The Bulgarian and EU flags stand shoulder to shoulder on an administrative building in the city of Burgas, on the Black Sea coast. Photo by International Herald Tribune
Although Bulgarians overwhelmingly support EU membership, there is little euphoria about the achievement, the International Herald Tribune says in commentary of the country's accession.
The success stories of other poor countries that achieved dramatic economic development after joining the EU, like Spain and Ireland, seem far away for the people of this nation, which broke free from the Soviet bloc in 1989.
"We've been in Europe for a long time already," the IHT quoted Tanya Dimova, an archaeologist at the Nesebur Archaeological Museum, on the Black Sea coast. "This town has been continually inhabited since 1200 B.C."
Now the town finds itself on the easternmost edge of the European Union as the January 1 admission of Bulgaria and its larger neighbor, Romania, creates a contiguous swath of territory.
South of Nessebur, in Burgas, locals were quoted as saying the city will profit from the increased trade and tourism membership will bring. It has the country's biggest port and is the main transit point for tourists traveling to nearby beach resorts.
Nearly 400 km to the West, in Sofia, Bulgaria's capital, the director of the National History Museum, Bozhidar Dimitrov, scoffs when asked about the EU's recognition of Bulgaria's "Europeanness."
"We don't need the EU to recognize us as Europeans," Dimitrov said from his office in the museum, located in the former Sofia residence of the communist dictator Todor Zhivkov.
Bulgaria's recognition by the Holy Roman Empire in 863 after accepting Christianity, he said, made it the first nation-state in Europe.
With the borders of an expanded, 27-member EU washed by the Black Sea, the region is no longer the unchallenged domain of Russia. Bulgaria's membership, in particular, seals this break with the past, the International Herald Tribune concludes.