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CSD: A RETROSPECTIVE OF A THINK AND
ACTION TANK (1991-1997)
CSD’s primary goal - to build bridges between the
expert and policy making communities - has been a guiding principle
in all the areas of interest to the organization since its
creation: economic and legal reform, opinion and market surveying,
European integration, development of the non-profit sector. The
period during which the Center has established itself as a major
public policy institute and a facilitator of private-public
coalitions has also been a time of gradual consolidation of
political and economic reforms in Bulgaria. Looking back on those
years, CSD’s achievements as a public policy institute have
followed the main elements of the mission statement of our
organization, which we have summarized below.
CSD has promoted institutional reform and the
practical implementation of democratic values in legal and economic
practice.
CSD has been one of the most active participants in
the effort to reform the legal and regulatory environment for
economic reform in all its main areas: mass and market-based
privatization, municipal privatization, foreign investment, debt
conversion, migration of laborers, and capital market development.
The Center has made its contribution in these areas by way of a
range of research and advocacy activities, practical assistance to
institutional development and relevant legislative reform,
dissemination and training.
In terms of the process of policy development, CSD
has brought together policy makers, government officials and
analysts to reach consensus and draft the necessary amendments in
the regulatory framework of the economy. A policy recommendation
document Strategy for Accelerating the Privatization Process
1997-1998 was submitted to the Council of Ministers and adopted
in the fall of 1997. CSD provided a consensus Policy Document
including the legislative agenda for the institutional development
of capital markets in Bulgaria. In 1997, the policy recommendation
paper Institutional and Policy Framework for the Development of
Capital Markets in Bulgaria presented a comprehensive overview
of the status of the legal and institutional framework of capital
markets. It serves as an effective management and outreach tool
that sets policy priorities and enables the effective tracking of
the process.
In addition to the development of policy
recommendations on the regulatory reform of privatization and
foreign investment, the Center has sought to assist reform through
the:
- organization of policy-oriented seminars and
workshops on municipal privatization, investment funds, mass
privatization, foreign investment, debt management and the
efficiency of consulting firms;
- preparation of Reform Round Table papers exploring
some of the most pressing issues of economic reform in Bulgaria:
tax reform, inflation and pricing policy, agrarian reform, social
security and the labor market.
Some pertinent examples of the practical assistance
provided include the implementation of the program for Regional
Development and Municipal Privatization in the region of Bansko in
Southwestern Bulgaria, the National Mutual Fund, adopted by the
Council of Ministers, and the regulations of an Agriculture
Development and Assistance Fund, adopted by the Ministry of
Agriculture. In pursuit of both its role as public policy institute
and facilitator, the Center developed Recommendations to
Facilitate Expanded Economic Relations Between Bulgaria and the
United States, presented at the US-Bulgaria summit in
Washington, D.C. in February 1995. In 1994-1995 the Program
developed a fully-fledged Debt Conversion Program to assist
Bulgarian authorities in drafting the arrangements for Debt -
Equity Swaps by combining the existing legal framework for
privatization with the new regulatory framework, institutional
setup and swap mechanisms.
Having implemented training projects for business
associations in the past, in 1997 CSD started developing a
long-term information and training program on corporate governance
targeted at the general public and selected professional groups,
aimed at introducing the corporate governance concept and best
practices to Bulgarian experts.
Throughout the years the Privatization and
Foreign Investment Monitor published by the Economic Program of
CSD has been a digest of publications about privatization and
economic reforms in Bulgarian mass media.
CSD’s legal reform efforts started in 1991 primarily
with the objective of establishing and supporting the contacts
between the Bulgarian legal community and government agencies with
foreign assistance groups, such as the American Bar Association
Central and East European Law Initiative, the International
Development Law Institute in Rome, the Institutional Reform and the
Informal Sector (IRIS) Project and others. The initial focus was
constitutional law reform. With the enactment of the new
Constitution in the spring of 1991, the emphasis in the activities
shifted towards commercial law reform. During the past six years,
the CSD Law Program gradually developed into a legal reform agent
with a considerable law drafting record.
Among the major achievements of the Program were the
continuing work on developing and implementing the pioneering
concept for a centralized, high technological, nation-wide Secured
Transactions Registry and on the creation of its computerized
system, and the permanent methodological assistance to the daily
Central Register practice, to the training of Registry-users and to
the developing and improving of the secondary legislation on the
Registered Pledges by the experts of the Program. The Registered
Pledges Act was passed by the National Assembly in November
1996.
For six years now, CSD’s Law Program has been at the
forefront of the development and promotion of a reformed, modern
and comprehensive legal framework for Non-Profit Organizations
including proposed reforms of the Tax Law regarding NGOs. The main
ideas of the reform project have been disseminated among the expert
teams, politicians and the public at large through four concept
papers and a Commentary on the Draft Law on Non-Profit
Organizations prepared by the CSD legal experts, through
discussions, seminars and other training activities.
CSD has provided the policy makers and legislators
with expert comments on more than thirty draft laws and with a
series of concept papers introducing leading international concepts
on the legal framework for investment funds, foreign trade
regulation, government procurement, securities regulation and
fighting money laundering. Aiming to facilitate the transfer of
advanced legal expertise, CSD has also organized educational
seminars for the Bulgarian legal community.
CSD has contributed to strengthening the
institutional and management capacity of NGOs in Bulgaria, and to
reforming the legal framework for their operation.
