On the evolution of NATO involvement in Afghanistan, see Rajan Menon, The End of Alliances, Oxford University Press, New York, 2007, pp. 191–194. 29 Linden, ‘Twin peaks’, op. cit.. 30 ‘Chirac lashes out at “New Europe”’, CNN, www.cnn.com, 18 February 2003. 31 Wess Mitchell, ‘Mending fences: repairing U.S.–Central European relations after Iraq’, Center for European Policy Analysis, 8 July 2008 (posted 26 October 2006), available at < http://www.cepa.org/publications/posts/mending-fences-repairing-us-central-european-relations-after-iraq.php>. 32 Linden, ‘Twin peaks’, op. cit., p. 48. 33 Rossen Vassilev, ‘Public opinion and Bulgaria's involvement in the Iraq War’, East European Quarterly, XL(4), December 2006, pp. 467–487. See also the discussion in Janusz Bugajski and Ilona Teleki, Atlantic Bridges: America's New European Allies, Rowman and Littlefield, Lanham, MD, 2007, Ch. 6. 34 ‘Address to the nation and the members of the Bulgarian Assembly by Georgi Parvanov, President of the Republic of Bulgaria, 20-03-2003’, available at < http://www.president.bg/en/news.php?id = 32&st = 0>. 35 ‘Last Bulgarian troops leave Iraq Bulgaria’, RFE/RL, 27 December 2005; ‘Iraq coalition troops’, at: < http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/ops/iraq_orbat_coalition.htm>. 36 ‘Romania to pull out troops from Iraq this year: PM’, Reuters, 29 June 2006 [Boston.com, 29 June 2006]; ‘Romanian President rejects Iraq pullout’, RFE/RL.org, 29 June 2006; ‘Romania PM wants Iraq troops withdrawal in 2007’, Novinite Sofia News Agency (www.novinite.com), 26 March 2007. See also Tariceanu's statement doubting ‘that a massive military presence could ever solve the problem in Iraq’. ‘Mideast needs political not military solution, says Premier Tariceanu’, Rompres, 11 January 2007 [World News Connection, 11 January 2007]. 37 Quoted in Eugen Tomiuc, ‘Romania: Basescu wins presidential vote, vows to fight corruption’, RFE/RL, 13 December 2004. 38 Calin Stoica Diaconovici, ‘Basescu's axis changing course toward Berlin’, Evenimuntul Zile (Internet Version), 31 August 2006 [World News Connection, 31 August 2006]. 39 Interview with Laurentiu Stefan-Scalat, Department of Political Science, University of Bucharest, Bucharest, 12 April 2007. 40 Ronald H. Linden, ‘Balkan geometry: Turkish accession and the international relations of Southeast Europe’, Orbis, 51(2), Spring 2007, esp. pp. 332–334. 41 See NATO Istanbul Summit Communiqué, 28 June 2004 item 41 at: < http://www.nato.int/docu/pr/2004/p04-096e.htm>; Mark Pekala, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs, ‘Remarks at the “Economic Development and Security in the Black Sea Region” Conference’, Center for Strategic and International Studies, Washington, DC, 31 October 2006. 42 European Commission, ‘Black Sea Synergy—a new regional cooperation initiative’, COM(2007) 160, Brussels. 43 Eugene B. Rumer and Jeffrey Simon, ‘Toward a Euro-Atlantic strategy for the Black Sea region’, National Defense University, Occasional Paper, 3, April 2006, p. 22. 44 European Commission, ‘Black Sea Synergy’, op. cit.. 45 See ‘Interview with Bulgarian Prime Minister Sergey Stanishev’, Standart News (Internet Version), 15 May 2007 [World News Connection, 15 May 2007], ‘Stanishev: there is politics of tough-guy posturing’, BGNEWS, 27 April 2007 [World News Connection, 27 April 2007]. 46 Romania Presedintele, ‘Strategia de Securitate Nationala a Romaniei’ [Romanian National Security Strategy], Bucharest, 2006, pp. 19–22. As of mid-2009 the Bulgarian parliament had not yet approved a new national security strategy. 