On February 11, 2003, Coalition 2000
held its Fifth Anti-Corruption Policy Forum. The Forum, organized
annually by Coalition 2000, is a high profile public event
for anti-corruption initiatives, supporting the efforts of the
civil society and public institutions in the fight against
corruption. The main purpose of the Fifth Forum was to discuss the
Corruption
Assessment Report 2002.
More than 150 representatives of all institutions
involved in the fight against corruption including government
agencies, non-governmental organizations, the business and the
media took part in the Forum.
Opening the
Forum discussion, Dr. Ognian Shentov, Chairman of the Board
of Directors of the Center for the Study of Democracy, pointed out
that the major objective of the Forum was to endorse the Corruption
Assessment Report 2002, created with input from a number of
representatives of state institutions and leading figures in the
business community and civil society and to enlist support and
demonstrate commitment on the part of the representatives of state
institutions and senior government officials to the joint
anti-corruption efforts.
Mr. Anton Stankov, Bulgarian Minister of Justice,
and Ms. Debra McFarland, Director of the US
Agency for International Development in Sofia, addressed
the Forum participants.
In his statement Mr. Stankov paid special
attention to the work of the governmental Anticorruption Commission
established in early 2002. He underlined that the primary focus of
the activity of the commission was on those very corrupt practices
that impaired the mechanisms of statehood, undermined national
security, and served for the purpose of criminal redistribution of
the national wealth. "As regards the tackling of these problems and
meeting the expectations of Bulgarian society, parliament is still
falling behind", Mr. Stankov said, referring to the delay of the
ombudsman law, a figure, which has the potential to play an
important role in the exercise of civic control and to facilitate
the work of both the government commission and the specialized
anti-corruption units.
Mr. Stankov gave a positive assessment to the Policy
Forum as an acknowledgement, both on the part of the government
institutions and of the civil society, for the need for ongoing
constructive partnership in the efforts to crack down on corruption
and to foster a new, modern civic awareness that rejects the
corruption model and upholds the rule of law.
Ms. Debra McFarland stressed that the US Agency
for International Development was particularly pleased to assist
the Government of Bulgaria in its firm commitment to fighting
corruption in the interests of democracy and economic development
and in its efforts to advance its ambitious National Anti-Corruption
Strategy and Action Plan. An expression of this support
was the launch of the
Open Government
Initiative
between the governments of the USA and
Bulgaria, which included such critical areas as audit and public
procurement, as well as promoting and monitoring governmental
accountability and public awareness of corruption. The annual
Corruption Assessment Report 2002 of Coalition 2000
is the most substantive analytical paper on this subject today, Ms.
McFarland pointed out. It reviews critical areas of corruption and
identifies concrete steps to be takes in order to fix the problem,
she concluded.
Dr. Maria Yordanova, Director of the Legal
Program of the Center for the Study of Democracy, outlined the main
findings and recommendations of the Corruption Assessment Report
2002. A favorable evaluation was given in the CAR to the
development of the legal anti-corruption instruments and
particularly the amendments to the Penal Code with a direct bearing
on the prevention and punishment of corruption in line with
international standards. Yet, a need to improve the procedural
mechanisms and enhance the law-enforcement capacity in this sphere
still existed. Emerging with particular urgency are the problems of
the judicial reform considered in the context of the debatable
practical dimensions of the reform in 2002, as well as the
persistent negative attitudes on the part of different social
groups to the basic units of the judiciary and the magistrates and
officials working there. The lack of a comprehensive conception of
the reform of the structure and management of the judiciary, and
most notably, of consensus between the different branches of power
and between the individual units of the judiciary itself, as well
as the absence of agreement on the long-term priorities of the
reform lead to fragmentation of the problems, inconsistency, and
even obstruction, of the efforts to implement the reform.
The evaluation of anti-corruption efforts in the
economy in 2002 does acknowledge the numerous anti-corruption
initiatives, including more transparent procedures, but it also
notes their minor practical impact. On the whole, the regulatory
intervention of the administration in the economy remains
inconsistent and non-transparent, which sustains the persistently
high share of the gray sector and the related corruption. The
analysis considers the spheres most susceptible to corruption,
which need to be closely monitored in the future: the spending of
budget funds and funding under European Union funds; concessions
and the implementation of large-scale infrastructural projects; the
remaining privatization deals; municipal finances; public
procurement; competition policy; the financing of political parties
and organizations.
