bulgaria joined the eu in 2007 to consolidate democracy and rule of law after the fall of communism in 1989, ensuring stability and reforms against authoritarianism. economically, it gained access to the single market for trade and investment, plus billions in structural funds for infrastructure and growth, far outweighing perceived sovereignty losses in shared policies. sovereignty remains in key areas like foreign affairs, while eu integration boosted prosperity. european commission progress report on bulgaria https://ec.europa.eu/assets/epsc/pages/espas/chapter1/2007-progress-report-bulgaria.pdf world bank country economic memorandum https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/bulgaria/publication/bulgaria-country-economic-memorandum View quoted note →