Relationship dossier
Bulgaria
Kingdom of the Netherlands
Relationship assessment
European cooperation alongside Dutch reservations over Bulgaria’s Schengen accession
Bulgaria toward Kingdom of the Netherlands
+5Bulgaria pursued entry into the Schengen area, requiring engagement with the Netherlands as a member whose consent was needed. The Netherlands later agreed to Bulgaria’s staged accession.
Kingdom of the Netherlands toward Bulgaria
-5The Netherlands withheld consent to Bulgaria’s Schengen accession amid rule-of-law concerns, then agreed to staged entry, permitting participation in air and sea Schengen arrangements.
Overall relationship
+5The relationship is shaped by shared European and NATO frameworks and by the Netherlands’ earlier resistance to Bulgaria’s Schengen accession over rule-of-law concerns. Dutch agreement to staged entry resolved a significant point of friction, while the breadth of direct bilateral cooperation is less clear.
How to read these scores
Scores are rough judgments, not objective measurements or current verification. Directional scores describe government policy and conduct, not public opinion. The overall score is an independent estimate, never an average.
- −100
- Extreme sustained hostility
- −50
- Substantially adversarial
- 0
- Mixed or neutral, supported by knowledge
- +50
- Substantially cooperative
- +100
- Exceptionally close sustained partnership
“Not assessed” means there is no recorded score. Pair existence makes no claim about diplomatic recognition or established relations.
Relationship context
Overview
Bulgaria and the Netherlands have cooperated in the European Union and NATO, while Bulgaria’s Schengen accession became a bilateral point of friction. The Netherlands withheld consent over rule-of-law concerns before agreeing to Bulgaria’s entry in stages. This episode shows practical engagement alongside disagreement; the scope of other direct government cooperation is less clear.
Areas of tension
- Dutch concerns about the rule of law in Bulgaria contributed to the Netherlands withholding consent for Bulgaria’s Schengen accession.
Key developments
The Netherlands agreed to Bulgaria’s staged Schengen accession after previously withholding consent over rule-of-law concerns.
Major uncertainties
- The scope of direct Bulgarian-Dutch government cooperation beyond European and NATO frameworks is unclear.
- The extent to which Dutch rule-of-law concerns continue to shape bilateral policy is uncertain.