The report considers the role of anti-corruption
public-private partnership and particularly of the intensified
civic control not only at the stage of anti-corruption goal
formulation, but also of the actual activity of the respective
state institutions. The analysis duly acknowledges the role of the
media and of investigative reporting in terms of exposing
corruption, but also in drawing public attention to the all too
limited impact of a number of anti-corruption initiatives.
The report states that for yet another consecutive
year Bulgaria has improved its indicators in the Transparency
International ranking. In fact, while it held the 66th place in
1998, in 2002 it was ranked 45th out of 102 countries, overtaking
the Czech Republic, Latvia, and others. Yet, the findings under the
other international anti-corruption monitoring mechanisms, such as
the annual reports of the European Bank for Reconstruction and
Development, of the European Commission, and GRECO (Group of States
Against Corruption) point to the persistence of the
corruption-generating factors in this country.
Bulgaria's anti-corruption efforts have enjoyed
considerable international support and the country has fulfilled a
number of its international commitments related to the fight
against corruption, reads the report of Coalition 2000.
Professor Georgi Petkanov, Minister of Internal
Affairs of Bulgaria, familiarized the forum participants with the
anti-corruption program of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. 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 ranked third by relative share in economic crimes,
amounting to 13.4%, and were commonly associated with corruption,
whereas bribes made up an insignificant relative share - merely
0.5% of these crimes. Despite the measures taken, countering
corruption was still problematical. Acts of corruption were
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 persisted. So did their efforts to conquer new
permanent positions in legitimate business and to take part in
privatization. These operations of organized crime took place
mainly by way of corrupting the officials authorized to issue the
respective licenses and permits.
Mr. Vladislav Slavov, Chairman of the Supreme
Administrative Court, joined to the appraisal of the importance of
the public-private cooperation in countering corruption, expressed
during the Fifth Anti-Corruption Policy Forum. He noted that the
Corruption Assessment Report highlighted for the first time the
need to enhance the legislative process as a whole, the need for
capacity-building efforts in this sphere, because all too often the
poor quality of the legislation, the non-compliance of by-laws and
regulations with the provisions of the very laws that necessitate
their adoption, as well as the use of the tacit rejection
principle, were leaving more room for subjective judgment, which in
turn was conducive to corruption. Mr. Slavov supported one of the
chief criticisms advanced in the report regarding the operation of
the judiciary - the lack of a good statistical system to help keep
track of the performance of each of the bodies of the judiciary and
the executive alike in the fight against corruption.
Mr. Slavov paid special attention to the positive
effect of the legal information system elaborated and adopted by
the Supreme Administrative Court, which allows that each case be
followed from the very filing of the complaint to the final
ruling.
Mr. Slavov also declared his support to the Law on
the Judiciary, although some of the amendments were partly declared
unconstitutional by the Constitutional Court. "The amendments to
the Law on the Judiciary include many positive elements, the
adoption of which would be most welcome - these are the integrated
information system, the court police, the national institute for
professional training of magistrates, the creation of new
structures within the system or new positions such as the court
assistants at the supreme courts.", Mr. Slavov said.
Ms. Ekaterina Mihailova, Deputy Chair of the
Union of the Democratic Forces, shared the views of the political
party she represented on the anti-corruption implications of the
amendments of the Constitution, such as: amendments which to ensure
a more effective and speedy administration of justice, with
possibilities for control within the various units of the judicial
system, as well as a revision of their status and whether they
should all remain within the judiciary; limited term in office for
senior positions within the judicial system; abolishing the
immunity of MPs and magistrates alike, as an anti-corruption
practice that is common in almost all democratic countries.
Ms. Mihailova also stated that the Union of
the Democratic Forces supported the establishment of the ombudsman
institution as independent anti-corruption institution in position
to control the administration; the creation of an integrated
information system as a means to counter corruption and fight
crime; the fight against corruption practices in the legislation,
i.e. the adoption of laws that do not allow the possibility for
judicial control, which is in fact a corrupt practice that is being
established on a legitimate basis.
