In 2006, CSD’s European Program focused on the new security threats in the context
of Bulgaria’s upcoming EU accession and NATO membership. The Program’s
main instruments included the provision of a public-private platform for the
discussion of shared approaches to combating corruption, organized crime and
contraband and the publication of policy analyses.
2006 Highlights
• NATO transformation was one of the areas of particular interest for the
European program in 2006. CSD’s contribution focused on helping the
Alliance to go beyond the intergovernmental approach and reach out to
other types of partners. Projection of stability is key for NATO’s future
role in international security and it requires new, adequate capabilities but
also partnering with various allies in critical regions, including Southeast
Europe.
• Crime prevention and analysis of crime trends 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.
• CSD also contributed to the analysis and policy recommendations of stopand-
search policies by the Bulgarian police, focusing on the practices of
disproportionate stops of members of the Roma ethnic minority. CSD’s study
was part of a Europe-wide initiative aimed to map discriminatory police
practices across Europe. |
I. NATO Transformation
As part of its series of annual security
events, the Center for the Study of
Democracy held the international
conference "NATO Transformation -
Facing New Security Frontiers" on 28-29
April, 2006. It was a follow-up to the
2006 NATO ministerial meeting hosted
by the government of Bulgaria. The
conference contributed to the broader
debate on NATO’s transformation and
helped outline bold new policies,
overcoming legacy relationships and
trans-atlantic divides. The discussion
focused on the future partnerships in
managing common security challenges
and longer-term political strategies for
the Balkans and the wider Black Sea
area. The conference was attended by
NATO Ministers of Foreign Affairs and
Permanent Representatives, high-level
representatives of the Alliance, EU,
Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine,
Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Albania,
Croatia, the Republic of Macedonia,
Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and
Montenegro, Members of Parliaments,
policy analysts, representatives of the
media.
One of the main topics of the conference,
addressed in one way or another by all
participants, was the effort to work out a
common definition of the new security
frontiers. Two main aspects of this effort
were focused on - geographical and
functional. From the point of view of
geography, the importance of the different
NATO partnerships was emp-hasized.
Enhancing the partnership approach
should not come at the expense of
increased bureaucracy but should rather
focus on bringing added value and
flexibility. Ties to new partners should
not diminish the importance of the
existing partnerships, nor should they
encapsulate the partnerships into a group
of like-minded states and societies.
From the point of view of the functional
dimensions of security, it is obvious that
the security frontiers have been moved
as well. A political transformation is
accompanying military transformation
in NATO in response to shifts from one
type of threat—a massive invasion—to a
variety of asymmetric risks and threats
coming from different sources and
directions and interacting in often
unpredictable ways.
From left to right:Mr. Ivailo Kalfin, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bulgaria, Dr. Oginan Shentov,
Chairman CSD, Ambassador Boyko Noev, Amb. Adam Kobieracki Assistant Secretary General,
Operations, NATO, Robert McFarlane, Former National Security Advisor, US
One much discussed new challenge to
international stability was energy
security. The importance of international
cooperation to protect critical energy
infrastructure was highlighted during
the conference. The global energy
systems are vulnerable and disruption
of critical infrastructure could have a
variety of political, social and military
implications.
Energy security was also the topic of a
round table organized by CSD on 11 May
2006 with guest speaker was Mr. Philip
Stephens, associate editor of the Financial
Times and senior commentator at the
newspaper. Several aspects are key to a
sustainable energy policy today –
efficiency, liberalization of the energy
market and cooperation; the larger EU
perspective is towards a better coordination
between economic, foreign and energy
policy.
Energy policy is central to Bulgaria
economically, politically and strategically
and consequently there is a need for an
active public debate. Among the issues
discussed was Bulgaria’s dependency
on Russia regarding oil and gas supply.
The future of the Belene nuclear power
station at the Danube River was discussed
as a possible solution for the
future. In the UK, the increased use of
renewable sources and efficiency in
consumption are among the main
objectives in this area.
Several possible scenarios of the energy
policy development were discussed. A
pessimistic view is that Russia sees its
energy as a means to geopolitics - relations
with Ukraine and Georgia illustrate
Russia’s capacity to divide. However, the
positive view is that Russia needs and is
willing to sell its gas and oil, and its
pipelines are heading West. Europe
should thus respond in several ways but
should avoid the ”divide and rule”
strategy. First of all, it should express
solidarity, i.e. the deals must be done
with a view to fitting in transmission
systems, serving a number of countries.
