The Europeanization of Bulgarian regional policy: a case of strengthened centralization

The study considers whether EU cohesion policy and related pre‐accession instruments have contributed to the development of a more compound polity in Bulgaria and promoted features of multi‐level governance. In order to examine the impact of the EU cohesion policy on the Bulgarian system of domestic governance, this contribution studies the nature and the extent of domestic change and attempts to trace its causes. The main finding is that Bulgaria's involvement with the EU has led to the creation of a weak system of multi‐level governance dominated by the central government. However, it would be premature to jump to any definitive conclusions before the end of the current programming period.