There have been huge differences across the EU member states when it comes to the de facto treatment of minority groups. This is even more the case for the ethnically highly diverse region of South Eastern Europe. Nevertheless, the minority aspect has widely been regarded as an important indicator in the assessment of a country’s democratic and state quality. Based on this argument, the paper will try to explain which motivational factors have determined the recent development of Bulgaria''s minority policy. The country has often received criticism from the international political community as with regard to the freedoms granted to its minorities. However, it is argued here that this criticism has too often focused on the situation of the country''s two biggest minorities alone, namely the Turks and the Roma. Contrary to that, the paper will highlight the situation of the Romanian minority in Bulgaria by arguing that research should also incorporate smaller minorities that stand outside the focus of the international political community when it seeks to assess the quality of policy change on minorities.
