February 11, 2003

Prof. Georgi Petkanov, Minister of Interior

Ladies and gentlemen, Your Excellencies, dear guests! A worthy tradition is emerging for Coalition 2000 to organize and conduct a policy forum with international participation dedicated to a problem of extremely important social implications such as the fight against corruption.

Corruption is a problem faced by every society and every state and the fight against its various manifestations is a challenge to the politicians as well as the state administration, the courts and the law-enforcement authorities. World experience shows that the most successful approach to countering corruption is one where political will is combined with adequate resources and immediate involvement of the structures of civil society.

In the period of transition to market economy the rise of corruption has rightly become cause for serious concern to the Bulgarian public. In response, the present government has adopted important anti-corruption documents during its term - National Strategy to Fight Corruption, adopted by decree of the Council of Ministers in October 2001 and the related implementation program. The Ministry of Internal Affairs has developed its own anti-corruption program. These documents have laid the foundations for a more successful and effective counteraction of corruption. The goals and priorities, as well as the specific tasks, have now been set. The proper structures have been created within public administration for the implementation of joint activities with the competent institutions in this country.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs is fully aware of the importance of interaction with non-governmental organizations. We realize that our efforts would not be effective enough without the involvement of the citizens, of the structures of civil society, without active public support for the measures against organized crime and corruption.

What are the more notable conclusions reached by the Ministry of Internal Affairs at this stage?

Despite the measures taken, the situation with the counteraction of corruption is still problematical. Acts of corruption are becoming ever more closely associated with organized crime and economic crimes. The attempts of organized criminal groups to establish contact with officials from government bodies and the local administration persist. So do their efforts to conquer new permanent positions in legitimate business and to take part in privatization. There is a persistent tendency to legalize capital acquired from criminal activity and relocate it to the sphere of the economy - by buying enterprises, investing in the entertainment and gaming industries, in the hotel business, etc. These operations of organized crime take place mainly by way of corrupting the officials authorized to issue the respective licenses and permits.

The acceptance of bribes is still common among those working in the fields of finances, education, healthcare, and the local administration.

The elusive and covert nature of this phenomenon heightens the risk of proliferation of corruption at all hierarchical levels of state authorities.

In 2002 the services of the Ministry of Internal Affairs exposed 1903 cases of criminal breach of trust and 63 cases of bribery. Breach of trust crimes rank third by relative share in economic crimes, amounting to 13.4%, and are commonly associated with corruption, whereas bribes make up an insignificant relative share - merely 0.5% of these crimes.

There are continuing attempts by structures of the gray economy and organized criminal groups to exert corruption pressure over officials from various divisions of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

With a view to raising the operational efficiency of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the specialized anti-corruption units are still the target of institution and capacity-building efforts. Control and disciplinary action have been reinforced as regards cases of abuse of office on the part of Ministry of Internal Affairs officials. There is closer interaction between the structures of the Ministry and the other state control bodies and the mass media.

In order to ensure successful government policy implementation, the Ministry of Internal Affairs has developed a Strategy to Fight Crime, which has served as the basis for the elaboration of the National Strategy. It lays down a complex set of measures to curb the activity of organized criminal groups and counteract corruption.

The Strategy is essentially aimed at countering financial, economic, and high-technology crimes, money laundering, and corruption.

The results of the measures taken so far to curb and fight corruption have been assessed favorably. The preliminary analysis of the Transparency without Borders Association, conducted on the basis of the standard corruption index, notes considerable improvement in terms of the rate of corruption in 2002. The analysis presents Bulgaria as the only country from Central and East Europe, and more specifically among EU applicant countries, to have made significant progress in countering corrupt practices and corruption-related crime, with the indicators improving each successive year. While it ranked 52nd in 2000, Bulgaria has moved up to the 45th place, with an index of 4.00, together with Brazil, Peru, and Poland.
It has been noted that Bulgaria is drawing closer to the countries characterized by an average rate of corruption - Greece, Portugal (as EU member countries) and some countries from the first group to accede to the European Union - Hungary and Lithuania.

In our opinion, this favorable evaluation is the outcome of the actions of both the government and law-enforcement authorities and of society as a whole, as represented by the non-governmental organizations, the media, and the business community. Due credit should also be given to the international organizations that have been supporting actively the anti-corruption measures implemented in this country. All of this should encourage us but not put us at rest. There is a call for a lot more efforts and perseverance before we reduce this negative phenomenon to a minimum and finally achieve lasting success.