On
February 12, 2002 the Fourth Anti-Corruption Policy Forum of Coalition
2000 took place with the participation of all institutions involved
in the fight against corruption: politicians, non-governmental organizations,
the media, businesses and diplomats. The Forum, organized annually by Coalition
2000, is a high profile public event of anti-corruption initiatives, focussing
on the increased cooperation between civil structures and institutions in
the fight against corruption.
About
200 people took part in this year's Policy Forum. Addressing the participants,
the President of Bulgaria, Mr. Georgi Parvanov, stressed the substantial
role of the civil society in the fight against corruption and congratulated
Coalition 2000 on the consistent efforts in the analyses of corruption,
underlining that the result of these efforts is truly significant. The President
pointed out that now, when the intolerance of Bulgarian citizens to this
phenomenon is increasing, the necessity of a professional analysis of corruption
and of a clearer definition of the countervailing measures becomes particularly
important. There can be no simple evaluation of the fight against corruption,
Parvanov stated. However, he said, this government and this parliamentary
majority cannot be blamed for encouraging corrupt practices.
The Ambassador of the United States, Mr. Richard Miles, pointed
out that Bulgaria has achieved some progress in the fight against corruption
by moving up to 47th place in the world in 2001 from 60th place in the
corruption perception index. He underlined the utmost importance of this
problem as Bulgaria seeks integration into Euro-Atlantic institutions
and addressed the government with concrete proposals. Ambassador Miles
noted that "swift and focused investigations and prosecution of seriously
compromised privatization deals are needed. Such prosecutions should not,
however, degenerate into politically motivated witch-hunts. Successful
prosecution is required before the public faith in government can be restored".
Ambassador Miles further appealed to all political parties and non-governmental
leaders to consolidate their efforts in the fight against corruption.
Dr. Maria Yordanova, Head of the Law Program at the
Center for the Study of Democracy,
presented the philosophy and approach of the Corruption Assessment
Report 2001 and highlighted the differences from the preceding
reports of 1999 and 2000. For the first time the problem of
corruption is considered a problem of the three powers - the
legislature, the executive and the judiciary. In the sphere of
judicial reform, previously the main focus was on the court
administration of justice, while in this year's report the analysis
has covered the other two sections of the judiciary - the
investigation and the prosecution. Special attention was paid to
the other institutions and law enforcement authorities - the role
of the police, the bar association, as well as the anti-corruption
measures inside the Ministry of the Interior. Dr. Maria Yordanova
underlined that the Report takes into consideration the
globalization of crime and in particular of corruption and outlines
the relations between the organized crime and corruption, as well
as between the problems of terrorism and computer crime.
In his speech, the Minister of Justice, Mr. Anton Stankov, emphasized
that the measures the Bulgarian government plans to take and has already
taken are presented in the National Anti-Corruption Strategy. The anti-corruption
measures in the judiciary in particular are a part of the Judicial Reform
Strategy. Minister Stankov pointed out that the Ministry of Justice has
already prepared a Draft Law on Amendments to the Law on the Judiciary,
which corresponds to the recommendations in the Corruption Assessment
Report 2001. He stated that he fully approves of the recommendations in
the Report for changes to the Criminal Code that regulate corruption-related
crime in greater detail. According to Minister Stankov, the consistency
of the government's actions is demonstrated by the creation of the Anti-Corruption
Committee in the beginning of February 2002, which has the opportunity
to recommend anti-corruption measures to various institutions and government
departments.
The government is willing to work with the
non-governmental institutions and the media on the anti-corruption
strategy, stated Minister of State Administration, Mr. Dimitar
Kalchev. He pointed out that special attention would be paid to
training administration officials, because low administrative
capacity and bad service create actual preconditions for
corruption. Minister Kalchev outlined that the National
Anti-Corruption Action Plan of the government contains detailed
descriptions of the obligations of all the ministries, including
the people responsible and the terms of implementation.
