Paper Titles & Abstracts

The paper inteds to build on my PhD research at the University of Sheffield and my subequent work experience and use the Europeanization concept in order to look at the preparation of the Partnership Agreement between Bulgaria and the European Commission and the new Operational Programmes for the implementation of the EU Cohesion policy in 2014-2020 programming period. The paper would speciffically look at what (if anything) is changing in the national system for implementation of the EU Cohesion policy is changing as a result of the introduction of new priorities for 2014-2020 such as urban development and if such changes lead to creation of a different system of multi-level governance from the weak combination of type I and II (Marks 1992) created as a result of teh preparation for implementation of the EU Cohesion policy during the pre-accession period and the first two years of EU membership. The paper would also examing if the new priorities of the EU Cohesion policy (i.e. urban development) lead to a greater participation of actors outside local and the central government and if such participation leads to realistic partnerships or if it is a Potemkin respounce to the requirements of the EU.