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| Round Table: Civil Society in the „Loops” of Power
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 On 15 July 2010 the Center for the Study of Democracy with the support of the Balkan Trust for Democracy, organized a roundtable titled Civil society in the ‘loops’ of power. The event was a continuation of the discussion on the amendments to the Law on prevention and disclosure of conflicts of interest and a seminar focused on the necessary changes in the legal framework regulating the activities of non-governmental organizations.
 Dr. Ognian Shentov, Chairman of the Center for the Study of Democracy (CSD), opened the discussion underlining that the CSD’s latest analysis of civil society confirmed the conclusions from CSD’s previous report Crime without Punishment, issued in 2009. This fact clearly demonstrates the need for changes in the legislation and self-regulation of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) leading to a more efficient and transparent relationship between such organizations and the executive and legislative authorities.
 Mr. Todor Yalamov, senior analyst at the Center for the Study of Democracy, noted that the number of NGOs in Bulgaria continued to grow over the past decade. In 2009, there are over 8,000 active non-profit legal entities acting in public interest, which is about seven times more than in 2000. Over the same period, the total revenues of NGOs have increased threefold, while income from grants has hardly changed. The increase in total revenues is mainly due to a notable growth in revenues from commercial activities. The latter attests to the changed nature of Bulgarian NGOs, which are becoming increasingly business-oriented and structurally similar to businesses enterprises. In some cases, the non-profit-entity status is used by public officials to bypass regulations banning them from participating in commercial activities.
 Ms. Daniela Petrova, Chairman of the Committee for Culture, Civil Society and Media at the National Assembly, presented the Parliament’s activities related to and in collaboration with NGOs, stressing on the transparency of these activities. At the Committee’s own initiative, open access to parliamentary debates is freely available to citizens and their organizations in compliance with relevant rules for access. Moreover, if willing, NGOs can submit questions, comments, and observations on topics discussed by the Committee.
Ms. Petrova presented a number of joint activities of the Committee with civil society organizations, stressing on the Committee’s active work on legislative changes and support for the self-regulation of civil society organizations that represent social groups with specific needs, e.g. human rights protection and ‘green’ movements. Ms. Petrova also noted that in some cases civil society activism has led to changes in legislation, such as the regulations on the use of genetically modified organisms (GMOs).
 Mr. Dimitar Markov, moderator and a senior analyst at the Law Program of the Center for the Study of Democracy, pointed to the central role of the National Assembly in determining the interaction between civil society and state institutions, especially in the absence of a legal framework for lobbying activities. He acknowledged the establishment of advisory councils to parliamentary committees with NGO participation as a good practice. Yet, a problem that remains unresolved is the mechanism for allocating state budget funds aimed at promoting NGOs activities. There is a need for clear and more transparent financing regulations incorporated in a legal framework, especially with respect to the 26 organizations in Bulgaria that routinely receive state funding. Currently, a significant number of experts in the field assess the work of the Central Registry for Non-Profit Legal Entities as unsatisfactory. Thus, CSD has stressed on the need for reform in the state registry system in general, and more specifically in the procedures for registering a non-profit entity, for years.
 Ms. Stefka Solovyova, Director of the Registry Directorate at the Ministry of Justice, expressed a general agreement with the concept for a single registry center and a unified system of registration developed by CSD in 2001-2003. As a result of CSD’s study, a legal framework for the Central Pledges Registry, for electronic documents and electronic signature was established. According to Ms. Solovyova, creating a single registry center would be a step in the right direction, as it will ease the registration process for citizens and legal persons and result in a unified database containing information from multiple sources. The latter will allow for effective monitoring and use of information.
Ms. Solovyova stated that, as of July 14, 2010, 7973 non-profit legal entities acting in public interest were recorded at the Central Registry, and another 249 are awaiting registration. The Law governing non-profit organizations was enforced in 2001. Yet, this law is outdated not taking into account more recent changes in overall legislation, including Bulgaria’s accession to the EU and existing European legal practice. The Registry Directorate reported an increase in the number of NGOs acting in public interest and intentionally registered to perform activities tailored to the absorption of EU funds. A shift of a significant portion of NGOs from those acting in private interest to such in public interest was also observed.