The Interior Minister, Mr. Georgi Petkanov,
emphasized that the Ministry of Interior had already elaborated and
is implementing its own anti-corruption program. The program aims
to create conditions for limiting corruption through effective
mechanisms for promoting the status of the departments, working in
the field of anti-corruption, and to improve the internal
departmental control and the communication with the media. An
internal departmental coordination council for curbing corruption
has also been created. It defines the strategy and organizes the
implementation for the detection and prevention of corrupt behavior
in the Ministry of the Interior. Minister Petkanov expressed his
satisfaction with Corruption Assessment Report 2001's appreciation
of the activities of the Ministry of the Interior and highlighted
the importance of Coalition 2000's objective evaluation as
being a necessary watchdog initiative.
Mr. Silvi Chernev, Chair of the Bulgarian Chamber of
Commerce and Industry's Court of Arbitration, pointed out some
practical problems that accompany the implementation of judicial
reform. In his opinion, the reform is not transparent; rather it is
being implemented by a limited circle of experts. The state should
encourage alternative dispute resolution mechanisms.
In her speech, Ms. Ekaterina Mihaylova, Chair of the
Union of the Democratic Forces, stressed ways the politicians can
curb corruption. Politicians should counter corruption not only by
personal example, but also by promoting an understanding of
corruption as a political problem. She also underlined that two
fundamental anti-corruption laws were passed during the time of the
UDF government. These were the Law on Political Parties and the Law
on Property Disclosure of Persons Occupying Senior Positions in the
State. Ms. Mihaylova appealed to the parliamentary majority to take
into account the initiatives of Coalition 2000, and thus to
demonstrate the benefits of cooperation between state institutions
and the non-governmental sector. She illustrated this by stating
that the Draft Law on the Ombudsman was written by Coalition
2000 experts and submitted to Parliament by MPs from the UDF at
the end of the mandate of the previous parliament.
Mr. Mihail Mikov, Vice-Chairman of the parliamentary
group of Coalition for Bulgaria, said that anti-corruption
legislative measures are efficient only when they are clear,
explicit and timely. He also stressed the important role of the
National Assembly in the fight against corruption. The executive
power must place limitations on its discretion, including by means
of legislative initiative. Mr. Mikov underlined that the Corruption
Assessment Report 2001 presents a comprehensive analysis of the
premises and risks of corruption inherent to the current
Privatization Law. He also thanked the organizers for their useful
initiative and the considerable work they had done.
Mr. Alexander Stoyanov, Director of Vitosha Research, outlined some
important trends in the public's opinion of corruption. He stressed
increased expectations that civil society and the government will
act to combat corruption. "The public intolerance of corruption is
already a fact", Mr. Stoyanov said. He also noted that the value of
the indexes for corruption susceptibility or the acceptability of
corrupt practices decreased twice from July 1998 to October
2001.
Mr. Dimitar Bachvarov, Member of the Supervisory
Board of the Privatization Agency, appealed to representatives of
state institutions to take the initiative themselves and seek
cooperation with non-governmental organizations like Coalition
2000. He pointed out that the Center for the Study of
Democracy, the Coalition Secretariat, works efficiently and has
elaborated a steady, universally acknowledged methodology for
monitoring corruption.
In his speech Mr. Hristo Hristov, international secretary to the
Union of the Free Democrats, joined in the high appraisal of the pioneering
efforts of Coalition 2000. He pointed out that with the EU enlargement
corruption is becoming more and more of a challenge and is an issue in
many international initiatives. He noted that "it is very important that
political parties strengthen international cooperation with similar parties,
which have similar problems, and also use all possible sources for the
exchange of experience and ideas, for sharing ideas about anti-corruption
measures and mechanisms, which should then be adapted to our national
circumstances".
Other participants in the discussion were Mr. Vladislav Slavov,
Chair of the Supreme Administrative Court, Mr. Pavel Popov, Municipal
Councilor, Sofia municipality, and also representative of the Civic Union
Against Corruption, and Mr. Milcho Borov, Chair of the Board of Directors,
Bulgarian Association for Information Technologies. Particular problems
were mentioned, which proved that effective mechanisms for limiting corrupt
practices are still to be implemented. A number of proposals were directed
at administrative and legislative changes that would limit corruption
pressure, promote civil activity and improve the government of the public-private
partnership in dealing with corruption.
The Corruption Assessment Report 2001 gained the support of all
the participants in the Policy Forum. It was recommended as a basic comprehensive
document and a tool for good governance.
Conference agenda
Content of the Corruption Assessment Report 2001 in PDF
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