Bulgaria is not a wanted partner within the EU, it cooperates practically only with Romania and does not participate in any informal group of countries with common interests.
This is shown by the EU Coalition Explorer study of the European Council on Foreign Policy, which presents the interaction between the 28 Member States. It was carried out by 800 professionals in the field of policy and European activities – scientists, government officials, politicians, media representatives, and others. There were 36 people from Bulgaria – more than any other country, according to Novinite.com.
The participants were asked what other countries their governments would choose to cooperate on European issues, which countries have the same long-term interests and who responded and co-operated. There are also questions about who were the most frustrating partners and who are devoted to European integration.
Bulgaria is ranked 24th in terms of total coalition potential – behind it are Malta, Slovenia, Croatia, and Cyprus. The highest position our country registers with regard to its devotion to integration (17th place) and 19th place in terms of the common migration policy.
Romania and only Romania
Concerning bilateral relations, Bulgaria has such practices only with Romania.
6% of Romanian professionals have noted that their government would contact Sofia for European issues; the same is true of 2% of Austrians, 1% of Hungarians and 1% of Swedes. Bulgaria places Germany and France as the most important partners, followed by Austria, Romania, and Greece.
On the question of which countries have long-term common interests, Bulgaria lists 12% of respondents in Romania, 6% of those in Croatia and 4% of Greece and Hungary. The Bulgarian position places Romania first, followed by Germany and Hungary.
The question of which government responds and with which it is easy to work is mentioned by 8% of respondents in Romania and 4% of respondents in Greece. 21% of Bulgarian representatives point to Germany, 13% – Romania, and 9% – Austria.