In 2005 the issue of the new security threats in the context of Bulgaria’s pending
EU accession and accomplished NATO membership was the focus of activity of
CSD’s European Program. A main task on its agenda was to provide a public-private
platform for the discussion of shared SEE approaches to combating corruption,
organized crime and contraband.
2005 Highlights
• NATO transformation was one of the areas of particular interest for the
European program in 2005. By general recognition, there remains a significant
gap between the actual and the potential capabilities of the Alliance to
promote the collective security interests of its Member States and those of
the wider international community. The annual security conferences of CSD contribute to the broader debate on NATO’s Transformation thus helping
to bridge this gap through the outlining of bold new policies, overcoming
legacy relationships and trans-Atlantic divides.
• The forging of a common European agenda against organized crime is one of
EU’s current preoccupations and accession and neighboring countries have a
significant role to play. CSD’s has been seeking to advocate a broader approach
to organized crime in the process of Bulgaria’s joining the EU, including
through partnerships between law enforcement and the private sector.
• Crime prevention is also an area where CSD has been promoting common
approaches by government institutions and civil society. To this end, CSD has
led the way in Bulgaria in analyzing the trends in conventional crime and
advocating the establishment of the National Crime Prevention Commission
as a public-private partnership platform.
• For several years now, CSD is promoting the best international standards in
the export control of small arms and light weapons. In 2005, this work was
complemented by research into the spread of small arms in Bulgaria, efforts to
transfer experience to neighboring countries and analysis of the role of private
security companies. |
I. NATO Transformation
For the past few years the European
Program has focused its attention on
the new security agenda through a
variety of tools such as research reports,
monitoring activities and high-profile
security conferences and events. The
Center makes special efforts to highlight
the new risks related to trans-border
organized crime, to advocate the new
regional and EU security policy with a
strong accent on anti-crime efforts, and
to publicize innovative responses to the
new security threats. CSD has published
several studies in this area and has, more
importantly, created a regional platform
for a debate involving both NATO and
EU partners, and the Southeast European
countries.
The Third Annual Security Conference of
the Center for the Study of Democracy
took place on November 19-20, 2005 in
Sofia. The forum gave more prominence
to ideas, concepts and policies which
dominate the agenda of NATO, the EU
and the wider international community
in this field. The Black Sea and Southeast
European regions have been chosen as
sources of only some security problems,
which complement the wider spectrum
of concerns underlying the new
security theories and practices. The
debate benefited from the participation
of Bulgaria’s Prime Minister Sergey
Stanishev, Ivailo Kalfin, Minister for
Foreign Affairs, Rumen Petkov, Minister
of Interior, SACEUR General James
Jones, Gen. Nikola Kolev, Bulgarian
Chief of Defense Staff, Maj. Gen. Alberto
Notari, DCOS ACT, Dr. Andrzey
Karkozska, Director SDI, MOD Poland,
Anton Buteyko, First Deputy Minister
of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Petrit
Karabina, Deputy Minister of Defense
of Albania.
The speakers underlined that the future
of the Alliance depends on the depth and
speed of the transformation. Although
many relevant decisions have been
taken since 2002, much remains to be
done in terms of national contributions,
political will and capacity to overcome
legacy thinking. Among the conclusions
which may be drawn is that the time
up to the next NATO Summit in 2006
should be wisely and actively used for
the preparation of the relevant decisions
in the field of transformation.
The Third Annual Security Conference
was preceded by a number of expertlevel
discussions with international
participation. A seminar on security
strategies for experts in the Ministries
of Foreign Affairs and Defense of Serbia
From left to right: Dr. Ognian Shentov, CSD Chairman,
Sergey Stanishev, Prime Minister of Bulgaria,
Gen. James Jones, SACEUR, Amb. Boyko Noev, CSD European Program Director,
Prof. Sergey Karaganov, Chairman of the Council for Foreign and Defense Policy, Russia and
Gen. Nikola Kolev, Chief of General Staff of the Bulgarian Army
and Montenegro, Albania, Bosnia and
Herzegovina, Romania and Hungary
took place on October 13-14, 2005.
The discussion focused on security
perceptions which affect the political and
security thinking in SEE after the major
changes in the security environment
and the emergence of new security
threats. The seminar was organized
by the CSD, in partnership with the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bulgaria,
the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Serbia
and Montenegro and the Embassy of
Norway in Sofia, and was part of the
agenda of the Southeast Europe Steering
Cooperation Group (SEEGROUP)
which meets on a regular basis at NATO
Headquarters in Brussels. The event
benefited from the contributions of
NATO representatives, SEE diplomats
and experts from Bulgarian NGOs
specializing in security issues.
II. European Agenda against
Organized Crime
CSD’s European program has also
turned the spotlight on the overlap of
the domestic and international aspects
of security and has tried to engage EU
member states in a debate over the
issue. On March 2, 2005, the Center for
the Study of Democracy, jointly with
the British Embassy and the Ministry of
Interior of Bulgaria, held a discussion
on Combating Organized Crime in the
21st Century. It featured the British
experience in coordinating efforts to
combat organized crime presenting as
a relevant example the strategy of the
newly established Serious Organised
Crime Agency (SOCA).
The discussion benefited from the
participation of Ms. Caroline Flint,
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State
for Drugs Co-ordination, Organised
Crime and European Issues at the UK
Home Office, Mr. William Hughes,
Director General of SOCA, Mr. Boyko
Kotzev, Deputy Minister of Interior
and Gen. Boyko Borissov, Secretary
General of the Ministry of Interior.
