Series:Center for the Study of Democracy - CSD Policy Briefs

CSD Policy Brief No. 44: The Competitiveness of the Bulgarian Economy 2014

CSD Policy Brief No. 44: The Competitiveness of the Bulgarian Economy 2014

Author(s): Author Not Specified / Language(s): English

KEY POINTS ›› Bulgaria ranks 56th in the World Competitiveness Yearbook 2014 – a stagnation for a fifth year. ›› Bulgaria’s economy is reliant on exports, offers low living costs, and stable public finances. Its competitiveness remains narrow-based and unstable. ›› The labor market crisis caused by the financial downturn seems to have abated but unemployment remains worryingly high. ›› The economy is still suffering as a result of the inadequate business environment and the lack of a strong institutional framework, which could foster research, development and innovation activities, as well as adapt the educational system to the needs of the labor market. ›› The 5 main challenges which Bulgaria faces in improving its competitiveness are: ›› ›› Introduce public administration reforms, and more and better e-government services; ›› ›› Initiate performance-based financing of education; ›› ›› Reduce energy security risks through energy efficiency and diversification of supply sources and technologies; ›› ›› Improve regulatory control and compliance quality; ›› ›› Tackle high-level corruption and market capture.

CSD Policy Brief No. 45: The Management and Disposal of Confiscated Assets in the EU Member States

CSD Policy Brief No. 45: Управление и Разпореждане с Конфискувано Имущество в Страните - Членки на ЕС

Author(s): Author Not Specified / Language(s): Bulgarian

CSD Policy Brief No. 45: The Management and Disposal of Confiscated Assets in the EU Member States

CSD Policy Brief No. 45: Gestionarea și Valorificarea Bunurilor Confiscate din Infracțiuni în Statele Membre UE - Sinteza nr. 45

Author(s): Author Not Specified / Language(s): Romanian

CSD Policy Brief No. 46: Corruption and Anti-Corruption in Bulgaria (2013 – 2014)

CSD Policy Brief No. 46: Corruption and Anti-Corruption in Bulgaria (2013 – 2014)

Author(s): Author Not Specified / Language(s): English

The policy brief makes an overview of the levels of corruption and the impact of corruption on the societal sectors. In 2014, the Corruption Monitoring System has recorded the highest levels of involvement of the Bulgarian population in corruption transactions in the last 15 years. In the past year Bulgarians have conceded to being involved on average in roughly 158 thousand corruption transactions monthly.Most corruption transactions have been initiated by the administration through exerting corruption pressure on those seeking public services. The public’s susceptibility to corruption in 2014 is similar to 1999 despite the increase of intolerance to corrupt behaviour. In the business sector corruption’s effectiveness for solving problems has grown in 2014. Most companies do not trust public organisations and do not consider they are treated equally in courts.

CSD Policy Brief No. 47: EU and NATO's role in tackling energy security and state capture risks in Europe

CSD Policy Brief No. 47: EU and NATO's role in tackling energy security and state capture risks in Europe

Author(s): Author Not Specified / Language(s): English

The Crimean crisis and the continuing instability in Eastern Ukraine have turned into a rude wake up call for Europe’s energy security vulnerabilities. Russia has demonstrated its capacity to yield political and economic influence on the countries in the CEE and the Black Sea regions by leveraging its dominant position on their energy markets. Russia has pressured governments to support its flagship project, South Stream, at the expense of the countries’ long-term strategy to diversify their natural gas supply and in defiance of EU’s strategy for building a liberalised common market. Since the beginning of the crisis the EU and NATO have scrambled for finding the right measures to a balanced response to Russia’s growing assertiveness, while striving to alleviate the most acute energy security risks for their members.

CSD Policy Brief No. 48: Anti-Corruption Measures in Law Enforcement Institutions

CSD Policy Brief No. 48: Anti-Corruption Measures in Law Enforcement Institutions

Author(s): Author Not Specified / Language(s): English

Keywords: CSD; CSD Policy Briefs; Center for the Study of Democracy; Corruption

In countries with endemic corruption, integrity reforms can only be successful if anti-corruption institutions succeed in tackling internal corruption challenges. A sharp decline of corruption in law enforcement would provide society with the necessary tools to pursue tangible change. The experience of established democracies is that a successful transformation depends not simply on individual measures but rather on the introduction of sets of effective anti-corruption measures across the entire public administration. Corruption among lawenforcement officers has been viewed with an increasing concern by the authorities and the public in many European states. As a result, while no common approach has ever been tested with respect to the judiciary, elected politicians or the customs, countering police corruption has become an all-European effort. During the last decade, several European countries developed multi-institutional systems for police integrity. On EU level, platforms like the European Partners against Corruption (EPAC) were introduced, enabling specialised anti-corruption institutions to cooperate and share experience. In addition, Europol, Interpol and the UN developed and shared the blueprints of common standards and good practices in preventing police corruption