47 Interview with US embassy officials, Bucharest, 10 April 2007; Stephen Blank, ‘Black Sea rivalry’, Perspective, XVII(2), March–April 2007, available at < http://www.bu.edu/iscip/vol17/blank.html>. 48 Pekala, ‘Remarks’. Romania also took up organizational arrangements pushed by the USA. It hosts the headquarters of both the Southeast Europe Brigade, a 25,000-person force that has sent troops to Afghanistan, and the Southeast European Cooperation Initiative with a broad mandate in economic, environmental and anti-crime activities. See Jeffrey Simon, ‘Preventing Balkan conflict: the role of Euroatlantic institutions’, Strategic Forum, No. 226, April 2007. 49 ‘Romania's Basescu says “prioritizing” US–UK–Bucharest axis “justified”’, Rompres, 11 January 2005 [World News Connection, 12 January 2005]. 50 While in Moscow in April 2007, after the controversy between Russia and Estonia over the latter's movement of a Soviet-era war memorial in Tallinn, Prime Minister Stanishev was careful to publicly reassure Russia that in Bulgaria war memorials, commemorating both the Russo-Turkish war and the Second World War, would be maintained. ITAR-TASS, 8 May 2007 [World News Connection, 8 May 2007]. 51 Vladimir Socor, ‘GUAM's Batumi Summit builds partnerships amid challenges’, Eurasia Daily Monitor, 9 July 2008. 52 Andre Rittman, ‘EU's new Black Sea Policy faces Russian misgivings’, euobserver.com, 16 February 2007; ‘Russian Federation distances itself from Black Sea Euro-region project proposed by Romania’, Rompres, 31 March 2006 [World News Connection, 31 March 2006]. Russia participated in the meeting of Foreign Ministers in Kyiv in February 2008 to launch the Black Sea Synergy, but it did not join in the resulting ‘Joint Statement’ of the Foreign Ministers. European Commission, ‘Report on the first year of implementation of the Black Sea Synergy’, COM(2008) 391, p. 16, fn. 13. 53 Elena Prokhorova, ‘The European Union a Black Sea power?’, eurussia centre, April 2007; available at < http://www.eu-russiacentre.org/column.asp?id = 386&lng = ru>. 54 Blank, ‘Black Sea rivalry’; Suat Kinikliogiu, ‘Struggling was the Black Sea’, Turkish Daily News, 16 June 2006; republished by German Marshall Fund at: < http://www.gmfus.org/publications/article.cfm?id = 194&parent_type = P>. At the Black Sea Forum in 2006 most attendees were represented by presidents or prime ministers. Bulgaria sent the Foreign Minister, Turkey sent a Minister of State and Russia was represented by an observer, its ambassador to Romania. Vladimir Socor, ‘Black Sea Forum seeking its rationale’, Eurasia Daily Monitor, 8 June 2006, available at < http://jamestown.org/edm/article.php?article_id = 2371162>. 55 Hryhoriy Perepelytsya, ‘Military and naval balance in the Black Sea region’, in Oleksandr Pavliuk and Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze (eds), The Black Sea Region: Cooperation and Security Building, M. E. Sharpe, Armonk, NY, 2004, pp. 191–210. 56 Rumer and Simon, ‘Toward a Euro-Atlantic strategy for the Black Sea region’; Mevlut Katik, ‘Geopolitical competition heats up in Black Sea’, Eurasianet.org, 10 March 2006. In 2008 officials in the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs asserted in an interview that Black Sea Harmony had interdicted more contraband shipping in the Black Sea than Active Endeavor had done in the Mediterranean. 57 Energy Information Administration at: < http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/cabs/Russia/Oil_exports.html>. 58 Bernard A. Gelb, ‘Russian oil and gas challenges’, CRS Report for Congress, 3 January 2006. 