CAS Newsletter 2013/2014
Articles, pictures and interviews can be reprinted only with the consent of Centre for Advanced Study Sofia (CAS - Sofia). Any citations should be duly acknowledged.
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Articles, pictures and interviews can be reprinted only with the consent of Centre for Advanced Study Sofia (CAS - Sofia). Any citations should be duly acknowledged.
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Articles, pictures and interviews can be reprinted only with the consent of Centre for Advanced Study Sofia (CAS - Sofia). Any citations should be duly acknowledged.
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Articles, pictures and interviews can be reprinted only with the consent of Centre for Advanced Study Sofia (CAS - Sofia). Any citations should be duly acknowledged.
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Articles, pictures and interviews can be reprinted only with the consent of Centre for Advanced Study Sofia (CAS - Sofia). Any citations should be duly acknowledged.
More...
Articles, pictures and interviews can be reprinted only with the consent of Centre for Advanced Study Sofia (CAS - Sofia). Any citations should be duly acknowledged.
More...
Articles, pictures and interviews can be reprinted only with the consent of Centre for Advanced Study Sofia (CAS - Sofia). Any citations should be duly acknowledged.
More...
Articles, pictures and interviews can be reprinted only with the consent of Centre for Advanced Study Sofia (CAS - Sofia). Any citations should be duly acknowledged.
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Articles, pictures and interviews can be reprinted only with the consent of Centre for Advanced Study Sofia (CAS - Sofia). Any citations should be duly acknowledged.
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This Policy Brief summarises key findings from the FIDUCIA cybercrime survey, conducted in selected member states, but it also provides an overview of existing data and research on the prevalence of cybercrimes and the public attitudes towards them. The role of current national and European legislation, policies and practical measures are assessed in terms of their deterrent or preventative effects and the potential role for cross-national cooperation and self-regulation to control or prohibit cybercrime are reviewed.
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Legal framework of the European Union confirms its determination towards gender equality. Over the last decades there has been developed a series of provisions of primary and secondary law of the EU as well as a large number of political documents and initiatives in the field of gender equality, particularly in the field of employment and work conditions. Case law of European Court of Justice has contributed to the great extent to development of European law in this field. The EU point out a few important fields putting them in its focus of actions: first of the fields refers to employment, in particular, access to employment, promotion at work including the access to professional training as well as working conditions, including the redundancy conditions. The second refers to equal work or work of equal value, the third to harmonization between private and professional life and a special protection of pregnant women and maternity leave. The European Union recognizes the importance of introduction of measures of an affirmative action aimed at accomplishing the goals in these fields. In the field of equality between women and men, over the last decade there has been adopted a numerous of directives which have been changed and amended over time. Directives that can be directly linked to the issue of work and employment are, inter alia: Directive of Council 79/7/EEC of 19 December 1978 on the progressive implementation of the principle of equal treatment for men and women in matters of social security; Directive of Council 2004/113/EZ of 13 December 2004 on implementing the principle of equal treatment between men and women in the access to and supply of goods and services, i.e. service provision; Directive 2010/41/ EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 7 July 2010 on the application of the principle of equal treatment between men and women engaged in an activity in a self-employed capacity and repealing Council Directive 86/613/EEC; Directive 2006/54/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 5 July 2006 on the implementation of the principle of equal opportunities and equal treatment of men and women in matters of employment and occupation (“The Recast Directive” ). Except the mentioned, it is important to point that the EU has adopted a series of directives relating to the rights of pregnant and postpartum women, then maternity, parenting and paternity based rights amongst which the key important are Directive 92/85/EEZ (“The Pregnant Workers Directive”) Directive2010/18/EU of 8 March 2010 (“The Parental Leave Directive”). Also, the European Court of Justice, as the EU institution whose task is to interprets EU law to make sure it is applied in the same way in all EU countries, the most frequently in a liberal manner than courts of member states do at the time of decision- taking, has given a great contribution to the process of advocating the promotion of women at labour market including those related to different forms of discrimination against women. The possibility to use the EU law on gender equality in court proceedings before national courts of member states represents a powerful instrument for protection and accomplishment the right to equality whether the EU law is integrated into national legislation or not. In fact, member states are often late with transposing or, sometimes, do it in a way being opposed to