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This is the seventh consecutive Corruption Assessment Report providing an overview of the state and dynamics of corruption in Bulgaria and Bulgarian anti-corruption policy. It analyzes the main opportunities and challenges of the anti-corruption process in the context of Bulgaria’s approaching accession to the EU. The report builds on regular monitoring of the spread of corruption, its trends, evaluations of the anti-corruption efforts and initiatives implemented by government institutions and by civil society, as well as a number of suggestions and ecommendations on anti-corruption measures. 2005 marked a reversal of the positive trend in the decline of corruption since 1998, while still emaining at half the level of seven years ago. This development suggests that “soft” anti-corruption measures have exhausted their potential and more effective approaches to counteract and prevent corruption must be found, especially at the administrative and political levels. These should be supported through a corruption monitoring and assessment by civil society of the public sector, articularly the agencies administering EU’s structural funds. The report also refers to external risks which could emerge after Bulgaria’s accssion to the EU.
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Twelve countries of Central and Eastern Europe are preparing for accession to the European Union. The informal economy in these countries is a phenomenon, which may bring challenges to the process of European integration because of the insufficient knowledge about its possible implications for an enlarged union. How large is the informal economy in Central and Eastern Europe? What are its sources? In what direction is it evolving? How is it different from the informal activities in EU member states? Does it represent an obstacle to further European integration? Or maybe it can serve as a bridge between accession countries and member states? The network "Toward European Integration", launched by the Bertelsmann Foundation and the World Bank, has brought together scholars and policy analysts from different countries in a first attempt to cooperate in finding answers to these and related questions.
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The analysis of various forms, mechanisms and consequences of corrupt practices and the successful attempt to counter those practices is the first step to an effective anti-corruption policy. The reader consists of articles by Bulgarian and international experts analyzing corruption and anti-corruption in politics, economy, judiciary and security forces. The publication examines the links between trafficking and corruption and organized crime and corruption based on the experience of the Bulgarian anti-corruption initiative Coalition 2000. The reader also suggests a methodology to monitor corruption and presents international cooperation and legislation aimed at countering corruption.
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It is the first manual in its kind in Bulgarian language. The manual is to be included in a university curriculum (the New Bulgarian University) and a number of other private and state-owned universities have been approached with the same purpose. The manual, edited by Dr. Antony Todorov, Associate-Professor at the NBU, is composed of 14 topics, written by a number of anti-corruption experts. It was published as a part of the Clean Future Coalition 2000 Awareness campaign. The Anticorruption manual contains the following chapters: Legal concept of corruption; Models of corruption behavior; Corruption monitoring; Spheres and forms of corruption; Abuse of political power; Corruption in the judiciary and the police; Economy and corruption; Corruption in international relations; Funding of the political parties; Legal reform against corruption; Administrative reform against corruption; Civil society against corruption; Professional codes against corruption; International co-operation against corruption.
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This is the latest joint publication of CiviLink Foundation and Coalition 2000, dedicated to problems which investigative journalists face, while revealing corruption cases and affairs. The author, Krassimir Dobrev, is a well-known journalist and JD graduate. As a leading analyst of "Sega" Daily, Mr. Dobrev worked on several issues related to political corruption. The author expresses an opinion, that the newly adopted Law on the Access to Public Information creates rather new obstacles for journalists, than to facilitate their efforts. There still exists a legal gap in defining such notions as "an official secret". In addition, the author reviews the major legal risks that journalists face. The book outlines his "practical advice to beginners" and how to avoid libel charges. The publication also contains some of the documents relevant to investigative journalism such as the full text of Recommendation No R (2000) 7 of the Council of Ministers to the Council of Europe. The book is designed for journalists, media law experts and politicians.
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Evgenii Dainov,director of the CSP, writes in its preface: "Without democracy - i.e. without transparency in decision-making and without public control on decision-makers - development is not possible. Corruption thrives exactly where the light of publicity does not reach." The reader contains a number of texts which provide an answer to the questions of the nature of the concept of "political corruption", its unfavorable consequences on society, etc. The problems of corruption against the background of parliamentary practice in the western countries, and in Great Britain and the USA above all, are specifically discussed. A separate section is devoted to the transition to market economy in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe.
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The present reader is a continuation of the efforts of the Center for the Study of Democracy to better inform the national institutions, energy companies and the Bulgarian society with a view to sustainable development and good governance in the energy sector. Good governance in the energy sector is necessary for the prosperity of any country, regardless of its level of development or the scale of its economy. Energy is the foundation of any modern economic activity. In order to achieve or maintain the level of high-tech development in modern societies, it is necessary to ensure, through appropriate management methods and for every sector of the economy, secure access to energy at affordable prices. The book was prepared by a team of the Center for the Study of Democracy with coordinator Nikolay Tagarov, Senior Analyst at the Center's Sociological Program. The team also includes: Ruslan Stefanov, Director, Economic Program, Denitsa Mancheva, Analyst, Economic Program, Maria Doichinova, Associate, Legal Program, Dr. Dobromir Hristov, Research Assistant, Economic Program, Valentina Nikolova, Analyst, Economic Program, and Genika Boshnakova, editor.