59 ‘An energy policy for Europe’, Communication from the Commission to the European Council and the European Parliament, COM(2007), Brussels, 10 January 2007; ‘A European strategy for sustainable, competitive and secure energy’, European Commission, COM(2006), Brussels, 8 March 2006; for critical comment by the EU Ambassador to Washington, see ‘Energy policy is EU's “big failure” of past 50 years’, euobserver.com, 28 May 2009. 60 ‘Commission gives its support to a pipeline which will limit oil pollution risks in Black and Mediterranean seas’, Brussels, 3 April 2007. ‘Black Sea oil pipeline to start flowing by 2012’, Euractiv.com, 4 April 2007, updated 11 May 2007. See the discussion in Vladimir Socor, ‘Constanta–Trieste pipeline proposal for Kazakhstan's oil’, Eurasia Daily Monitor, 3 August 2006. 61 ‘Croatia, Romania, Serbia sign Pan-European Oil Pipeline agreement’, SETimes, 23 April 2008, < http://www.setimes.com/cocoon/setimes/xhtml/en_GB/features/setimes/features/2008/04/23/feature-01>. 62 Vladimir Socor, ‘Baltic seabed gas pipeline project: far from a done deal’, Eurasia Daily Monitor, 22 May 2007; ‘A bear at the throat’, Economist.com, 12 April 2007, p. 2; ‘Russia clinches Balkan oil deal’, BBC News, 15 March 2007. 63 ‘Bulgaria, Hungary push Nabucco gas pipeline project’, EUbusiness.com, 27 June 2008, < http://www.eubusiness.com/news-eu/1214564525.48/>; Svitlana Korenovska, ‘Pipeline project faces obstacles, competition’, The Washington Times, 10 July 2008. In July 2009 an agreement was finally signed by four EU transit countries (Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Austria) and Turkey to build the Nabucco pipeline. BBC News, 13 July 2009. 64 Theodor Troev and Ed Crooks, ‘Bulgaria backs Putin's plans for gas pipeline to rival EU's’, Financial Times, 19–20 January 2008, p. 2. In September 2007 the Hungarian government, which had supported the Russian pipeline, switched its position and announced its ‘total support’ for the Nabucco pipeline (Financial Times, 18 September 2007, p. 2). Then in February 2008 Budapest agreed to support Southstream as well. ‘It's in the interests of Hungary to have both pipelines crossing Hungarian territory’, said Hungarian Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany (Financial Times, 26 February 2008, p. 2). In May 2009, Russia signed agreements with Bulgaria, Greece, Italy and Serbia to speed up construction of the Southstream pipeline. Ariel Cohen, ‘Caspian Basin: which way is up for regional energy development?’, Eurasianet.org, 15 May 2009. 65 ‘EU “does not oppose” South Stream gas pipeline project; Nabucco still priority’, Forbes.com, 21 January 2008, < http://www.forbes.com/markets/feeds/afx/2008/01/21/afx4553879.html>. Not only does the Southstream pipeline offer direct competition for the gas to be shipped to Europe, but the storage facility in Baumgarten, Austria, which would be the gas ‘hub’, is owned 50 per cent by Gazprom. Zeyno Baran, ‘Oil, oligarchs, and opportunity: energy from Central Asia to Europe’, Testimony to Committee on Foreign Relations, US Senate, 12 June 2008. In addition, while Romania supports the participation in the project of Gaz de France, Turkey opposes their inclusion because of the approval by the lower house of the French parliament of a law that would punish denial of the Armenian genocide. ‘Turkey's President Gul visiting Romania amid differences over Kosovo, gas pipeline’, Associated Press, 3 March 2008; Fulya Ozerkan, ‘France seeks economic thaw against political chill’, Turkish Daily News, Wednesday, 20 February 2008, < http://www.turkishdailynews.com.tr/article.php?enewsid = 96907>. 66 Vladimir Socor, ‘Russian strategy, EU drift in Estonia’, Eurasia Daily Monitor, 8 May 2007. At one point Estonian President Toomas Ilves accused unnamed EU members of pursuing an ‘appeasement policy’ toward Russia. EUBusiness.com, 12 July 2007. 