CSD Policy Brief No. 01: Corruption in the Higher Education
Author(s): Author Not Specified / Language(s): English
Keywords: corruption;
In September 2003, the Corruption Monitoring System (CMS) of Coalition 2000 came into the media spotlight, exemplifying its impact on the policy debate about corruption. The presentation of the quarterly indexes of CMS on September 10 sparked a strong reaction by both critics of corruption in the universities and academic faculty and management. The specific reason was that compared to the previous quarterly data, the CMS registered a substantial increase in the bribery demands on citizens by university professors (21.5% in July 2003, up from 11.8% in May 2003). Overall, the level of corruption pressure for this group has been fairly high (10-14%); what focused the public attention this time was that they topped the rankings of corrupt officials. // Coalition 2000’s media monitoring1 shows that university corruption has not received adequate press coverage. This has picked up in 2003, although the topic is treated generally (20% of the coverage deals with specific allegations). A notable development has been the increasing use of the internet for transparency pressure, including Coalition 2000’s own website where a number of whistleblowers have sent information about corruption in their universities.
CSD Policy Brief No. 02: Anti-Corruption Reforms in the Judiciary
Author(s): Author Not Specified / Language(s): English
Keywords: Corruption;
In the first week of October 2003, the Center for the Study of Democracy published the Judicial Anti-Corruption Program (JACP), a policy paper developed with the support of the United Nations Development Programme. The JACP is the first document of its kind detailing a comprehensive agenda for reducing corruption within the judiciary and enhancing its efficiency in penalizing administrative and political corruption. The Program deals with the most significant constitutional, legislative and institutional aspects of anti-corruption measures in the judiciary and combines gap analysis with extensive policy recommendations. // The development of the JACP involved more than 30 eminent Bulgarian legal professionals, including magistrates, and resulted from the combined efforts of influential non-governmental organizations, representatives of state institutions, and experts. This approach reflects CSD’s long standing capacity to bring together various reform constituencies and allows the Program to draw on most of the suggestions provided by government agencies, NGOs, professional associations and media. The analysis and the proposals made are supported by the survey Corruption and Anti-Corruption: the Magistrates' Viewpoint carried out by Coalition 2000 and Vitosha Research. The survey, carried out among 454 magistrates from the whole country in the period April-May, 2003, using the methodology of the Coalition 2000 Corruption Monitoring System, was the first ever survey on corruption issues conducted among magistrates.
CSD Policy Brief No. 03: The Long Way of the Emerging Ombudsman Institution in Bulgaria
Author(s): Author Not Specified / Language(s): English
Keywords: Ombudsman;
Bulgaria continues to be among the few European countries without a national ombudsman institution, although the legislative framework is already in place. The election of the first Bulgarian parliamentary ombudsman, which took place at the National Assembly on May 14, 2004, failed as none of the nominated candidates succeeded in obtaining the required majority of more than half of the votes of the MPs participating in the voting. The main reason for the failure was the inability of political parties represented in Parliament to reach a consensus in the process of nominating candidates, which led to only partisan nominations being put forward.
CSD Policy Brief No. 04: The Outstanding Agenda for Political Party Reform in Bulgaria
Author(s): Author Not Specified / Language(s): English
A well controlled and transparent political parties system is crucial for the strengthening of democracy and the rule of law in any country. For Bulgaria, in particular, this is a field that has often been subject to reforms, which, however, have been inconsistent and far from effective. The present legal framework of political parties (the Law on Political Parties of 2001) reveals a number of gaps. At present, there is a new Draft Law on Political Parties, recently submitted to the Parliament for second reading, which offers solutions to the above as well as other shortcomings. However, the support of the civil society and the international community is needed to speed up the passing of the law and to streamline the reforms prior to the upcoming 2005 parliamentary elections.
