Plovdiv, October 11, 2002

On October 11, 2002 Information Day for Promoting Ombudsman Institution on Local Level was held in Plovdiv. The activity was organized by the Center for the Study of Democracy jointly with the Bulgarian Association for Out-of-Court Dispute Resolution - Plovdiv.

The first part of the activity was devoted to the topics Alternative Dispute Resolution. Mediation. Ombudsman and Main Problems and Difficulties in the Relations between Citizens and Administration, presented by Ms. Zoia Gerassimova, Chairman of the Bulgarian Association for Out-of-court Dispute Resolution - Plovdiv, and Ms. Antoaneta Tsoneva, Civic Mediator for Sofia Municipality, respectively.

In the following discussion many questions, connected with the possibilities of establishing the ombudsman institution were asked. These questions could be summarised as follows:

• Independence of the Ombudsman
• Financing of the Institution
• Powers of the Ombudsman
• Terms of office
  

In the second part the experts in the Sofia Civic Mediator's Office Ms. Krassimira Natan and Mr. Svetoslav Georgiev presented the Draft Laws on the Ombudsman submitted to the National Assembly and made a review on the existing legislation in this field in some European countries. The main topic in this part of the discussion was the possibility of creating a civic mediator on municipal level.

The Chair of the Appelate Court of Plovdiv, judges from the District and Regional courts, prosecutors, municipal counsellors, representatives of NGOs, citizens, journalists took part in the event.


Agenda of the seminar