67 ‘Romanian president accuses Russia of using energy to achieve political aims’, Interfax, 17 November 2006 [World News Connection, 17 November 2006]. Vladimir Socor reports that in a speech to the Jamestown Foundation in August 2006 Basescu declared that Gazprom was ‘more efficient than the Red Army used to be’. Eurasia Daily Monitor, 21 November 2006. 68 Interview with Bulgarian Prime Minister. 69 Interview with Ilin Stanev, Editor, Foreign Desk, Capital, Sofia, 17 April 2007; Ivan Kostov, former Prime Minister and leader of an opposition party in parliament, Democrats for a Strong Bulgaria, was especially critical. See ‘Ivan Kostov: the Bulgarian energy is dependent on Russia and this is becoming more irreversible’, BTV, 5 February 2007. For the government's defence, see ‘We expect $35 million per year from Burgas–Alexandropoulos’, Sega, 8 February 2007. 70 In response to the high level of dependence on Russia for energy, the Bulgarian Foreign Policy Association called for a national referendum on both the oil and gas pipeline deals. Novinite, 23 January 2008. 71 The deal was originally approved by Bulgaria's National Electric Company in 2006; Russia agreed to provide substantial financing in May 2009. Energy Business Review Nuclear, 28 May 2009; see also Peter Doran, ‘EU energy security and Bulgaria's nuclear option’, World Politics Review, 25 May 2009. 72 ‘Bulgarians protest Russia's energy policy’, International Herald Tribune, 18 January 2008, < http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/01/18/europe/EU-GEN-Bulgaria-Putin-Protests.php>. Elitsa Grancharova, ‘Anti-Putin protest on Sofia's Orlov Most’, The Sofia Echo, 17 January 2008. 73 Christopher Condon and Stefan Wagstyl, ‘EU urged to cut reliance on Russian oil and gas’, FT.com, 19 January 2007. 74 ‘Romania sets up joint venture with Russia's Gazprom for underground gas storage facilities’, Associated Press, 1 June 2009. 75 Pinar Ipek and Paul Williams, ‘Divergence in EU member-state energy policies: a challenge to the EU's common energy policy and trans-Atlantic partnership in human security’, German Marshall Fund of the United States Policy Research Conference on Energy Security, Trento, Italy, 18–19 April 2008. 76 ‘Turkey's energy strategy’, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Republic of Turkey, available at < http://www.mfa.gov.tr/sub.en.mfa?395d59f6-c33c-4364-9744-cff90ec18a3e>. 77 The literature on the subject is substantial and growing rapidly. Useful discussions can be found in Melem Müftüler-Baç and Yannis A. Stivachtis (eds), Turkey–European Union Relations, Lexington Books, Lanham, MD, 2008; Esra LaGro and Knud Jorgensen (eds), Turkey and the European Union, Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke, 2007; Burak Akçapar, Turkey's New European Era, Rowman and Littlefield, Lanham, MD, 2007; Gülnur Aybet, ‘Turkey and the EU after the first year of negotiations: reconciling internal and external policy challenges’, Security Dialogue, 37(4), December 2006, pp. 529–549; Ziya niş, ‘Turkey's encounters with the new Europe: multiple transformations, inherent dilemmas and the challenges ahead’, Journal of Southern Europe and the Balkans, 8(3), December 2006, pp. 279–298; Steve Wood and Wolfgang Quaisser, ‘Turkey's road to the EU: political dynamics, strategic context and implications for Europe’, European Foreign Affairs Review, 10, 2005. 78 Schimmelfennig, The EU, NATO and the Integration of Europe, pp. 265–278. 