The debacle that was Roumyana Zheleva’s tempestuous confirmation hearing in the European Parliament illustrates how much Bulgaria has yet to learn about the workings of politics at EU level.

Previous governments’ dealings with the EU were ham-handed and amateurish, as illustrated by the sadly laughable move by the former governing coalition when, faced with the latest torrent of criticism about failures against organised crime, it offered not real action but a meaningless heap of "plans" worthy only of an era past.

If anything good is to come of the Zheleva melodrama, it should be the lesson that the process of nomination of a European Commissioner is no mere formality, and, as other EU states have learnt, a "confirmation" hearing risks being a misnomer.

Appointments at this level are something much more than an exercise in handing out patronage and deployments within the borders of one’s own state in a process unlikely to be scrutinised or questioned effectively.

Given the negative perceptions about it elsewhere in the EU, Bulgaria cannot afford to take anything for granted in how it deals with the EU. The consequences of underestimating this are serious – and tend to be very public, hardly something Bulgaria needs when, deservedly and sometimes undeservedly, it already is seen as a laggard in meeting EU standards.

Secondly, MEPs charged with the decision over allowing a candidate to proceed towards political and financial control of a portfolio – whatever the significance or otherwise of that portfolio – expect to hear detailed understanding, assessments and plans from that candidate.

Bulgaria’s Parliament and politics in general do not match the sophisticated, informed and sometimes aggressive proceedings of other legislatures, a fact that local politicians need to understand and adapt to playing in the big leagues.

Further, the Zheleva spectacle should have served as an illustration of the interplay between domestic and EU-level politics, and any political party that wants to endure should understand this and prepare for it.

Something may be learnt by watching how the more senior and experienced members of the EU proceed, notably their use of subtlety and precision timing in politics. As in other areas of endeavour, no one in politics should leave themselves without an exit strategy, and this is what happened in the case of Zheleva; because in her case, the problem was not just a political stunt around a set of allegations, but moreover, a performance unlikely to inspire confidence in anyone but the most assiduously loyal.

If Bulgaria is to meet its stated ambitions, which in the words of Zheleva as Foreign Minister, included placing the country at the centre of the shaping of the European policies, its politicians have a great deal to learn about playing at European level.