Integration perspectives for improving regional policy in rural areas of Bulgaria

Bulgaria, as a part of the European Union, needs to bring out those features of the regional policy that can activate the implementation of active policies for regional development, and from there for the structuring of sustainable regional communities, generating a stable and sustainable regional development model.

On the other hand, in the European Union, efforts are focused exclusively on policy areas that have the greatest impact on the effectiveness of regional development policy or the process of convergence between member states. The EU cohesion policy should be able to respond more effectively to the needs and characteristics of the territories, and the specific geographical challenges and opportunities of the regions and cities. In a Pan-European context, the choice of a specific policy objective means fewer specific objectives and simplicity in the use of indicators. Therefore, within the framework of the European Union, it is necessary to strengthen regional policy through the implementation of more territorial instruments (Dmytriieva & Sviatets, 2023). Another important document promoting the implementation of regional policy is the Leipzig Charter for Sustainable European Cities, which complements the ideas expressed in the Territorial Program, as it turns the integrated urban development policy into a task with a European dimension. In this way, the integrated urban development policy and the territorial cohesion policy each make a complementary contribution to the implementation of the goal of sustainable development. It is important to note that the regional policy in Bulgaria must be based on the principle of “housing-transport-work”. This is, in practice, an expression of the vision for conducting a regional policy based on the interrelationship “population-space- economy” and sets its expression for the need for a policy for regional development. In other words, the population and the economy are the two poles between which the regional policy takes place, which is visible through the spatial change. In regional development, a significant factor is the interaction “demography - economy - space”, which characterises the effectiveness of regional policy and opportunities for the development of the Bulgarian territory.

An important contribution is made by the functioning of the European Spatial Planning Observation Network (ESPON), which periodically makes a more in-depth analysis of the impact of Community policies on territorial cohesion and causality. This process requires the development of operational indicators to regularly monitor the territorial dimension. Territorial cohesion can only be achieved with an intensive and continuous dialogue between all stakeholders in territorial development. We call this collaborative process “territorial governance”. The private sector (and especially entrepreneurs at local and regional levels), the scientific community, public administration (especially local and regional authorities), non-governmental organisations, and different sectoral policies must act together to better exploit key investments in European regions, as well as to reduce the consequences of climate change. In this direction, we must emphasise that in the rural areas of Bulgaria, there are territories with a unique character and unused potential for the development of tourism, combining natural and cultural values, offering a recreational environment corresponding to modern requirements in terms of accessibility, bioclimatic comfort, and communication connectivity. There are over 40,000 registered immovable cultural heritage monuments in the country. At the same time, rural areas can strengthen their regional profile through the attraction of investments and the rational use of program instruments and ways of grant funding, which will create opportunities to support the regional development of rural areas.

Another important deficit that has not yet been resolved is support for the strengthening and expansion of the trans-European networks passing through Bulgaria. In practice, mobility and accessibility are essential preconditions for economic development in all regions. We need rail, road, and air networks of sufficient capacity (including a network of operational regional airports), efficient sea, coastal, and inland waterways, and a network of secondary roads (connecting urban centres to their hinterlands), as well as effective transport management of loads. Bulgaria must improve the development and modernisation of railway transport and, the development of the airports at Ruse, Silistra, Targovishte, Kardjali, Gotse Delchev, Gabrovnitsa, and Vidin. It is important to design expressways in the direction Silistra-Shumen-Yambol- Elhovo, Lovech-Troyan-Karnare-Karlovo-Plovdiv, Gorna Malina-Pirdop-Karlovo- Kazanlak-Sliven-Aitos-Karnobat-V etren, Montana-Pleven-Svishtov, Pleven-Byala-Razgrad-Shoumen, Kubrat-Isperih-Dulovo-Tervel-Dobrich-Kardam.

In practice, the particularities and differences in the potential of the regions, which can be the basis for conducting an effective regional policy on the environment and culture, are ignored. This could be a particularly strong development prospect for the regions within the Danube Plain, Pre-Balkan, Dobrudja, Trans-Balkan Lowlands, Rhodope, Strandja, and Sakar. Therefore, through coordinated management measures and appropriate infrastructural development, “cultural roads and networks” should be stimulated, as well as any other territorial projects of importance for the natural and cultural heritage.

