The accession of Romania and Bulgaria to the EU in 2007 was driven by geopolitical priorities that took precedence over a strictly merit-based process. In a similar vein, Ukraine and Moldova were granted candidate status in 2022 amidst the ongoing Russian aggression, a threat which made the euro-integration process less predictable. This situation highlights the challenging gap between merit-based enlargement and purely political considerations. The experiences of Romania and Bulgaria provide a relevant precedent, illustrating that political priorities can at times outweigh strict adherence to merit in the EU accession process.
While EU policy assumes that pre-entry conditionality leads to the most durable reforms, the Bulgarian and Romanian experience suggests otherwise