Encouraging the development of a viable and
sustainable non-governmental sector that would guarantee the
success of democratic reforms in Bulgaria has been an important
priority in the activities of the Center for the Study of Democracy
since its establishment. Pursuing this objective, CSD’s initial
efforts were directed at facilitating the enactment of new
legislation, in the belief that the reform of the legal framework
for the operation of non-profit organizations is the major
prerequisite for building a viable civil society in Bulgaria. A
six-year-long project was completed for the design and promotion of
a reformed, modern and comprehensive legal framework for non-profit
organizations including proposed reforms of the tax law regarding
NGOs. The main ideas of the reform project have been disseminated
among the expert teams, politicians and the public at large through
four concept papers and a Commentary on the Draft Law on Non-Profit
Organizations prepared by the CSD legal experts.
CSD has acquired considerable experience in being
among the first Bulgarian non-governmental, non-profit
organizations to be audited by international auditing companies
(Coopers & Lybrand 1992 and 1993; Price Waterhouse 1994-1997; KPMG
1998) which has provided it with unique expertise among Bulgarian
non-profit organizations. This has also encouraged CSD to put a
particular effort into streamlining its management process.
In order to put this to the benefit of the whole
non-profit community, the Center has supplemented its legal
environment reform efforts with activities at the micro-level, in
particular training. Subject areas have included general and
financial management, auditing, and taxation issues of the NGO
draft law, as well as training of
trainers. In order to summarize its experience and make it
available to a wider audience, as well as to contribute to the
institutionalization of training for the non-profit sector, CSD
started a project in 1998 to design and test a pilot study course
program in the field of non-profit organizations for Bulgarian
universities.
The Center has provided regular monitoring of
public attitudes and has served as a watchdog of the institutional
reform process in the country.
The CSD Sociological Program has been at the
forefront of survey research in Bulgaria since its inception as a
research unit in 1990 when it conducted the first independent pre-
and post-election surveys in the country. At the end of 1994, the
Program was transformed into Vitosha Research, the survey
research unit of CSD, to give new direction to its work and to
deepen its concentration in the field of market research.
Vitosha Research now specializes in ad-hoc social and
marketing research and consultancy services covering a broad range
of activities: monitoring privatization and economic behavior,
gauging political attitudes, determining value orientations,
conducting media and audience research, advertising studies and
others. It is among the founding members of the Bulgarian
Association of Market Researchers.
Since 1990 a national interviewer net of about 400
professional interviewers has been established. It is regionally
based and consists of 28 regional teams and has been conducting
about 30 research projects per year - including quantitative and
qualitative surveys. The basic survey methods employed include
face-to-face interviews, telephone interviews, focus-group
discussions, omnibus surveys, observations and implementation of a
computer-based perception analyzer system (quick-tally) for
assessment of radio and TV programming, and advertising
research.
Vitosha Research has established working
relations and research cooperation with institutions including the
BBC World Service, USIA Office of Research, InterMedia Survey
(USA), the World Bank, United Nations Development Program (UNDP),
United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and
Democracy Network Program, to name but a few.
During the last few years, CSD has aimed to
provide an enhanced institutional and policy capacity for a
successful European integration process.
Bulgaria’s integration into European institutions
has accompanied the overall process of reform since 1989. With
Bulgaria’s EU association status in effect since early 1995, the
need emerged for expertise and policy analysis facilities to
support the inauguration of a long-term accession strategy.
CSD’s efforts in the field of European integration
began with the launch of its project Europe 2000: Bulgaria and
the European Union in late 1994. This project started as a
pioneer analysis of issues related to the implementation of
Bulgaria's EU Association Agreement under a Service Contract with
the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and later evolved into a
comprehensive long-term effort aimed at facilitating Bulgaria's
accession to the EU. At the time, CSD produced public policy
analysis and recommendations in over 20 sectors of integration
based on the EU White Paper on the integration of Central and East
European countries. The White Paper, a key approximation of law
document for accession preparation, was itself translated by the
Center shortly after its publication by the European Commission in
1995.
Following a succession of policy and outreach
projects, CSD developed its European Program between 1996 and 1997.
By that time, CSD had already established itself as a platform for
dialogue between the policy makers and the expert community. This
quality turned out particularly useful for the purposes of EU
integration as the latter requires the mobilization of expert
resources in a wide variety of sectors for the purposes of policy
and legislative harmonization.
CSD’s expert contribution to integration has taken
the form of policy analysis reports, impact studies and
approximation of law studies, translations, etc. These have been
produced mainly by outside specialists coming from government
agencies, the business sectors, trade unions, etc. Initial drafts
of policy papers are circulated to concerned government agencies
and NGOs with a request for feedback and comments. Thus, CSD not
only ensures the quality of the research and recommendations, but
also fosters a community of experts from both the public and
private experts professionally involved in the integration
process.
{CSD} has played and continues to play an
important role as a think tank in the process of Bulgaria’s
accession to the European Union. The studies and analyses CSD is
publishing have always proved to be useful and are appreciated by
civil servants, policy makers and the public opinion inside and
outside Bulgaria.
Since 1993, CSD has also hosted the Information
Centre on the Council of Europe in Sofia. Following a proposal by
the Bulgarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the establishment of
such a Centre in Bulgaria, the Secretariat General of the Council
of Europe held a competition for a host institution. The Center for
the Study of Democracy was selected and the Information Centre was
inaugurated at CSD on December 13, 1993. It is part of a network of
information centers in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe
providing assistance to the Council of Europe's activities in these
countries.
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