What Has Limited the EU's Impact on Minority Rights in Accession Countries?

Abstract

Using Bulgaria as a case study, this article investigates what has limited the impact of the European Union (EU) on minority rights in accession countries. It is possible to identify a number of factors. They include a lack of internal minority rights standards, an emphasis on the acquis communautaire, missing expertise on minority issues, the superficial monitoring of candidate states, a lack of concern for human rights, and a failure in addressing public attitudes towards minorities. The case of Bulgaria differed from that of its neighbors in lacking involvement of the High Commissioner on National Minorities (HCNM) of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).