From a theoretical point of view, the main conclusion is that for the national economy to function effectively, it is necessary to improve the well-being of rural areas and create an opportunity to improve regional connectivity. Rural areas need a strong regional economy and proper programming to achieve their sustainable regional development goals. The promotion of entrepreneurship in rural areas should be brought up as a government policy.

Conclusions

This study determined the degree of implementation of specific regional policies in rural areas in the context of Bulgaria's integration into the European Union due to the prospects of changes in economic situation and new trends in the implementation of regional policies. The population decline in rural areas during 2007-2022 was twice as high as the average rate of population decline in Bulgaria. Analysis of the age structure of Bulgarian farmers indicates that the largest relative share (32%) is between the ages of 51 and 60; only 6% are aged 21 to 30, and 12% are aged 31 to 40. This is due to the unattractiveness of agricultural work, its low prestige and efficiency, as well as high risk. Also, in Bulgaria, few graduates of secondary special and higher agricultural education return to the countryside for the development of agribusiness. For example, among the interviewed farmers, only 12.9% have completed a special agricultural education, and 9.7% have a higher education. The potential of agribusiness has a significant impact not only on its development, but also on the rural areas in which it is located. However, there is noticeable stagnation of development in rural areas, as evidenced by the results of surveys on the development opportunities of local economic entities: only 3.2% of farmers answered as “very good”, and others 3.2% as “good”, while “satisfactory” - 45.2%, and “unsatisfactory” - 48.4%.

In practice, Bulgaria's regional policy in recent years has had a satisfactory systematic character. The process of strategic and planning activity is developing, which has its characteristics at different levels, but a mechanism of sufficiently sustainable synchrony and coherence between them has not yet been found. Planning regions are formed based on regions depending on their geographical location, economic development, population, and development prospects, but they do not have their institutional forms, and hence the possibilities for conducting regional policy at the meso-level. To a large extent, public administration perceives regional policy as a means of imposing the centralised model at the local level based on regulatory regimes and a centralized budget, rather than the implementation of regional development policies imposing institutional stereotypes creating conditions for decentralisation of management, as well as successful models of the socio-economic development of the regions. The need to introduce regional policy requires that individual approaches in its implementation represent a certain set of practices for solving a given local or regional socio-economic problem or the adaptation of the region to the pace of developed regions. More and more in Bulgaria, it is necessary to implement a specific socio-economic policy in the individual regions, which is aimed at the development of an efficient and competitive economy and full integration into the European structures. Regional development in Bulgaria is at an important stage, in which it is necessary to form the regional profiles of the districts in our country. This brings to the fore the effectiveness of the implemented policy for regional development. The main challenge now is to find the balance between the priorities of individual municipalities, districts, and planning regions, as well as solving the most important problems for them. To a large extent, the development of Bulgarian regions and districts must correspond with the national priorities and understandings for the development of the regions and the policy of the European Commission for the territorial development of the European Union as a whole. Efforts to implement the regional policy is related to finding the opportunities for purposeful impact on the territory using tools and activities that should bring regional development to the fore as a national priority of the modern state. In practice, regional development means a balance between the priorities of municipalities, regions, and planning regions and the search for the most important problems for them to solve related to national priorities and understandings of the development of regions as separate territorial communities. In practice, creating conditions for balanced development of the individual regions of the country and supporting territorial bodies and activities through financial, credit, and investment policy means that regional development must be the foundation of the regional economy and outline its contours through effective regional development policies.

Limitations and future research. The main limitation of this study is that in this article the authors focused mainly on a qualitative analysis of trends, problems and prospects for the development of regional policy in rural areas in Bulgaria. A limitation of the data is that in this study we considered a limited number of indicators based on their availability in National Statistical Institute reports, which likely did not take into account other important indicators of agricultural and rural development. On the other hand, this study is limited to only examining the current state and does not explore the causal mechanism between the key parameters of the regional policy for the development of rural areas and does not make predictions about the efficiency of this policy in the long term.