Peculiarities of Reforming Political and Administrative Institutes of Bulgaria after its Accession to the EU

Abstract

The article determines that after the collapse of communism in 1989 and during the transition from a totalitarian regime to a market economy and parliamentary democracy, Bulgaria's accession to the EU became the single most influential factor in the formation of new political and social priorities at the state level. The purpose of the article is to study the peculiarities of reforming Bulgarian political and administrative institutions after joining the EU, which is revealed through the performance of a number of tasks, namely: elucidation of the essence of the term "political and administrative institute" and research of its fundamental features; determination of the main stages of reforming the political and administrative institutions of the Republic of Bulgaria; carrying out an analysis of the legal documents accompanying this process and comparing the policies of the Bulgarian governments during 2005-2023 regarding the reform of political and administrative institutions. To achieve the outlined goal and set tasks, a complex methodology was applied, in which the toolkit of neo-institutional, normative, problem-chronological, structural-functional and comparative approaches is integrated. In order to acquire full membership in the EU, Bulgaria had to carry out reforms in three critically important areas: public administration, the judicial system, the fight against corruption and organized crime. It has been proven that modern political and administrative institutions of Bulgaria have gone through a long path of transformation, however, this process continues until now with regard to the decentralization of state administration, optimization of functions, staffing, improvement of the system of providing public services and development of electronic governance and it is stated that they carry out their activities on the principles of legality, openness, accessibility, responsibility, reporting, efficiency, subordination, coordination, etc. Studying the experience of reforming Bulgaria's political and administrative institutions is also extremely relevant for Ukraine, which has legislated a course for European integration, is carrying out a decentralization reform, and is improving the system of providing public services and electronic governance.