The year 2001 saw two key issues becoming closely
related as regards Bulgaria's foreign policy agenda - stabilization
and reconstruction in the Balkans and integration into the European
Union. Both pose certain challenges for Bulgaria and their combined
influence has been compounding the prioritization of the respective
domestic reforms.
Recognizing this challenge, CSD's European Program
focused on both regional cooperation and European integration as
related problematic areas. As in previous years, a blend of
networking and policy analysis was employed by the Program.
I. Facilitating Dialogue
On March 5, 2001 the European Program organized
jointly with the Embassy of Japan in Bulgaria a breakfast meeting
,,The Role of Japan for the Stability in Southeast Europe".
Guest speaker at the event was Dr. Takahiro Shinyo, Deputy
Director-General of the European Affairs Bureau at the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs of Japan. The event was attended by representatives
of Bulgarian official institutions, of the business community and
the diplomatic corps in Sofia, of international organizations, as
well as scholars, journalists and NGO representatives.
Dr. Shinyo outlined the substantial contribution of
Japan to the Stability Pact for South-East Europe. The speaker
presented in brief the Official Development Assistance of Japan to
all countries in the region and stressed the continuous commitment
of his country to further contribute to the international efforts
for the reconstruction and development of SEE as the best guarantee
for stability in this part of Europe.
On March 30, 2001 the European Program organized
jointly with the Embassy of Japan in Bulgaria a breakfast meeting "
Japan's Strategy towards the European Union and its Enlargement".
Guest speaker at the event was Ambassador Takayuki Kimura, Head of
the Mission of Japan to the European Union. The event was attended
by representatives of the Government, the business, political
parties, international financial institutions, scholars,
journalists and NGO representatives.
Ambassador Kimura outlined the cooperation between
Japan and the European Union in a number of areas and highlighted
the priority areas of common interest. Ambassador Kimura presented
the three major pillars of cooperation between Japan and the
EU:
1) support for peace and stability on the continent; 2) benefiting
from development of information technology and globalization and 3)
respecting diversity between cultures and nations. Good cooperation
has also been developed within the World Trade Organization, and
other multilateral fora.
Notably, developments in Southeast Europe and
enlargement figure prominently among issues of joint interest. The
significance, which Japan attributes to EU enlargement, is
warranted primarily by the fact that this process would strengthen
the stability in Europe as a whole. Although some Japanese
companies face difficulties in export of goods due to the unique
policy decision making in EU, Japan will further enhance its
contacts with the candidates for accession to the EU as much as
they are getting closer to the membership. In addition to the
general stabilization impact of enlargement, it would also increase
the members of an international community with shared values,
which, in turn, would increase the mutually beneficial
exchanges.
A 22-member delegation from the Paasikivi Society, a
respected foreign policy think tank in Finland, visited the Center
for the Study of Democracy on May 9,2001. A presentation on the
activities of Coalition 2000 and the Southeast European Legal
Development Initiative (SELDI) was made for the group of former
members of parliament, judges and scientists, interested in the
European Union policy and the process of Integration in the East
European countries. The Regional Corruption Monitoring System of
SELDI and the analysis of the link between corruption and
trafficking in Southeast Europe were discussed.
On September 28, 2001 the Center for the Study of
Democracy hosted a meeting "Debate on the Future of Europe after
Nice". At the meeting Prof. Edward Best met with
representatives of the Bulgarian public administration. Prof. Best
delivered a lecture and introduced the participants to the European
institutions and issues related to the EU integration process.
Among the issues discussed were the Nice Treaty, the EU
Institutional Reform, the Agenda after the Nice Treaty and the
fundamental challenges the EU will be facing in the future. One of
the leading European experts in the field of EU research, Professor
Edward Best is teaching in the European Institute of Public
Administration in Maastricht, the Netherlands. The meeting was held
within the framework of cooperation between the CSD and the
Institute of Public Administration and European Integration and was
attended by senior state administration officials, engaged in
Bulgaria's EU accession process.
II. Policy Studies
CSD was one of the active participants in the
network on European integration (www.europeanintegration.net)
organized by the Bertelsmann Foundation and the World Bank with the
goal of actively involving public policy institutes and research
centers in the preparation of Central and East European countries
for accession to the EU. In 2001 the network's activities focused
on analysis of the challenges which both the accession countries
and the current member states will face as a result of the
enlargement as well as recommendations for policy changes which
will help tackle the obstacles on the way to a unified Europe.
The European Program, in collaboration with the
Economic Program experts, took part in the network workshop
"National versus European Identities in the EU Enlargement:
Views from Central and Eastern Europe", organized together with
the Institute of International Relations, Prague and held on
December 6-8, 2000 in Caste Stirin, the Czech Republic. The
conference ,,European Integration: Economic and Security
Implications for Central and Eastern Europe" was held in Vilnius on
May 20-22, 2001 co-organized with the Lithuanian Free Market
Institute, the Institute of International Relations and Political
Science of Vilnius University and the Swedish embassy in Vilnius.
