Maslovskaya E.V. Reforming the Judicial and Legal Systems in South-Eastern Europe: Sociocultural Context and Consequences of European Union Policy. Russian Journal of Legal Studies (Moscow). 2025. Vol. 12. No. 2. Pp. 9-18. DOI: 10.17816 ...

Текст статьи на сайте журнала URL: https://journals.eco-vector.com/2410-7522/article/view/679005 (дата обращения 02.09.2025)

Abstract

The article presents a sociological conceptualization of transformation of the judicial system in Bulgaria and Romania since 1989. The theoretical framework of the study is formed by a composition of the multiple modernities theory and sociology of law. The two countries have been analytically united into a single typological case. Their development in the socialist period was distinguished by some common patterns. At the same time rejection of the communist project did not result in a complete break with its legacy. A new situation emerged after the accession of Bulgaria and Romania to the EU in 2007. The article presents the evolution of approaches to the study of Europeanization in the states of Eastern Europe. It is argued that for a long time only positive aspects of that process were singled out. Since the middle of the 2010s more attention was devoted to “pathological” aspects of the impact of the EU mechanisms and procedures on transformation of legal institutions in Bulgaria and Romania. A conclusion has been made that the fast pace of reforms led to formal adherence rather than to genuine following the principles of rule of law. Although monitoring of Bulgaria and Romania within the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism was stopped in 2023, there are still many problems in the legal sphere in the two countries. Legal reforms tended to strengthen the existing social order which is based on marginalization and instrumentalization of law. It is emphasized that creation of the system of rule of law in these societies requires a change of the whole system of social relations. The article makes a conclusion that the situation in Bulgaria and Romania reflects some common trends in post-communist states which are connected with pathological mistakes in carrying out the reforms and choosing the ways of their implementation.