Second, Europe should aim at a transparent
and liberal market. Third, it should
be considering the development of an
alternative pipelines not based on a single
European system.
UK Ambassador Jeremy Hill (left) and Mr. Philip Stephens
NATO’s nuclear policy and nonproliferation
of weapons of mass
destruction (WMD) was discussed on
11 April 2006 at a round table discussion.
The event provided more information
and clarity regarding NATO’s WMD
policy. The main speaker was Mr. Guy
Roberts, Deputy Assistant Secretary
General for WMD Policy and Director
of the Nuclear Policy Directorate.
Participants in the round table were
members of the Bulgarian Parliament,
staff officers and representatives of the
media.
The export control of dual-use items and
arms is also an area in which CSD seeks
to facilitate exchange of experience. On
22 - 23 May 2006 the CSD in cooperation
with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of
Hungary, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
of Bulgaria organized an international
seminar on "Export Control of Dual-Use
Items and Arms: Industry Outreach".
The seminar was part of the continuing
implementation of the Joint Action Plan
of Bulgaria and Hungary offering
exchange of information, training and
assistance to the countries from the
Western Balkans – an initiative which
started two years ago.
II. Policy Analyses
In 2006, CSD continued its work in the
field of crime prevention with two areas
of focus – analyzing crime trends and
police stop-and-search practices.
In May, for a second year, the Center
published a comprehensive analysis of
crime trends in Bulgaria. CSD’s study
covered the period 2000-2005 and
presented information about Bulgaria’s
crime rate from an alternative source -
victimization surveys - and made a
systematic comparison of the crime level
according to victim-reported crime and
police crime data. 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.
The seminar was attended by participants from five neighbouring countries in South-Eastern Europe
- Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, the Republic of Macedonia and Serbia and Montenegro
The current criteria for police work effectiveness—
the clear-up rate and the number of registered
crimes—should be reconsidered to increase the
incentive of local police department heads to record
all reported crimes. Possible approaches include:
public accountability regarding the ratio between
reported and registered crimes; introduction of a
single registration number for registering reported
crimes; awarenessraising campaigns on the ways of
reporting a crime and the benefits of reporting. Only
in this way could initiatives such as Community
Policing practically promote closer contacts between
the public and the police.
Crime Trends in Bulgaria
2000-2005, p.69
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The study also compared the crime
situation in Bulgaria to crime in a
number of European countries. The
findings of three national crime victims
surveys, referred to throughout this report as National Crime Surveys (NCS),
offer an opportunity to assess street
crime in Bulgaria in the period 2000–
2005.
From left to right: Chief Commissioner Valentin Petrov, Director of the National Police Service,
Mr. Boyko Kotsev, Deputy Minister of Interior, Amb. Jeremy Hill, Embassy of the UK in Bulgaria,
Mr. Rumen Petkov, Minister of Interior of Bulgaria, Dr. Ognian Shentov, Chairman, CSD
The study was released at the public
session of the National Crime Prevention
Council held on 3 May 2006. At the
meeting, the CSD analysis was discussed
alongside the police report on Dynamics
of Recorded Crime and Crime Counteraction
Measures of the National Police Service in
the Period 2004 – 2005.
In 2006, CSD published an analytical
report Police Stops and Ethnic Profiling in
Bulgaria examining the use of stops by
the Bulgarian police, focusing on the
practices of disproportionate stops of
members of the Roma ethnic minority.
The report also highlighted issues related
to police abuse during stops as well as
crime among Roma communities.
The study was part of a Europe-wide
initiative, carried out jointly with the
Open Society Justice Initiative, to map
discriminatory police practices across
Europe. In addition to Bulgaria, research
was carried out in Spain, Hungary and
Russia indicating that there is diszproportionate
treatment of minorities by
the police in all these countries.
CSD’s European Program was a major
contributor to the study The Rifle Has the
Devil Inside: Gun Culture in South Eastern
Europe published in 2006 by South
Eastern and Eastern Europe Clearinghouse
for the Control of Small Arms
and Light Weapons (SEESAC).
The report examines how cultural
beliefs and practices influence gun
ownership and use in SEE, and how
these might affect small arms control
interventions. An anthropological approach
was taken to better understand
the reasons for civilian gun ownership
and use, and the ways in which society
represents these behaviours, in Albania,
Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia,
Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia,
Moldova, Serbia and Montenegro
(including UN Administered Kosovo). A
wide variety of research tools were used
including household surveys conducted
by SEESAC and UNDP, focus group
transcripts, secondary literature searches,
statistical data, anthropological field
studies, the internet, print and electronic
media.
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