CSD facilitated the involvement of Mr. Slavcho Neikov, member of
the State Energy Regulation Commission and Ms. Zhivka Staneva,
advisor at the Council of Ministers who addressed the participants
in the event with presentations respectively on the impact of the
single market membership on energy policy and the impact of single
market membership on the external economic relations of acceding
countries. The conference entitled "Labor, Employment and Social
Policies in the EU Enlargement Process: Changing Perspectives and
Policy Options", co-organized with the European Forum, Alpbach,
the Institute for Public Affairs and the Bruno Kreisky Forum for
International Development, Vienna took place on June 28-30, 2001 in
Baden, Austria addressing the concerns of current member states
with regard to the adverse consequences which the EU enlargement
may have in the social sphere. CSD was instrumental in the
participation of Mr. Andrei Lalov of the National Employment
Agency, Mr. Todor Krastev of the Ministry of Labor and Social
Policy and Ms. Elena lankova of Cornell University who were the
Bulgarian experts at the discussions.
CSD was one of the members which not only
participated in the thematic conferences and workshops but also
helped build the institutional capacity of the network. At the two
network meetings in 2001 experts of the Center contributed on such
issues as dissemination of publications and materials, use of the
internet for greater impact, sub-regional cooperation between
individual network members and thematic priorities for the future.
In 2002, CSD will be working on the organization of a round table
on the scope and size of the informal economy in the EU accession
countries to be held in Sofia in 2002 and include not only
representatives from network member institutions but also leading
experts from EU members states.
For a third year now, the CSD has been the Executive
Secretariat of the Southeast European Legal Development Initiative
(SELDI). In this capacity, in 2001 CSD was the main implementation
agency for the anti-corruption component of SELDL carried out under
the title Coalition Building and Monitoring for Anti-Corruption
in Southeast Europe. The overall objective of the SELDI
anti-corruption project is to introduce a region-wide institutional
framework for public-private cooperation in countering corruption
in the countries of Southeast Europe. The main premise of the
project approach is that the institutionalization of corruption in
the SEE countries cannot be explained by national circumstances
alone.
This bold initiative deserves the broad support
from all of us who seek to bring the countries and societies of
Southeastern Europe into Euro and Euro-Atlantic institutions at the
earliest possibly date.
Ambassador Donald Kursh,
Principal Deputy Special Coordinator, Stability Pact for Southeast
Europe at the international conference Beyond Anti-Corruption
Rhetoric: Coalition Building and Monitoring Impact, held in March
2001 in Sofia
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The results of the first phase of the project, which
was completed in 2001 include three unique outputs:
1. The introduction of a Regional Corruption Monitoring System
(RCMS) in Southeast Europe - the first ever region-wide
corruption diagnostics were carried out in Albania, Bosnia &
Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Macedonia, Romania, and Yugoslavia
on the basis of a uniform methodology.
The RCMS has several specific characteristics that
make it unique. First, because the RCMS is producing new
information; second, because it is based on a uniform methodology
that ensures comparability of results between countries and over
time; third, because it is based on the experience of citizens from
each country with corruption which gives the opportunity to explore
the "insider" view on corrupt practices.
The main goal of the comparative analysis contained
in the Regional Corruption Monitoring Report is to show the public
significance of the problem of corruption and the extent to which
corruption has penetrated into the various sections of these
societies. The RCMS is a unique effort which has not been
undertaken in the region before as it measures both public
attitudes as well as the actual spread of corruption in the
countries. It allows a comparison of the public sectors most
affected by corruption thus providing objective data for the design
of regional anti-corruption policy instruments. Bulgarian and
international media covered the first publication of the Regional
Corruption Monitoring Report.
2. Training for watchdog capacity for a
critical number of civil society organizations in SEE.
The project has the combined objective of enhancing
public and private coalition-building in the SEE countries and
develop a regional anti-corruption watchdog and diagnostic
facility. To this end, a number of non-governmental organizations
were trained in phase one in the application of the RCMS for the
purpose of watchdog as well as an instrument for reform pressure.
This has created a precondition for the backbone of a watchdog
network in the region and will be complemented in phase two with
training on assessing the institutional aspects of corruption.
3. Initial information gathering for the purpose of
an assessment of the institutional environment as regards
public administration, the judiciary, economy, civil society and
media and international cooperation against corruption in all seven
target countries.
A background document on corruption,
containing an overview and initial outline of the main corruption
problems and risks in the seven target countries was developed by
SEE experts. Unlike other corruption assessment efforts in the
region, which evaluate individual countries, the document
summarizes corruption-related information along several key
institutional and legal structures. The emerging picture indicates
predictably similar problems facing a number of public agencies,
notably law enforcement and the judiciary. Thus the background
document is the first truly regional look at corruption in SEE.
The background document on corruption in SEE will be
the essential resource reference for the experts working on the
Regional Corruption Monitoring Report in phase two which is to be
implemented in 2002.
A particular attention was devoted in 2001 to the
institution building of the Initiative. Among these efforts,
increasing the role of the International Steering Board of SELDI,
consisting of prominent public figures and NGO leaders from the
SELDI countries and EU member states and the US and representatives
of international organizations, which is responsible for
establishing SELDI's strategy and activities, was emphasized.
Ambassador Anders Thunborg, former Minister of Defense of Sweden,
visited Bulgaria from October 13 to 19, 2001 by invitation of the
Center for the Study of Democracy, as a member to the International
Steering Board of the Southeast European Legal Development
Initiative.
The agenda of Ambassador Thunborg's visit
included meetings with senior government officials, political
leaders, and^ diplomats. During his stay Ambassador Thunborg
delivered a lecture on the Role of NATO and the situation in the
Balkans.
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