Paper Titles & Abstracts

Six years after joining the European Union, Bulgaria’s and Romania’s EU structural funds absorption is among the lowest in the European bloc. Whilst there are no clear signs of economic and societal growth as a benefit of their membership, several critics argued these countries reversed previous reforms and entered a back-sliding phase (Levitz & Pop Eleches 2010). Seeking to understand the weak absorption capacity of the two countries in managing European structural funding instruments, this paper examines some of the factors that may explain their low absorption rates. This is particularly an under-researched area for Central and Eastern European states, with few definitions advanced by the literature (Brusis 2002; Sumpikova 2003; Horvat & Maier 2005; Jaenike 2011). The paper operationalizes the concept of “absorption capacity” and develops an analytical tool to measure the countries’ performance in the area. It builds on the theoretical debates on Europeanization that underline the importance of internal/domestic factors (Borzel & Risse 2011; Sedelmeir 2011), as well as, on previous studies mapping out the performance of Central and Eastern countries in terms of cohesion policy (Horvat 2005; Bachtler & McMaster 2008; Bachtler et al 2013). The paper argues that in the run-up to membership the European institutions were aware of inappropriate spending of pre-accession funding and the potential deficiencies the countries’ might face during the multi annual framework period of 2007-2013. The countries’ plethora of structural capacity weaknesses can be traced back to their previous political regime and their difficult transitioning period. The paper uses World Bank, Eurostat and the EBRD country data sets and contends that their absorption capacity can only be understood in the light of recent governance, territorial and economic developments.