goals which some directives try to achieve. However, due to the principle of supremacy of European Union law, in case of inconsistency of national legal regulations with the EU regulation and in accordance with the European Court of Justice’s decisions, national courts of member states are compelled to base its decision on the EU regulations, i.e. are compelled to do everything in its power to achieve the result the directives’ goals strive to by interpreting the national law. Except legal documents and court justice of the European Court of Justice, political documents of the European Union too represent a significant resource, especially in terms of determining the directions and actions in the field of gender equality. One of such documents, which was adopted in the aim of promoting the equality between women and men is a Women’s Charter. The Charter highlighted the five specific fields of actions necessary to take additional efforts to confirm the dedication of Europe to equality of women and men offering a better life and sustainable future for all: Economic independence; Equal pay for equal work or work of equal value; the representation of women in decision-making and positions of power, respect for women’s dignity and integrity, but also an end to gender-based violence, both in the European Union and outside the EU borders. Although, after reading the legal documents of the European Union it could be argued that equality of women and men is the fundamental value, the goal and the driver of the European Union’s economic growth and that the EU in all its actions is trying to promote the equality of women and men, things are often different in practice. Decisions of the Court of Justice confirm that even long-year member states face difficulties when implement the principle of gender equality and the prohibition of discrimination as general principles that the European Union is based on. This is why the European Union is trying to make a positive impact on promoting the equality of men and women and gender equality not only in member states but in EU accession process countries. In that sense, the EU requires the adjustment of a candidate country’s legislation to the EU legislation. Member states are, except adopting the laws, obliged to take measure aimed at revoking all laws, regulations or proceedings which are not in accordance with the principle of equal treatment. Each provision being opposed to the mentioned principle and is part of employment contract, collective agreement, employment internal act, a regulation being applied to self-employed occupations or organizations of workers and employers are, accordingly, declared null and void and must be amended.
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Dodatak trećem alternativnom izvještaju je nastao kao rezultat zajedničkih napora grupe aktivistkinja i aktivista iz nevladinih organizacija u Bosni i Hercegovini sa dugogodišnjim iskustvom u direktnom radu sa ženama čija su prava ugrožena ili direktno povrijeđena, kao i aktivnostima zalaganja za usvajanje rodno osjetljivih i odgovornih zakona i javnih politika u oblasti zaštite ženskih ljudskih prava i ravnopravnosti polova.
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This compendium was created by the consortium members of the CEE Prevent Net initiative. Its development is the result of a robust exchange of good practice methods among various organizations and civil society actors in the areas of youth work and (non-formal) education aimed at preventing intolerance, discrimination, and right-wing populism and extremism in the region of Central and Eastern Europe. Initially, this volume was supposed to present 10 good practices for working with young people directly; however, the CEE Prevent Net network decided to expand this initial enterprise gratuitously. This additional section provides youth workers, educators, and other civic actors with recommendations and advocacy strategies for youth work that fosters tolerance, facilitates dialogue, and prevents discrimination and far right ideologies.
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In September 2015, after more than three years of negotiations and intense involvement of several stakeholders, including the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA), the member states of the United Nations adopted the post-2015 Development Agenda. Goals, Transforming our world: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. This paper reflects on IFLA's key steps, importance and national advocacy to include access to information, universal literacy, public access to Information and Communications Technology (ICT) and cultural heritage in the UN 2030 Agenda.The paper also discusses the role of skills and practices of impact assessment in evidence gathering and advocacy processes on BŞ USARB's alignment with the UN 2030 Agenda.Relevant approaches, methods and tools for impact assessment of the Library's set of SDG activities are examined.
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According to the Ministry of Finance, by the end of 2022, the uninsured population in the country will exceed 700 000 Bulgarians or 12% of the population subject to compulsory health insurance. The aim of the present study is to analyse the available data according to the International Classification of Diseases (ICD) 10 nosological classification. Gender, age group, reasons for admission to the clinic, duration of hospitalizations, cost of treatment of uninsured persons hospitalized in the Emergency Toxicology Clinic of the Hospital of the Medical University of Sofia, MMA, in the period 2020-2023 were taken into account. The subject of the study are intoxications caused by abuse of psychoactive substances (PAS), which is a significant social and health problem.