In her statement Ms. Tatyana Doncheva,
representative of the parliamentary group of Coalition for Bulgaria
and member of the Steering Committee of Coalition 2000,
stressed that the most serious cause for concern was the strong
dependence of the judicial system on corporate interests and the
already alarmingly frequent use of the mechanisms of the judicial
system to deal with business conflicts and problems. Another major
shortcoming, according to Ms. Doncheva, was the exceedingly closed
nature of the judicial system, which allows the hypertrophy of
flaws that existed in any judicial system, as well as the
prosecution with its excessively hierarchical, centralized
structure. Ms. Doncheva appealed to the political parties to unite
and come to terms in order to quickly solve these urgent matters
and improve the anti-corruption mechanisms.
Mr. Plamen Dimitrov, Vice President of the
Confederation of Independent Trade Unions in Bulgaria (CITUB),
expressed CITUB's support to the conclusions in the Corruption
Assessment Report considering such widely used instruments
throughout Europe, such as the protective import duties or
subsidies for agricultural producers. Other critical issues, raised
in the report, are the intervention of the judiciary in the
privatization of Bulgartabak and the Bulgarian Telecommunication
Company, which transpires political dependence and corruption, Mr.
Dimitrov added. And conversely, the amendments to the Law on
Privatization and Post-privatization Control, including those
limiting the powers of the judiciary, are also suggestive of
possible private sources of corruption. Mr. Dimitrov called the
healthcare reform "particularly alarming", because the manner in
which this reform had been implemented clearly presented great
opportunities for corrupt practices.
On behalf of the members of the Bulgarian
International Business Association (BIBA), comprising more than 200
of the largest companies in Bulgaria, Ms. Andriana
Sukova-Tosheva, Executive Director of BIBA, noted that the
Association devoted special attention to the conditions for
business development in Bulgaria and that the findings were
presented in a White Book on the business climate. One of the
conclusions in the Book was that the delayed judiciary reform may
prove a major stumbling block in the process of Bulgaria's
preparation for accession to the European Union. Referring to the
administrative reform, Ms. Tosheva said that unfortunately, last
year's amendments to the law did not include provisions for tacit
agreement, which would have limited the opportunities for
corruption in the administration. Underlining the usefulness of the
public-private dialogue, she pointed out that for the past few
months there had been another forum where the government and the
business associations have been discussing the problems of business
- the Council for Economic Growth. The issues related to the
development of the economy in Bulgaria are considered within the
Council precisely from the point of view of public administration,
which is an essential factor in economic development.
Ms. Nadezhda Sandolova, member of the
National Audit Office, pointed out that the 2002 Corruption
Assessment Report was of superior quality which was mainly due to
the insightful and detailed analysis in the section on the economy.
She recommended a more detailed examination of certain areas where
there still appeared to lack sufficient transparency and proper
control, and namely the field of concessions where non-transparency
and poor management greatly intensify corruption risks.
Mr. Assen Djulgerov, Secretary of Sofia
Municipality, stressed on the emerging problem with the capacity of
public administration, including the judiciary, and the need for
investment in staff training in relation to the assignment of new
functions to the different authorities; the establishment of new
structures; and the adoption of new laws. Several very relevant
examples have been cited in the Corruption Assessment Report in
connection with the enforceability of the laws. This is one
problem, one aspect of the quality of the legislation that tends to
be overlooked, Mr. Djulgerov said. "There are laws that are simply
impracticable. And I can guarantee, as someone with practical
experience, that they will never be fully enforced with their
present provisions."
Ms. Daniela Dokovska, attorney-at-law, stated
that the legislative process was a scientific form of governing
society and it should build on empirical data, on in-depth study of
the criminogenic factors that would serve as the basis for the
development of legislation.
Mr. Radi Naidenov, Head of the Prime Minister’s
Office, presented the address of the Prime Minister, Mr. Simeon
Saxe-Coburg-Gotta to the participants in the Forum. The fight
against corruption has been a priority of the government since the
very beginning of its term, Mr. Naidenov pointed out. However, in
order to bring the process to a successful end, it is imperative to
carry out the judiciary reform. The achievements of the Bulgarian
government to date have been recognized by the European Commission
in its regular report on the progress made by Bulgaria towards
accession to the European Union. Mr. Naidenov stressed on the
importance of the broad public debate and the role of the
non-governmental organizations and of Coalition 2000 for
raising public intolerance towards corruption. "The moral conduct
of a given politician or public official is very important, it is
just as important that each citizen refuses to tolerate corrupt
practices and interrelations. Only then will the measures, taken by
the government, produce the desired impact", Mr. Naidenov
concluded.
See the Full Transcript of the Policy
Forum
See the agenda and the speeches
Media coverage of the Forum
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