Same Opportunities, Different Practices. the EU and Romani Women's Activism in Romania and Bulgaria

This article serves a double scope. First, it sheds light on a still understudied form of intersectional mobilization, i.e. Romani women’s activism, where empirical knowledge remains meagre. Second, it adds to the so-called sociological turn in the study of Europeanization, by showing how the role of domestic non-state actors is key for transforming EU-pressure and opportunities into political practices at the national level. In particular, it identifies three main EU-induced opportunities for collective action, namely (1) the provision of a relevant legislative framework in the fields of gender-equality and anti-discrimination at the domestic level; (2) the increased participation of Romani women activists in national policy-making and consultation processes; and (3) the increased access of relevant organizations to financial resources and level of professionalization. It asks how the EU integration process contributes to transform domestic collective action, and how domestic activists in turn contribute to such transformations.

Mostly based on primary data gathered via semi-structured interviews conducted in Romania, in Bulgaria and in Brussels in 2015 and 2016, this work argues that similar political opportunity structures provided in countries with a similar historical path, such as Romania and Bulgaria, can nevertheless turn into different (political) practices domestically – depending on the usage that activists (are able and/or willing to) make of EU-driven opportunities. In doing so, it contributes to the emerging literature on the Europeanization of social movements, where further research on intersectional forms of mobilization is needed.