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The public interest entities (PIEs) play a pivotal role in the EU's financial and economic landscape. In light of the newly adopted Directive 2022/2464 a more detailed analysis of the methods adopted by EU member states for the classification of PIEs is needed. This report compares the legal framework of the EU member states and analyzes the classification of PIEs.
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Different areas serve as sources of pension protection for the citizens of the European Union. Along with pensions from public systems, capital pensions are playing an increasing role. Financial institutions-providers of pension savings products operate on a different business model. This diversity makes it difficult for the saver to make a decision and is an obstacle to the development of the pension protection. The pension tracking system is seen as a mechanism for achieving a more efficient market for pension products. The report examines the development of this instrument in the European Union. We are looking for answers to questions about the possible application in Bulgaria and other countries. The analysis concludes that the pension tracking system is a necessary set of measures that would be a prerequisite for improving the well-being of the savers.
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The purpose of the paper is to investigate the extent to which Bulgaria fulfills the Maastricht criteria for membership in the Euro area. The paper is dedicated to the most discussed and current topic in Bulgarian society, namely the accession of Bulgaria to the Euro аrea. Since January 1, 1999, the euro has been introduced in 19 member states of the European Union (EU). Seven of the nine EU member states called “with a derogation”, including Bulgaria, have not yet adopted the single European currency. The research period in the paper is from 2010 to 2021. Structurally, the paper includes an introduction, three parts, a conclusion and a bibliography. The first part of the paper examines the main aspects related to the accession of Bulgaria to the Euro area, the second part describes the methodology used in the study, and the third part describes the achieved results of the research. Finally, the paper ends with a summary of the main conclusions of the analysis.
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Implementation of environmental, social and governance factors into the investment process is often defined as the "new normal" or as a "point of no returns". Europe is a leading region in sustainable and responsible investing and the extremely dynamic EU legislation in this area has the potential to strengthen the leadership role of the continent. Many pension funds incorporate extrafinancial factors into their investment process, convinced that they generate benefits for their members and beneficiaries, as well as for nature. This paper aims to analyze the investment policy of voluntary pension funds in Bulgaria in the context of a sustainable and responsible approach.
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In 2021, we have witnessed significant changes in European law regarding the treatment of cross-border transactions from companies to consumers within the country. The main reason for this is the widespread multinational business, which is gaining more and more popularity and is developing even more dynamically. Pursuing its national interests, the European state seeks stricter regulation of trade in your territory, as this has a direct impact on the functioning of its economy. Member States of the Union shall be subject to value added tax in respect to uniform rules governing the treatment of transactions. They enjoy, on the one hand, the obligation to acquire VAT on all goods admitted to trading on European markets and, on the other hand, the calculation of tax revenues to the budget of that country in which the goods are used. As part of the acceleration of international transactions is e-commerce, based on the global operation of multiple sites, portals and platforms – the so-called electronic interfaces, harmonized with the Bulgarian tax laws, which allow the implementation of the relations between the participants from different countries. A key role for business, however, is played by several major web platforms, which are visited by millions of users and create a favorable environment for starting a business. Amazon, Ebay and Etsy stand out with the most significant influence among them. New changes have been introduced in tax legislation and new obligations for those who manage electronic interfaces, which in determining transactions "facilitate" the delivery of goods and are considered suppliers of these goods, although they import only intermediaries between sellers and buyers. The conditions under which the obligations are fulfilled, which are imperatively presented in the VAT Act and the Regulation on the Implementation of the Low Union 2019/2026. They are related to the application of new special VAT regimes, which are characterized by complete documentation of all deliveries.
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The report presents the Confidence and Security Building Measures (CSBM) as one of the approaches in international relations in the military field. Their classification, typology, and evolution in the period 1947 – 2007 are derived. The focus of the analysis is placed on the initiative „Document on Confidence and Security Building Measures in the Naval Field in the Black Sea“, which was launched in 2002 within the fifth stage of the development of CSBM. The dilemmas facing the initiative are indicated which lead to the partial impossibility of implementing the measures in the context of the war between Russia and Ukraine after 2022. The present paper is part of a comprehensive study dedicated to the implementation of the measures and their projections on the national, Euro-Atlantic and global security.
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