From the studies in this book it is clear that the process of Europeanization that Bulgaria has undergone in its quest to join the EU has profoundly influenced the development of the country's political, economic and social life in many ways. Bulgaria is now a full member of the EU, but this does not mean that Europeanization has finished. As the introduction of this book suggested, Europeanization should be seen as a wider process which has the ultimate aim of effecting widespread convergence between Bulgaria and what the elites of the country perceive to be Europe. Yet, as this book has also shown, Europe is not a static unchanging concept. Over the years it has mutated into various guises to incorporate both external changes and domestic needs. However, as long as Bulgaria's elite are attracted by external political, economic and social models of development and as long as Europe is seen as being the/or part of the global locomotive of modernization, then the process of Europeanization will continue.

EU accession was therefore a landmark in the country's post-communist Europeanization, but not an end in itself. Convergence requires Bulgaria to take yet further steps. One of these is joining the passport-free Schengen zone, which has already seen 25 European states systematically remove border controls. Bulgaria, which shares lengthy borders with three non-EU states, Turkey, Serbia and the FYROM, is scheduled to join the zone along with Romania on 1 March 2011.