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| Seminar: Conflict of Interest, Good Governance and Management of the Local Authority - Civil Society Relationship
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 On 14 May 2010, the Center for the Study of Democracy, in conjunction with Ms. Maria Nedelcheva, member of the European Parliament, group of the European People’s Party / GERB and the Balkan Trust for Democracy initiative, organized a seminar on the topic of "Conflict of Interests, Good Governance and Management of the Local Authority - Civil Society Relationship”. The seminar was focused on sharing experience in legislation pertaining to conflict of interest and its application to the public-private partnership between municipalities and NGOs. In order to focus the discussion on practical issues faced by local authorities, the seminar took place at the European Information Centre in the town of Hadjidimovo. There were about thirty regional participants, such as municipal councilors, representatives from NGOs working with the municipalities, and local media representatives. The attendees included officials from the Gotse Delchev, Razlog, Blagoevgrad and Hadjidimovo municipalities, as well as municipal councilors from Bansko and Sofia.
 Mr. Todor Yalamov, Senior Analyst at the Center for the Study of Democracy, opened the seminar discussions by highlighting the importance of promoting good governance in the relations between local authorities and NGOs as a basis to avoid potential conflicts of interest. Mr. Yalamov pointed out that CSD’s work is focused on the long-term enhancement of the legal framework concerned with conflicts of interest, as well as on increasing the transparency in the activities of organizations operating in the public interest. In this sense, the seminar is and one in a series of CSD initiatives aimed at analyzing and bringing to light the ongoing process of “civil society capture”, involving the creation of quasi- NGOs established by public officials with the goal of promoting personal interests and capturing public funds. Results from the analysis provoke interest in several interrelated topics, which define the purpose of this seminar:
- There is a need to identify the problems related to the implementation of the Law on Prevention and Disclosure of Conflict of Interests (ZPRKI) in the activities of local authorities. This statement reflects the idea that, when created, the above-mentioned law was focused on regulating potential conflicts of interest in the central government. Thus, the subsequent extension of the law’s applicability to municipalities was completed without taking into account the specifics of local municipal activities.
- There is a need to increase the transparency in NGOs’ activities. Legal regulation is currently inefficient or non-existent, resulting in the lack of publicly available information on NGO activities.
- There is a need for enforcing the law as a tool for solving key problems. This principle is embedded in the law, which was created mainly as a preventive tool.
 MEP Maria Nedelcheva greeted the participants in the seminar and stressed the importance of the topic at both a national and European level. The latest (2010) EC interim report on the status of regulation and cooperation in Bulgaria shows the significance of preventing and detecting any conflict of interest. The report pays particular attention to the application of the ZPRKI and the need for reviewing it. The report also emphasizes the need for timely and comprehensive administrative actions related to the Commission's concerns over irregularities, conflicts of interest, and fraud in the utilization of EU funds. The implementation of ZPRKI led to the exposure of 47 cases of irregularities in the second half of 2009 only. The report is also critical of the fact that since December 2009, the special committee has not disclosed any follow-up actions taken in response to allegations over conflict of interest among senior civil servants and MPs. Maria Nedelcheva suggested that the European assessment of conflicts of interest must take into account the existing peculiarities of the third sector in Central and Eastern Europe. Increasingly, functions that were formerly performed by public agencies are now transferred to NGOs. These developments require the establishment of working mechanisms to ensure transparent and efficient management of public funds financing such activities.
Ms. Nedelcheva also shared the intent of the current GERB Government to submit changes to the current law by the end of the year. Such changes are necessary due to currently existing flaws and limitations in the ZPRKI. The forthcoming changes in the law will address the new challenges to law enforcement presented by the implementation of operational programs and the activities of Local Action Groups (established under the Program for Rural Development). Ms. Nedelcheva assured the participants that the latter program directly affected them and was of interest to her as a member of the Committee on Agriculture in the European Parliament.
 Mr. Vladimir Moskov, Mayor of Gotse Delchev Municipality pointed out, during his opening speech, that the initiative for organising the seminar had been supported by the municipality due to the application of the law being a current issue both for the municipality itself, as well as for the Municipal council’s members. He stressed their commitment to cooperate in the preparation and future debates on proposed amendments to the law. The participation of MEP Nedelcheva gave the opportunity for the exchange of: expertise of local self-governance and relations between municipalities and NGOs as well as good practices of old EU member states. Mayor Moskov also highlighted the importance of local action groups, especially with views to the recent economic crisis which has further emphasised the need to active participation of the municipality in the utilisation of external funds, including projects funded by OP and EU.