From left: Ms. Caroline Flint, Prof. Georgi Petkanov, Minister of Interior,
Mr. Boyko Kotzev, Deputy Minister of Interior and
Mr. William Hughes, Director General of SOCA
I am keen for us to learn from the
advanced thinking of the Centre for
the Study of Democracy, with whom
our Embassy has a number of projectsin the JHA field. The Centre has
already recognised that, in some key
respects, organised criminals act like
any other business. This approach is
shown in many of your projects, such
as the Informal Economy Index, which
identifies the most vulnerable areas
of the economy; and the Corruption
Monitoring System, which tracks the
dynamics of corrupt behaviour.
Caroline Flint
State, UK Foreign Office |
Among the topics of CSD research closely
related to organized crime is the drug
market in Bulgaria. On March 18, 2005
the CSD hosted a discussion Drug Market
and Organized Crime in Bulgaria: One Year
Later to analyze the trends since the
launch of the Drug Market in Bulgaria
report at the end of 2003. The main newfindings in the area were presented
by CSD Senior Analyst Tihomir Bezlov
and Gen. Boyko Borissov, General
Secretary of the Ministry of Interior. The
discussion benefited from the participation
of representatives of government
agencies, law-enforcement bodies, nongovernmental
organizations, foreign
missions and the media.
III. Crime Prevention Partnerships
In 2005, the Center continued to
encourage public-private partnership
in tackling crime. In June 2005, CSD
hosted the launch of the National
Crime Prevention Commission established
jointly with the Ministry of
Interior. The Commission, which
brings together public institutions and
non-governmental organizations, will
meet the need of wider community
participation in tackling crime. Its task
will be to identify crime trends andfind effective remedies to the
proliferation of crime in everyday life.
The Commission will give priority
to improving coordination among
all stakeholders, developing new
prevention initiatives and awarenessraising
and advocacy campaigns
aiming to alleviate the negative impact
of crime on community life.
The first meeting of the National Crime
Prevention Commission took place on
From left: Mr. Tihomir Bezlov, CSD Senior Analyst,
Gen. Boyko Borissov, Secretary General of the Ministry of Interior and
Mr. Boyko Todorov, CSD Program Director
13 December, 2005. The meeting, chaired
by the Minister of Interior Rumen
Petkov, discussed a possible partnership
between state institutions and the private
business in crime prevention activities
and elaborated a plan of activities for
the year of 2006. The experience of the
EU member states in crime prevention
was presented as well.
CSD presented a draft plan of activities
for the next year built around four major
activities:
• Analysis of the trends in the petty
crime;
• Discussion on the consequences of
crime for the business;
• Discussion on the problems related to
the marginalized social groups;
• Prevention of organized crime.
In 2005, the Center also looked into the
larger crime situation in Bulgaria. The
report Crime Trends in Bulgaria: Police
Statistics and Victimization Surveys
was publicly presented in January 2005.
CSD uses a nationally representative
crime victimization survey polling
people’s experiences with crime as an
alternative analytical tool to make anindependent assessment of the crime
situation in Bulgaria for the period
2001–2004.
Unlike official crime statistics collected
by the ministries of interior and justice,
the regular crime victimization surveys
help the police and government
authorities, as well as the public to
understand:
• whether the official police crime data
reflect the real crime rate and crime
trends;
• the volume of the unreported crime;
• the reasons victims do not report
crimes to the police;
From left: Dr. Ognian Shentov, CSD Chairman,
Mr. Boyko Kotzev, Deputy Minister of Interior,
Mr. Roumen Petkov, Minister of Interior and Mr. Jeremy Hill, UK Ambassador
• whether the police avoids registering
reported crimes;
• the profile of the social groups that
are most at risk of falling victims to
crime.
IV. Small Arms Export Control
The Center for the Study of Democracy
in cooperation with Saferworld, UK
is carrying out an assessment of the
existing controls on small arms and
light weapons in Bulgaria. This
assessment is providing an in-depth
analysis of the outstanding challenges
posed by the Bulgarian arms control
system and will outline ways to
overcome such problems. The report
Taming the Arsenal: Small Arms and
Light Weapons in Bulgaria, presented
on March 30, 2005, summarizes thefindings of a research conducted on questions relating to small arms and
light weapons in Bulgaria from July
to November 2004 by the CSD, and
London-based Saferworld.
The Center puts an emphasis on
sharing the Bulgarian experience with
relevant actors from the countries in
the region. The South Eastern Europe
regional seminar Towards NATO and
EU Accession: Effective Export Control
Legislation – Lessons Learned took place
on June 21-22, 2005. The seminar was
jointly organized by the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs of Bulgaria, the Center
for the Study of Democracy and the
South Eastern Europe Clearinghouse
for the Control of Small Arms and
Light Weapons (SEESAC). It aimed at
contributing to the process of bringing
the export control legislation in line with
the EU and NATO requirements and
strengthening the mechanisms for its
implementation. Experts from Albania,
Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia,
Macedonia, Romania and Moldova
participated in the seminar.
Participants in the seminar on export controls
CSD Research Fellow, Philip Gounev,
carried out research on the role of private
security companies in Bulgaria.
in the seminar on export controls
CSD Research Fellow Philip Gounev presenting the report
The findings were included in the report
Small Arms and Light Weapons and
Private Security Companies in South
Eastern Europe: A Cause or Effect of
Insecurity?, published by the South
Eastern Europe Clearinghouse for
the Control of Small Arms and Light
Weapons (SEESAC). On 14 September,
2005 the Center for the Study of
Democracy, jointly with the Saferworld
presented the report findings at a public
discussion on the role of private security
companies.
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