EU Integration: An Enforcement of or an Impediment to National Identity in Bulgaria and Macedonia

European Union integration was conceived as a process of gradual convergence of different national social norms and values through common supranational institutions; thus a new EU-influenced national identity had to harmoniously merge with old national traits. In-depth research, based on interviews and other triangulating techniques in two post-communist Balkan countries, Bulgaria and Macedonia, suggests that the process of EU integration, with respect to national identities, is more complex than previously thought. The new national identity, influenced by EU integration, for those who accept it, does not always join seamlessly with old national traits. It may completely replace national loyalty, or, alternatively, be completely marginalized by a revival of ethnic nationalism.