CSD Policy Brief No. 49: Media Ownership in Bulgaria: State of Play and Challenges

CSD Policy Brief No. 49: Media Ownership in Bulgaria: State of Play and Challenges

Author(s): Author Not Specified / Language(s): English

Transparency of media ownership and media pluralism are directly related to fundamental constitutional principles, rights and freedoms such as independence and freedom of the media, freedom of expression, pluralism of opinions and citizens' right to information. Consistent application of these democratic principles is required to prevent the vicious practice of using the media as an instrument for state capture.

CSD Policy Brief No. 50: Overcoming Institutional Gaps to Tackle Illicit Financing

CSD Policy Brief No. 50: Overcoming Institutional Gaps to Tackle Illicit Financing

Author(s): Author Not Specified / Language(s): English

The EU legal framework requires that all Members States criminalise the financing of organised crime. According to the provisions of Article 2 (a) of the Council Framework Decision 2008/841/JHA of 24 October 2008 on the fight against organised crime "Each Member State shall take the necessary measures to ensure that one or both of the following types of conduct related to a criminal organisation are regarded as offences: (a) conduct by any person who, with intent and with knowledge of either the aim and general activity of the criminal organisation or its intention to commit the offences in question, actively takes part in the organisation's criminal activities including the provision of information or material means, the recruitment of new members and all forms of financing of its activities, knowing that such participation will contribute to the achievement of the organisation's criminal activities". Nevertheless, criminal justice authorities in Member States rarely make use of these provisions.

CSD Policy Brief No. 51: Mapping Anti-Corruption Enforcement Instruments

CSD Policy Brief No. 51: Mapping Anti-Corruption Enforcement Instruments

Author(s): Author Not Specified / Language(s): English

Over the past decade or so, the global political preoccupation with corruption has been matched by extensive research and the design of various ways of measuring its level in society. The resulting abundance of measurement and monitoring instruments have allowed a better understanding of its dynamics and have informed the design of some anti-corruption policies. The current stage of anti-corruption thinking, therefore, opens the opportunity for at least two additional paths of exploration: a critical review of existing measurements and monitoring tools and an examination of possible gaps in these tools. The results of the review of measurements tools have informed the design of a Monitoring Anti-Corruption Policy Implementation (MACPI) tool which is intended to evaluate the anti-corruption preparedness of public organisations by identifying areas of corruption vulnerability.The findings indicate that while the enforcement of anti-corruption policies has been prioritised by international and national governments, the tools for evaluating this enforcement have not been developed.

CSD Policy Brief No. 60: Media (In)dependence in Bulgaria: Risks and Trends

CSD Policy Brief No. 60: Media (In)dependence in Bulgaria: Risks and Trends

Author(s): Author Not Specified / Language(s): English

The role of Bulgarian media in public life came under scrutiny after several media outlets were used as an instrument for triggering political crises and for political engineering (2013 – 2014). At that time, the Bulgarian media market was experiencing the impact of two negative trends. On the one hand, the economic crisis of 2009 – 2013 had cut advertising revenues by half. On the other, the old models of media financing were diminished by the use of digital technologies and the explosive growth of social networks and mobile communications. The loss of financial sustainability by the media presented unique opportunities for Bulgarian oligarchic groups. By accumulating a significant share of the media market, they reached an unprecedented level of political influence (including direct influence on the legislative, executive and judicial powers). The media was used as an instrument for state capture that could present severe security and economic risks.

CSD Policy Brief No. 61: Drug Users in Prisons: Norway's Experiences and Bulgaria's Challenges

CSD Policy Brief No. 61: Drug Users in Prisons: Norway's Experiences and Bulgaria's Challenges

Author(s): Author Not Specified / Language(s): English

For all criminal offences related to drugs, even for possession of small quantities intended for personal use, the main sanction according to Bulgarian criminal law is imprisonment. Unlike in Norway, non-custodial penalties in Bulgaria such as probation have extremely limited scope of application for drug-related offences. At the same time, other alternatives to imprisonment are virtually non-existent.