CSD Policy Brief No. 05: The Long Way of the Emerging Ombudsman Institution in Bulgaria: Six Months Later
Author(s): Author Not Specified / Language(s): English
The present brief is aimed to examine the recent developments in establishing national and local ombudsmen in Bulgaria and is a follow up of Policy Brief No. 3 of May this year. The introduction of the ombudsman institution in Bulgaria on national and local level has progressed at different pace. On the one hand, the establishment of local public mediators (municipal ombudsmen) continued to gain speed and since May three more mediators have been elected. Thus, as of October 2004, public mediators are operating in seven municipalities, while in several others the election procedures are under way. Coalition 2000 through its Civil Society against Corruption Program continued to actively support and encourage the process. On the other hand, the establishment of the national parliamentary ombudsman is still pending at the National Assembly, which once again failed to elect an ombudsman. The second attempt did not succeed despite civil society pressure and its calls for a timely election of the national ombudsman through an open, transparent and nonpartisan procedure.
CSD Policy Brief No. 06: First steps of the Bulgarian Ombudsman
Author(s): Author Not Specified / Language(s): English
Although with a considerable delay, the election of the first Bulgarian ombudsman in April 2005 completed an important part of the process of introducing the ombudsman institution in the country. A civil society driven effort from the very beginning, the establishment of the ombudsman is a result of the effective public-private partnership between governmental institutions and non-governmental organizations. The continuation of this partnership is now among the key preconditions for the successful development and operation of the newly established institution.
CSD Policy Brief No. 07: Development of the Second National Anti-Corruption Strategy for Bulgaria
Author(s): Author Not Specified / Language(s): English
Keywords: corruption;
On January 12, 2006, the Council of Ministers adopted a National Strategy for Good Governance, Prevention and Counteraction of Corruption 2006-2008. The document was part of the commitments made by Bulgaria in the field of anti-corruption in the context of its EU accession. The strategy was expected to be adopted and presented to the European Commission by the end of 2005. In the beginning of 2006 an inter-ministerial task force submitted a draft version of the strategy to the government but it revealed so many flaws that the government postponed its adoption. As a result, the task force invited the Center for the Study of Democracy to redraft the strategy.
CSD Policy Brief No. 08: THE COMPETITIVENESS OF THE BULGARIAN ECONOMY 2006
Author(s): Author Not Specified / Language(s): English
Bulgaria’s position in the world oldest and most comprehensive annual report on the competitiveness the World Competitiveness Yearbook 2006 of IMD (International Institute for Management Development) was presented several days before the European Commission report on Bulgaria’s readiness for accession. With the partnership of the Center for the Study of Democracy this year Bulgaria was included for the first time in the report, issued since 1989. The report ranks and analyzes how 61 selected economies create and sustains the competitiveness of their enterprises. It stands out among reputed international ratings with the predominance of more reliable statistical data over the qualitative (survey) data. The rating uses 312 indicators covering a broad spectrum of competitiveness, classified in four major groups: economic performance, business efficiency, infrastructure and government efficiency.
CSD Policy Brief No. 09: The Introduction of a Specialized Anti-Corruption Service back on the Anti-Corruption Agenda
Author(s): Author Not Specified / Language(s): English
Keywords: Corruption;
On the eve of Bulgaria’s EU accession significant results in prosecution and punishment of high level political corruption are still outstanding. In this context, the idea for creating an independent specialized anti-corruption service again became a topic in the anti-corruption agenda.
CSD Policy Brief No. 10: A Painful Shift in Bulgarian Anti-Corruption Policies and Practice
Author(s): Author Not Specified / Language(s): English
Keywords: CSD; CSD Policy Briefs; Center for the Study of Democracy; corruption;
In its March 2006 annual corruption assessment report On the Eve of EU Accession: Anti-Corruption Reforms in Bulgaria the Center for the Study of Democracy emphasized that “corruption, particularly in the high echelons of power, is one of the most critical problems faced by Bulgaria on the eve of its accession” as the Bulgarian “public tolerates less corruption and is increasingly concerned by it.” Bulgaria needs to present clear evidence of results in its fight against corruption, in particular on high political level.
CSD Policy Brief No. 11: The Future of Corruption Benchmarking in the EU
Author(s): Author Not Specified / Language(s): English
Keywords: corruption;
Reducing corruption has been among the priorities of most international institutions over a number of years now. In particular, corruption was a major preoccupation during the 2004 and 2007 enlargements of the European Union and continues to dominate the agenda of the initial period of Bulgaria and Romania’s membership.
