In early 1997 Bulgaria was a country in deep crisis, its economy in shambles and its politics in confusion. Despite this, however, the European Union included it in its full pre-accession strategy with all ten countries of Central and South Eastern Europe.
This proved farsighted and enabled a thoroughly transformed Bulgaria to enter the European Union a decade later (see From laggard to EU member). The Bulgaria of today still faces many challenges, including in the area of the rule of law. Bulgaria has not become Sweden or Denmark, but it has become a very different country from what it was in 1997. It has also changed much more than it's neighbours in the Western Balkans, which had been left out of the 5th enlargement round and the accompanying EU accession process.
Bulgaria's problems left many with the feeling that Bulgaria was admitted to early and that little has changed in this country. The background paper Bulgaria's quest to meet the environmental acquis takes up this question by looking at the environment sector, one of the areas which posed the biggest challenges for the East European accession countries in the run-up to their accession.
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