79 In January 2008, European Commission President Jose Barroso came as close as EU officials ever do in acknowledging this link: ‘We have always said that we are rating each country on merit alone and I would therefore not want to be drawn into making comparisons between different cases. Every European country is unique. Of course, we always take into account our experience from previous enlargements such as those of Bulgaria and Romania and of the countries before them. If I have to be quite honest with you, the issue is not whether we have learned one lesson or another from the past but the fact that public opinion has become much more sensitive to the issue of enlargement.’ Irina Novakova, ‘Jose Manuel Barroso: Bulgaria is no tiny fish in vast ocean’, Kapital, 1 January 2008 [World News Connection, 1 January 2008]. 80 Linden, ‘Balkan geometry’, op. cit., p. 344. 81 Ervin Ibraim, Head of Turkish Community in Romania, estimates the Turkish minority in Romania at 100,000, 90 per cent of whom live in the Dobrogea region. Interview, 11 April 2007, Bucharest. 82 ‘“Turkey has right to join EU when it meets its standards”, says President Basescu’, Rompres, 15 February 2007 [World News Connection, 15 February 2007]; ‘Turkey's President Gul visiting Romania amid differences over Kosovo, gas’. 83 Diaz Anagnostou, ‘Nationalist legacies and European trajectories: post-communist liberalization and Turkish minority politics in Bulgaria’, Southeast European and Black Sea Studies, 5(1), January 2005, pp. 89–111. 84 Ognyan Minchev, The Case of Turkey in the EU, Institute for Regional and International Studies, Sofia, 2006, pp. 12–13; see also, Ganev, ‘Ballots, bribes and state building in Bulgaria’, pp. 84–87. 87 Minchev, The Case of Turkey in the EU, op. cit., p. 15. 85 ‘DSB: Bulgarian interests to be “badly harmed” by Turkey premature EU membership’, BTA, 2 May 2007 [World News Connection, 2 May 2006]; Interview with Ivan Kostov, 13 April 2007, Sofia. 86 ‘After Parvanov, Turkey gave a medal to Dogan’, ATAKA, 16 January 2007. 88 ‘MRF MP's leave Plenary Hall after second-reading vote of MEP Election Bill’, BTA, 14 February 2007; ‘No new rules for Bulgarian expats in MEP polls’, Dnevnik, 23 February 2007 [Bulgaria in EU Press Centre]. 89 Interview with Filip Dimitrov, Deputy Speaker of Parliament, and former Prime Minister, UDF, 13 April 2007, Sofia. 90 See ‘Interview with [Prime Minister] Sergey Stanishev’, Sega, 7 March 2007, in which he defends the government against attacks that EU project money was going to Turkish firms. 91 Plamen Dimitrov, ‘The future enlargement of the EU: the Bulgarian point of view’, Dnevnik, 10 March 2008, < http://evropa.dnevnik.bg/show/?storyid = 468922>. 92 This view was put forth by Mihail Mikov, Chairman of the Parliamentary Group of the Coalition for Bulgaria, the Socialists' group, and Biliana Raeva of the NDSV, the King's party, both of whose parties are part of the current government coalition. Both interviewed in Sofia, 19 April 2007. 93 Boriana Dimitrova, ‘The first year in the EU—delayed optimism?’, Dnevnik, 1 January 2008, < http://evropa.dnevnik.bg/show/?storyid = 410890>. 94 Official results are available at: < http://www.izbori2007.eu/results/>. 95 Interview with Nikolay Mladenov, advisor to Boyko Borisov, leader of GERB, Sofia, 17 April 2007. In the May elections Mladenov was elected to the European Parliament. 96 ‘Sofia's mayor's party emerges winner in Bulgaria's European polls with 100 pct of vote tallied’, BNN, 2 May 2007. 97 ‘European Parliament urges Turkey to settle long-standing issues with Bulgarian’, BTA, 22 April 2008 [BBC Monitoring, 22 April 2008]. 98 European Parliament, texts adopted by Parliament, ‘Turkey's 2007 progress report’, P6 TA(2008)024. This language was not included in the Parliament's 2008 resolution on Turkey's progress; see European Parliament, texts adopted by Parliament, ‘Turkey's 2008 progress report’, P6 TA(2009)0134. 