CSD Policy Brief No. 62: Energy Security Risks and the Case for Natural Gas Diversification

CSD Policy Brief No. 62: Energy Security Risks and the Case for Natural Gas Diversification

Author(s): Author Not Specified / Language(s): English

The policy brief analyses the energy security and governance risks. The authors underline that: - Bulgarian ranking has improved significantly, jumping from 73rd to 58th place, narrowing the gap with the average OECD results. - Since Bulgaria receives all of its natural gas from one source and via one pipeline, it is imperative that the government’s decisions for the initiation of future energy projects are based on the projects’ potential to diversify supply sources and ensure an uninterrupted energy supply. - The efforts to diversify the gas supply by building the Interconnector Greece - Bulgaria (IGB) have stalled in spite of external financing, existing contractual obligations with the Shah Deniz consortium and due to lack of administrative capacity and state capture from domestic and foreign interests. - The European Commission’s efforts to integrate the SEE region into the EU internal market and diversify its gas supply away from a single supplier have started to pay off. The liberalization of the cross-border capacities along the Transbalkan pipeline, previously fully reserved by Gazprom, is now open for competitive bidding. - The liberalization of regional natural gas trading and the completion of the interconnector pipelines with Greece and Romania would advance Bulgaria’s bargaining position vis-à-vis Gazprom by reducing the country’s gas import costs, and improve the country’s security of supply and the affordability of residential gasification initiatives.

CSD Policy Brief No. 64: Hidden Economy in Bulgaria: 2015 – 2016

CSD Policy Brief No. 64: Hidden Economy in Bulgaria: 2015 – 2016

Author(s): Author Not Specified / Language(s): English

In Bulgaria the high level of hidden economy undermines the economic development of the country and requires serious and persistent political attention. The unprecedented growth in the field of digitization of economic activities, the convergence between some of them, and the emergence of brand new services creates an opportunity for achieving a desirable environment, which may reduce the hidden cash flows and boost the economic development of the country. Comprehensive reforms focused on the functioning of the market mechanisms and administrative effectiveness are needed in order to promote the process of economic convergence within the European Union and limit the harmful effects of the hidden economy in Bulgaria.

CSD Policy Brief No. 65: The Wind that Blows from the East: Russian Influence in Central and Eastern Europe

CSD Policy Brief No. 65: The Wind that Blows from the East: Russian Influence in Central and Eastern Europe

Author(s): Author Not Specified / Language(s): English

Keywords: CSD Policy Briefs; Center for the Study of Democracy; Russia; Influence; Central and Eastern Europe

The topic of Russia’s influence in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) has grown in significance after the eruption of the Ukrainian crisis in 2013. The US and EU policy and research communities have scrambled to explain the potential scenarios, tools, and impacts of the Russian influence, as well as propose possible solutions to minimizing its negative effects on European unity. This policy brief, which summarizes the key findings from the joint study of the Center for the Study of Democracy and the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), Kremlin Playbook: Understanding Russian Influence in Central and Eastern Europe, presents a model for understanding the impact of Russia’s economic influence in Central and Eastern Europe in five case study countries (Bulgaria, Hungary, Latvia, Serbia, and Slovakia), and its relationship to the region’s general decline in governance standards. The study estimates that on average, Russia’s economic footprint in five of the most targeted by the Kremlin CEE countries has ranged from about 11 percent of the economy (in the cases of Hungary and Slovakia) to an astonishing 22 percent in Bulgaria. After 2008 the Russian leadership has aggressively deployed its resource-based resurgent economic power in combination with old time security networks and skillful use of traditional soft power appeal to exploit and further strategic vulnerabilities across the countries of Central and Eastern Europe. Russia has also cultivated an opaque network of patronage across the region that it uses to influence and direct decision-making. This web resembles a network-flow model, which we describe as an “unvirtuous circle” of Russian influence leading to “state capture.”

CSD Policy Brief No. 66: Dynamics of Conventional Crime in Bulgaria 2015 – 2016

CSD Policy Brief No. 66: Динамика на конвенционалната престъпност 2015 – 2016 г.

Author(s): Author Not Specified / Language(s): Bulgarian

Keywords: CSD Policy Briefs; Center for the Study of Democracy; Dynamics; Conventional; Crime; Bulgaria

Crime rates in 2015 continue their downward trend with a decrease of 0.4% compared to 2014 levels. It must be noted, however, that the level of reporting crime to the authorities falls compared to officially registered numbers by the MoI in 2015. This means that latent crime is on the rise, which signifies a drop in public confidence in the MoI. One of the main reason for this discrepancy are the so-called police filters, which lead to diverging levels of officially recorded conventional crimes and crimes reported by the citizenry. These are some of the results of the National Crime Survey for 2015, presented in the current publication.