Not being in the core of EU’s acquis, anti-corruption was a relatively new matter to tackle and, in contrast to other areas of EU competence, it had little specific guidelines to offer applicant countries. Still, the significance of transparent and accountable government for the functioning of the EU internal market and the delivery of its core policies required that anticorruption be made one of the key requirements for membership. // In this process, the European Commission advanced its capacity to evaluate anti-corruption progress. Following an initial focus on adherence to international standards and acceding to major conventions, attention later shifted to meeting specific good governance targets. Member states have also contributed to understanding corruption and recommending action through the mechanism of peer reviews.
CSD Policy Brief No. 12: Competitiveness of the Bulgarian Economy 2007
Author(s): Author Not Specified / Language(s): English
With the partnership of CSD this year Bulgaria was included for the second time in the world’s oldest and most comprehensive annual report on competitiveness, the IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook 2007 – published without interruption since 1989 by IMD (International Institute for Management Development). Bulgaria’s competitiveness was covered and ranked together with 54 other leading world economies. The annual rankings are a respected source of information for large international investors, but they also provide highlights to the public and policy-makers on the strengths and the weaknesses of the Bulgarian economy by focusing on four main factors: economic performance; government efficiency; business efficiency; and infrastructure—in science and technology, human capital, health, and education.
CSD Policy Brief No. 20: Policies to counter the Effects of the Economic Crisis: Hidden Economy Dynamics 2009
Author(s): Author Not Specified / Language(s): English
The hidden economy has been a central topic for discussion in the public space upon each amendment to the economic legislation and particularly before elections or the passing of the national budget. Nevertheless, aside from the Annual Hidden Economy Index released by the Center for the Study of Democracy and a few sporadic analyses by other non‐governmental, academic and business organizations, there is a lack of an adequate government system of ex ante and ex post impact assessment of the proposed measures to fight hidden activities of the wider economy. // The adjustments of GDP done by the National Statistical Institute aiming to include hidden economy in the system of national accounts are not made public and do not serve as a basis for decision‐making. // Thus, public debates on hidden economy become little more than displays of rhetorical skills or actually serve completely different agendas rather than the implementation of measures to curb its negative impact.
CSD Policy Brief No. 23: Energy Efficiency in Bulgaria: the Case for Market‐Based Approach and Transparency
Author(s): Author Not Specified / Language(s): English
Overall, the Bulgarian economy seems to have completed the transition from heavy industry to less energy intensive light industry1 and thus already picked the low hanging fruit of natural gains in efficiency. The country is probably at a point, as some experts2 argue, from which onwards any additional gain in efficiency will have to be attained through advances in technologies of energy production, conversion, transportation, and use which will call for cost‐effective approach and a strong incentive system. At the user end this means fleet replacement by installing more efficient appliances, buying less thirsty vehicles, improving insulation of buildings, lighting improvements, and deploying more efficient production technologies and procedures. In conversion, thermal power plants, boilers, and a plethora of other hardware devices will have to be replaced or updated, along with production methods and procedures. In energy transportation, smart grids, more efficient district heating nets and other solutions will have to be implemented. To execute the tasks, extensive investment in energy efficiency will have to be made over the next decade.
Author(s): Author Not Specified / Language(s): English
Keywords: Organised Crime;
MAIN POINTS
* Introducing of EU-wide best practices of producing on a periodic basis of national reports assessing the threats from organised crime, which will facilitate the daily and long term activities of Bulgarian law-enforcement institutions.
* Establishing of a permanent mechanism of institutional interaction, which will give full use of the instruments of publicprivate partnership, aiming at widening transparency in law-enforcement activities.
* The application of modern methods for operative information gathering and analysis of the activities and finances of the organised criminal groups, in addition to the illegal markets under their controls.
* Taking measures to facilitate the exchange of data between Bulgarian lawenforcement entities and between them and their EU counterparts in accordance with the Stockholm Program of the European Council.