99 After a joint press conference of the two Prime Ministers was cancelled, Ataka leader Volen Siderov claimed it was due to fear of the questions he was going to ask about compensation for the Bulgarians expelled in 1913. Luben Obretenov and Samuil Dimitrov, ‘Volen Siderov proudly announces that he scared Erdogan’, Sega, 28 March 2008, < http://www.segabg.com/online/article.asp?issueid = 2931§ionId = 2&id = 0000501>; ‘The press conference with Stanishev and Erdogan cancelled’, Today.bg, 27 March 2008, < http://www.today.bg/print/news/20614.html>; ‘Bulgaria supports Turkey's EU bid: premier’, AFP, 27 March 2008. 100 ‘Turkish government freezes its participation in EU Operative Program on trans-border cooperation with Bulgaria for 2007–2013 due to decision of Community Council of Burgas to recognize Armenian genocide’, ARMINFO News Agency, 11 March 2008. 101 ‘Bulgarian lawmakers reject Armenian “genocide” resolutions’, AFP, 17 January 2008. 102 Comprehensive Proposal for the Kosovo Status Settlement, 2 February 2007, available at < http://operationkosovo.kentlaw.edu/Comprehensive%20Proposal%20for%20the%20Kosovo%20Settlement.pdf>. 103 For the EU see European Council, ‘Council conclusions on Kosovo’, Brussels, 18 February 2008; for NATO see ‘Statement by the North Atlantic Council after Kosovo's declaration of independence’, 18 February 2008, < http://www.nato.int/docu/pr/2008/p08-025e.html>; and ‘Final communiqué Ministerial meeting of the North Atlantic Council held at NATO headquarters’, 7 December 2007, < http://www.nato.int/docu/pr/2007/p07-130e.html>. 104 ‘Council Joint Action 2008/124/CFSP of 4 February 2008 on the European Union Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo, EULEX Kosovo’, Official Journal of the European Union, 16 February 2008, pp. l 42/92–98. The view of the EU is that the original resolution ending the war against Serbia in 1999, UN Security Council Resolution 1244, establishes the legality of their mission. 105 ‘EU finalizes Kosovo mission preparations: diplomats’, eubusiness.com, 4 February 2008; NATO, ‘Statement by the North Atlantic Council after Kosovo's declaration of independence’; NATO, ‘Final communiqué Ministerial meeting of the North Atlantic Council held at NATO headquarters’. 106 ‘Kosovo precedent for Transdniester, says Pres’, The Tirasopol Times, 18 May 2007, < http://www.tiraspoltimes.com/node/858>. Igor Smirnov, ‘We have a stronger case for statehood than Kosovo’, The Tirasopol Times, 6 March 2007, < http://www.tiraspoltimes.com/node/624>. 107 ‘Kosovo issue solution should not set precedent for other areas: Romanian PM’, Xinhua, 13 May 2007 [Romania International Media Watch, 13 May 2007]; ‘Serbian Foreign Minister pays visit to Bucharest’, Rompres, 21 January 2008 [World News Connection, 21 January 2008]. 108 ‘Romanian president, cabinet, parliament agree on rejecting Kosovo independence’, Rompres, 19 February 2008 [BBC Monitoring, 19 February 2008]. 109 Zoltan Tibori, ‘Kosovo sparks debate in Romania—Romanian President's party wants RMDSZ to be voted out of parliament’, Nepszabadsag, 8 January 2008 [World News Connection, 8 January 2008]; ‘New Hungarian party founded in Transylvania’, Politics.hu, 31 January 2008, < http://www.politics.hu/20080131/new-hungarian-party-founded-in-transylvania>. 110 ‘Leader presents to EU envoys Romanian ethnic Hungarians' position on Kosovo’, Rompres, 22 February 2008 [BBC Monitoring, 22 February 2008]. 