CSD Policy Brief No. 67: Turkey in The Framework of the EU Energy Union: Energy Security and Governance Risks

CSD Policy Brief No. 67: Turkey in The Framework of the EU Energy Union: Energy Security and Governance Risks

Author(s): Author Not Specified / Language(s): English

Keywords: CSD Policy Briefs; Center for the Study of Democracy; Turkey; EU; Energy Union: Energy; Security; Governance; Risk

The successful creation of a European energy union will not be possible without the active involvement of Turkey. The latter is going to play a vital role as the major transit country of future alternative natural gas supply from the Caspian region and the Middle East. Similarly, Turkey will benefit from the development of the Energy Union because it can transform itself in a major energy-trading hub, Turkey’s long-term energy policy objective. The EU and Turkey also share a common objective to diminish their dependence on Russian energy imports, which could provide a necessary boost to the formal energy dialogue between the two partners in January 2016.

CSD Policy Brief No. 68: Monitoring Radicalisation and Extremism

CSD Policy Brief No. 68: Monitoring Radicalisation and Extremism

Author(s): Author Not Specified / Language(s): English

Keywords: CSD; CSD Policy Briefs; Center for the Study of Democracy; Radicalisation; Extremism; Europe;

Over the last decade, radicalisation and extremism have become issues of particular concern for Europe. New risks of Islamist and far-right radicalisation have impelled the introduction of policies, the effects of which are only now being evaluated. As radicalisation that risks escalating into violence is more amenable to prevention than repression, having the capacity to detect early warning signs and trace the spread of extremist activity over time is critical. This brief outlines a set of methodologies for monitoring the risk of radicalisation and the trends in extremism based on an integrated approach to the indicators being monitored and the institutional mechanism doing the monitoring. These methodologies are designed to equip stakeholders – both governmental and non-governmental – with a tool which fuses a broad range of informational inputs; it will enable informed formulation of prevention and counter-radicalisation policies.

CSD Policy Brief No. 63: Extortion racketeering: the vulnerability assessment approach

CSD Policy Brief No. 63: Extortion racketeering: the vulnerability assessment approach

Author(s): Author Not Specified / Language(s): English

Keywords: CSD; CSD Policy Briefs; Center for the Study of Democracy; Extortion; racketeering

Extortion racketeering has long been pointed out as the defining activity of organised crime. It has also been identified as one of the most effective tools used by organised crime in the accumulation of financial resources and the penetration of the legal economy. Although in recent years this crime has not been among the top listed organised crime threats in the strategic EU policy documents, it still remains ever present in European countries. The seriousness of the phenomenon has been recognised at the EU level and the crime has been listed in a number of EU legal acts in the field of police and judicial cooperation in criminal matters.

CSD Policy Brief No. 29: Public Trust in the Criminal Justice System – an Instrument for Penal Policy Assessment

CSD Policy Brief No. 29: Общественото доверие в наказателното правосъдието - инструмент за оценка на наказателната политика

Author(s): Author Not Specified / Language(s): Bulgarian

The policy brief presents the results of a survey of the public trust in the police and the courts in Bulgaria, the public perceptions of the level of corruption in these institutions and the fear of crime in the Bulgarian society. Of all the EU member states, Bulgaria is the country whose citizens are the least satisfied with the performance of the main government institutions. Trust in the main institutions concerned with criminal justice – the police and courts, is low and has remained practically unchanged over the last decade. At the end of 2010, a positive evaluation of police performance was given by less than half of the country’s adult population and barely one in five gave a favorable opinion of the courts. The low public trust in the courts and police can also be accounted for by the high level of corruption in these institutions. It is also conducive to public attitudes of insecurity and the society begins to perceive crime as an inherent part of reality rather than a problem that can actually be addressed. A state’s penal policy can only produce results if sufficient attention is paid to trust, legitimacy, and security. It is therefore recommended to adopt a system of indicators for the assessment of public trust in criminal justice.

CSD Policy Brief No. 30: Practices and Forms of Cooperation between Customs and Border Guards in the European Union

CSD Policy Brief No. 30: Практики и модели на сътрудничество между митници и гранична полиция в Европейския съюз

Author(s): Author Not Specified / Language(s): Bulgarian

The economic crisis and the increased threats from terrorism, organised crime and illegal migration have brought to light the issue of efficient and effective management of the external borders of the European Union. For Bulgaria it has become even more important with regard to its upcoming accession to the Schengen area.