The state of Albanian Democracy at the eve of 2013 General elections
Author(s): Alba Çela,Joana Kosho / Language(s): English
Keywords: 2013 Elections in Albania; The Central Elections Commission (CEC)
The upcoming round of Albanian general elections, expected on June 23rd of 2013, will be the ultimate test for Albanian democracy, in a context of high polarization and volatile stability. The elections come after a series of previous electoral processes highly contested and which have produced political crisis, boycott and grave incidents. Should Albania fail once again to carry out democratic elections’ process with standards verified by international observers and outcomes accepted by domestic political actors, the consequences shall be all too weighty for a country that is a member of NATO and aspires to get to EU candidate status. // First and foremost the elections will be crucial for the political stability which is a precondition for the development of Albania. // This study, which goes beyond an academic curiosity has two important objectives. First it strives to show the degree of correspondence between political and media rhetoric and the real citizen agenda mapped in this survey as a constellation of concerns, expectations, beliefs and desires. Second it attempts to make political parties and political actors aware of the degree of this correspondence or rather as this study will show discrepancy. AIIS believes that instigating public discourse over the real citizen agenda will have a positive effect on a better linkage between citizen interests and political platforms contributing to democracy and to future better governance.
Albanian Greek relations from the eyes of the Albanian public – perceptions 2013
Author(s): Alba Çela,Sashenka Lleshaj / Language(s): English
Keywords: Albania-Greece Relations; Migration; EU Integration; The Cham Issue
It is necessary to make an effort to capture the perceptions and their implications on policy and discourse by objective research. This study will first try to summarize for a non expert audience the list of main issues that condition that relationship between these two neighboring countries focusing on contemporary debates. A note for the objectives of the report is included before presenting the main conclusions from the national poll carried out in Albania in 2013. // A parallel study has been conducted by the Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy (ELIAMEP). Comparisons between perceptions were the subject of the two conferences organized in the context of this project and discussed in Tirana and Athens respectively in November and December of 2013. // A comparative analysis will be the subject of a forthcoming joint report of AIIS and ELIAMEP. (Published by: Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, Office Tirana)
Albania-Serbia relations in the Eyes of the Albanian Public 2015
Author(s): Alba Çela / Language(s): English
Keywords: Albania- Serbia Relations; Balkan; Political Relations; Survey; Bilateral Relations
Albania and Serbia share a difficult historic baggage. The dissolution of Yugoslavia and conflict in Kosovo and the subsequent independence of Kosova have been a powerful rollercoaster for the two countries which claim to be home-seat to the largest ethnic groups in the Balkans. However even between Serbia and Kosova some signs of normalization due to the EU sponsored dialogue are starting to materialize beyond symbolical handshakes and right into important bilateral deals. // The results of the survey which you can access in this publication portray a lot of positive potential for improvement of the bilateral relations more likely starting with the ‘easy parts’: cultural cooperation and getting to know more about each other. Most important citizens seem fully aware of the importance that these relations have for the future of the entire region as well as for the European integration project that the region also shares.
Citizens’ Voice in the Albanian Local Elections 2015
Author(s): Sashenka Lleshaj / Language(s): English
Keywords: Local Elections; Administrative Reform; Local Government
Pre-election periods are delicate on the one side and resourceful on the other in terms of the insights that can come out from a snapshot of citizens’ views and perceptions. This survey was conducted in the pre-campaign period in order to avoid the distorted perceptions that can come out as a result of the conflicting waves of information that electoral campaigns reflect on citizens. Nevertheless, this survey still wants to map some important views, perceptions and concerns that citizens expressed in the eve of these local elections 2015.
This Policy Paper was prepared in the context of the joint Albanian Institute for International Studies (AIIS), Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES) project: “Albania and Kosovo - In quest of a Common Future”. Its first chapter deals with the historical dimension of the relations between Albania and Kosovo. During their history Kosovo and Albania have been isolated for more than four decades and this has caused deep divisions in economic, political and societal terms, which still persist today. During WWII, both countries experienced a short term unification (1941-1944), which resulted very successful in strengthening their economic ties. However, during the communist regimes in Albania and Yugoslavia, cooperation was limited only to sporadic academic and cultural interaction. After the fall of the Iron curtain, deep isolation continued to mark the relations between the two countries. The situation changed only after the outbreak of the Kosovo War and the establishment of the UNMIK administration in 1999, with the signing of a series of economic and free trade agreements. After the independence of Kosovo in 2008, one can speak for the first time in history of relations between two separate and sovereign Albanian dominated states. As such, these relations are experiencing a new evolving economic and political dimension.
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