111 ‘Basescu: I believe it is out of the question that ethnic Hungarians plan independence’, Rompres, 19 December 2007 [World News Connection, 19 December 2007]; Eliza Francu, ‘Kosovo—intravenous serum for nationalists’, Gandul, 12 December 2007 [World News Connection, 12 December 2007]. 112 Both President Traian Basescu and Prime Minister Calin Popescu-Tariceanu announced at the Brussels EU summit in December 2007 that Romania would not recognize an independent Kosovo. Rompres, 17 December 2007 [World News Connection, 17 December 2007]; Rompres, 14 December 2007 [World News Connection, 14 December 2007]. See also ‘Romanian president, cabinet, parliament agree on rejecting Kosovo independence’. 113 ‘Romania's President says Kosovo's declaration of independence illegal’, SeeNews, 18 February 2008; ‘Romania says Kosovo independence “illegal”: report’, AFP, 18 February 2008; ‘Romanian president, cabinet, parliament agree on rejecting Kosovo independence’. 114 Armend Reka, ‘The Ohrid Agreement: the travails of inter-ethnic relations in Macedonia’, Human Rights Review, 9, 2008, pp. 55–69; ‘Edging beyond ethnicity’, Transitions Online, 4 September 2006. 115 ‘Interview with Bulgarian Foreign Minister Ivaylo Kalfin’, 24 Chasa, 18 January 2008 [World News Connection, 18 January 2008]. 122 Alexander Boyanov, ‘Kosovo: the most expensive failed project’, Sega, 27 March 2008, < http://www.segabg.com/online/article.asp?issueid = 2930§ionId = 5&id = 0001001>. 116 See, for example, ‘Bulgaria supports Ahtisaari's plan’, KosovaLive News Agency, 28 December 2007 [World News Connection, 28 December 2007]. 117 ‘Bulgaria, Hungary call for common EU position on Kosovo’, AFP, 5 February 2008 [World News Connection, 5 February 2008]. 118 ‘Bulgarian Foreign Minister to visit Belgrade, Pristina on December 18, 19’, BTA, 10 December 2007 [World News Connection, 10 December 2007]. 119 In December Bulgarian Foreign Minister Kalfin said a declaration of independence by Kosovo would be ‘a bad move’. ‘Bulgaria, Serbia maintain dynamic relations’, BTA, 18 December 2007 [World News Connection, 18 December 2007]; in January 2008 President Georgi Parvanov said Bulgaria would ‘not be among the states to immediately recognize an independent Kosovo’, ‘Kosovo independence bid eyed warily by several EU states’, AFP, 2 February 2008 [World News Connection, 2 February 2008]. 120 See the Bulgarian government statement, 20 March 2008, at: < http://www.government.bg/cgi-bin/e-cms/vis/vis.pl?s = 001&p = 0137&n = 000575&g = >. 121 Sega, 25 March 2008, < http://www.segabg.com/online/article.asp?issueid = 2927§ionId = 5&id = 0000911>. 123 Boiko Lambovski, ‘Tumors of democracy’, Sega, 25 March 2008, < http://www.segabg.com/online/article.asp?issueid = 2927§ionId = 5&id = 0001101>. 124 Svetoslav Terziev, ‘Kosovo will recognize us for a banana republic’, Sega, 20 March 2008, < http://www.segabg.com/online/article.asp?issueid = 2921§ionId = 5&id = 0000902>. 125 Galia Gorianova, ‘Kosovo spurs heated debate in parliament’, Sega, 14 February 2008, < http://www.segabg.com/online/article.asp?issueid = 2886§ionId = 2&id = 0000302>. 126 Bulgarian government statement. 127 ‘Romanian parliament passes political statement on Kosovo’, Rompres, 20 December 2007 [World News Connection, 20 December 2007]. 128 ‘Romania not to increase number of servicemen in Kosovo’, Rompres, 18 March 2008 [BBC Monitoring, 18 March 2008]. 129 ‘Romania prepared to send 175 police officers to Kosovo: president’, AFP, 23 January 2008 [World News Connection, 23 January 2008]. 130 ‘Romania's participation in EU Kosovo Mission is not independence recognition—FM’, Rompres, 21 February 2008 [BBC Monitoring, 21 February 2008]. 131 SETimes, 17 April 2009, < http://www.setimes.com/cocoon/setimes/xhtml/en_GB/features/setimes/newsbriefs/2009/04/17/nb-03>.