 Ms. Mariana Ustailieva, Director of Directorate Administrative, Legal and Information Services at Gotse Delchev Municipality presented experiences of the municipality of Gotse Delchev in applying the law. Emphasis was placed on the importance of the subject matter, and on concrete challenges faced by municipalities. On one hand, municipal employees and councils are compelled to resolve specific cases that lack set principles, and may thus generate ambiguous and conflicting interpretations by different institutions. In addition, the application of the law places obligations upon the municipality which cannot be met by the available material and human resources, and often result in unwanted administrative delays. Hence, in order to optimise performance, it was decided to place the matter of conflict of interest under the purview of the existing Law Enforcement Committee instead of creating a specific committee. However, since the law has come into force there have been no signals for potential conflict of interest. All of this notwithstanding, the municipality has resolved several questions of principle, which were not explicitly regulated by the law. For instance, the municipality has decided on mayors’ submission of declarations with regards to the law, for the purpose of affirming the practice of maximum transparency in its activities.
 During the discussion of practical issues facing municipalities Mr. Kostadin Hadjigaev, Chairman of the Municipal council of Blagoevgrad municipality, drew attention to the fact that public figures have undertaken responsibilities which entail certain obligations with respect to avoiding potential conflicts of interest Nonetheless amendments to the law are necessary in order to better regulate relations within municipalities. In fact, within the Municipal Council there exist many proactive interest groups, both from the private and public sector. This poses specific requirements inherent in the application of the law and in the self regulation of municipalities in consideration of the fact that every case has to be considered in its specificity. Therein, the role of the judiciary for solving cases, resulting from the emergence of doubts for potential conflict of interest is essential.
 Ms. Krasimira Mircheva, journalist reporting for the regional newspaper ‘Viara’, Blagoevgrad, highlighted the role of the media in many respects: as an external regulator of local authorities, as a source for identifying potential conflicts of interest, and as a crucially important partner in establishing relationships between the municipalities and civil society, including NGOs, in the efforts to achieve greater transparency of its activities.
The participation of regional media and investigative journalists from the national press allowed for the exchange of experiences related to specific practices for identifying conflicts of interest, including the ones arising in lesser populated areas. on one hand, and the working conditions of journalists employed by regional media, on the other.
The discussion, centred on the role and the attitude of the media towards local authorities,emphasized the need for a greater autonomy of journalists when reporting on cases of conflict of interest. In this respect, the crucial role of local media in investigation of such cases was stressed by their colleague Mr. Rosen Bosev from ‘Capital’ weekly. In Bosev’s opinion, regional journalists can offer a valuable contribution given the local knowledge they have accumulated. In some instances, such knowhow may prove to be the deciding factor in the identification of a particular problem. Moreover, cooperation between local and central media can allow for the fair presentation of the problem before society while, at the same time protecting local investigative journalists.
Dr. Maria Yordanova, Director of the Law Program at the Center for the Study of Democracy, presented the legal framework related to conflict of interests and the problems in its implementation. The reasons behind the implementation of this law include: the incomplete and fragmentary nature of the previous regulations, the increasing public intolerance to conflict of interests - as one of the main sources of corruption - and the aspiration of the government to demonstrate political will to handle such problems. One of the specifics of the Law on prevention and disclosure of conflict of interests, passed in 2008, is its large scale application, affecting the judiciary and executive power, as well as the structures of the central administration and local authorities. The participants in the seminar also agreed that the law faces difficulty in its enforcement at a municipal level. According to Dr. Yordanova the legal framework has significant flaws relating to the conduct of inspections and identification of conflict of interests on municipal level, and at the same time there is no legal institutional mechanism to control the restrictions applied to a person after they vacate a civil servant position. Among the main recommendations to improve the existing legal framework is the application of an approach based on examining the problems faced during the application of the existing provisions and a discussion on its future amendments with persons who are subjects to the legal framework or are responsible for its enforcement.
Mr. Dimitar Markov, Senior Analyst from the Law Program at the Center for the Study of Democracy, was the moderator of the ensuing open debate wherein some concrete suggestions for amendments of the legal framework were put forward. During the discussion Mr. Markov pointed out that one of the most important steps would be to specify the notion of “related persons”, as well as to come up with a precise definition of the notion of “conflict of interests”.
Seminar Agenda (Adobe PDF, 164 KB, in Bulgarian)
Presentation “Conflict of Interst: Problems with the Legislative Framework and its Application” (Adobe PDF, 331 KB, in Bulgarian)
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