Among the main regulatory changes foreseen by the Ministry of Justice is the regulation of NGOs’ commercial activities that are repeatedly reported to bypass the law. The Ministry of Justice has already refused registration to certain NGOs due to the high level of commercial activities performed by them, but these cases create a discrepancy between the decisions of the Ministry and the courts where these NGOs are already registered.
 Mr. Nicholay Tsenkov, Chairman of the Civil Society Advisory Council to the Sredets District of Sofia Municipality, excused Ms. Margarita Angelova-Guteva who was not able to join the discussion and pointed out that the existence of the council is a testimony to her ongoing work and collaboration with the non-profit sector. The council is an informal association of eleven NGOs working on fully voluntarily basis to support the activities of the District administration. So far, the advisory council has organized a number of public discussions, such as the one on parking in the city center, a forthcoming discussion on transforming a major commercial street Vitoshka into a fully pedestrian area, as well as a forthcoming discussion of developing Sofia’s center as a marketing and tourism product.
 Mr. Pavel Antonov, board member of the electronic information network BlueLink, shared his experiences of a decade self-regulation of civil society initiatives in the field of environmental protection and sustainable development. In recent years, there are several cases in which such initiatives have played a decisive role in achieving certain goals, including changes to legislation. The development of the Internet platform Civil e-Representation allows NGOs to nominate and elect candidates to represent them in various committees, advisory councils, and working groups in public institutions. Currently, there are 37 institutions with over 50 active NGO representatives working in various public institutions, selected through the Internet platform. One of the goals of BlueLink now is to extend the use of such mechanisms for representation.
 Ms. Dobrinka Valkova, Communication and Information Manager at the Workshop for Civic Initiatives Foundation, described a project titled Standards for good governance in civil society organizations. The project started a year ago through a civil initiative for self-regulation of the non-profit sector. The aim of the project is uniting active NGOs in Bulgaria around a common set of governance criteria and subscribing to basic standards of good governance.
Ms. Pavleta Alexieva, Program Director at the Bulgarian Center for Not-For-Profit Law, which currently monitors and evaluates the work of the Central Registry for Non Profit Legal Entities, supported the idea of modernizing the legislation, and stressed on the need for stronger application of the transparency principles when managing the NGO sector.
Mr. Emil Cohen, a member of the General Assembly of the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee, defined as unacceptable the practice of NGOs to spend resources on activities already funded by the state. Mr. Cohen noted that the increase in the number of registered NGOs is linked directly to an increase in funding opportunities through EU funds and operational programs. Therefore, it is necessary to refine funding procedures, while present and former representatives from local and central authorities should be banned from participation in non-profit legal entities and particularly in such organizations that have substantive part of commercial activities.
Mr. Georgi Bogdanov, executive director of the National Network for Children expressed concerns over the lack of visibility and transparency on how state funds are spent in the activities of nationally representative organizations that received state funding according to a law.
 Ms. Diana Daskalova from the Voice in Bulgaria - Centre for Legal Aid Foundation, described the differences in NGO financing in Bulgaria vs. Western countries. In Bulgaria, NGOs rely heavily on European and national funds. In Western countries, and notably the U.S., non-governmental organizations rely primarily on funding from private organizations. Yet in Bulgaria, there are currently no incentives for private organizations to fund the non-profit sector (e.g., current tax incentives in Bulgaria are largely negligible, thus changes to the tax legislation are necessary).
Ms. Elena Dyankova from the Civil Initiative Justice – 21 stressed that operational programs’ funds are not intended to support the development of a non-profit sector as such. There was an emphasis on the dependence of Bulgarian NGOs on the donors and their priorities. The latter generally determine the landscape and activities of the non-profit sector in Bulgaria. Meanwhile, grants and donations as type of funding, which provides political and economic independence is underdeveloped in Bulgaria. Representatives from the Initiative were also in favor of reforming tax laws so as to provide substantial tax breaks to potential donors.
Ms. Eleonora Nikolova, an expert from the National Assembly’s Committee on Anti-Corruption, Conflict of Interests and Parliamentary Ethics, emphasized the need for an updated, comprehensive, and easily accessible electronic database providing information on NGOs. There is also a need to improve the process for re-registration of organizations as a means to distinguish between active and inactive organizations.
Agenda (Adobe PDF, 171 KB, in Bulgarian)
Presentation: Development of the Civil Society: Trends and Risks (Adobe PDF, 316 KB, in Bulgarian)
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