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The report makes an overview of the conducted anticorruption reforms in Bulgaria since 1997 and analyses the spheres of penetration, as well as the levels and dynamics of corruption in the Bulgarian society and presents the major achievements and problems of anticorruption reforms. It also defines the challenges for the conducting of anticorruption reforms, which ensue from the pending accession of Bulgaria to the European Union: i.e. overcoming of structural and institutional barriers in counteracting corruption; effective functioning of judiciary and law enforcement systems; restriction of corruption-generating practices of the organized crime and grey economy.Coalition 2000 is an initiative of Bulgarian non-governmental organizations launched in the spring of 1997, which aims at counteracting corruption in th Bulgarian society through a partnership between state institutions, non-governmental organizations and individuals, who developed and have been implementing an Anti-Corruption Action Plan, a Corruption Monitoring System, and an anti-corruption public awareness campaign.
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This is the seventh consecutive Corruption Assessment Report providing an overview of the state and dynamics of corruption in Bulgaria and Bulgarian anti-corruption policy. It analyzes the main opportunities and challenges of the anti-corruption process in the context of Bulgaria’s approaching accession to the EU. The report builds on regular monitoring of the spread of corruption, its trends, evaluations of the anti-corruption efforts and initiatives implemented by government institutions and by civil society, as well as a number of suggestions and recommendations on anti-corruption measures. 2005 marked a reversal of the positive trend in the decline of corruption since 1998, while still emaining at half the level of seven years ago. This development suggests that “soft” anti-corruption measures have exhausted their potential and more effective approaches to counteract and prevent corruption must be found, especially at the administrative and political levels. These should be supported through a corruption monitoring and assessment by civil society of the public sector, articularly the agencies administering EU’s structural funds. The report also refers to external risks which could emerge after Bulgaria’s accession to the EU.
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Public procurement is among the governmental activities most vulnerable to corruption and fraudulent activities. Despite the controls in place, a number of government contracts give rise to errors, anomalies, fraud, misuse of public funds or corruption. The present compilation of selected best practices addresses the threat of fraud and corruption in the area of public procurement.
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Macedonia features in many discussions as a country with high hidden economy. The European Commission has repeatedly voiced its concerns in its regular country reports about the size and proliferation of hidden economy practices. Hidden employment or undeclared work in Macedonia is of particular concern to the authorities, provided the very high and stubborn levels of official unemployment and low employment levels. However, most studies and research on the matter involve a high level of ambiguity, as they refer to specific narrow outcomes of the hidden economy, usually towards a specific point in time, with dynamics being difficult to trace. The current report, prepared jointly by the Center for the Study of Democracy (CSD) and the Center for Research and Policy Making (CRPM), Macedonia proposes a methodology that would allow the tracing of the dynamics of the hidden economy and its components (e.g. hidden turnover, hidden employment, etc.) over time. This would make possible for the Macedonian government and its European partners to follow the impact and assess the effectiveness of their policies for tackling the hidden economy. Estimates suggest that the hidden economy size in Macedonia ranges from 24% to 47% of its GDP according to different measurement methods. The current report indicates that the percentage of hidden salaries remains the most acute concern, with the employment income of some 40% of Macedonian employees being at least partially undeclared. Moreover, 7% of all Macedonian employees work without a contract, and are not being paid any social security contributions whatsoever. The interviewed business representatives confirmed wide scale violations of the Labour Code. Over half of those respondents claimed that signing contracts with ‘hidden clauses’ (not accounting for the full remuneration paid out) were commonplace in their sector. Moreover, large-scale tax evasion seems to continue to pose a serious problem for the Macedonian economy and social system as the government tries to adjust them in order to be compatible with the principles of the market economy without imposing too extensive erosion of the social fabric and the existing social benefits. Tax avoidance is especially widespread among the poorest members of the society, which makes the underprivileged especially vulnerable as they may find themselves being criminally prosecuted for unpaid taxes or charged with paying large penalties. VAT returns are provided back to companies with significant time lags and represent additional burden for companies which are part of the formal economy. The issuance of cash register receipts also remains an issue, as only less than a half of the respondents claimed that they always received receipts when buying groceries. The situation is similar with the purchase of services.
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Macedonia features in many discussions as a country with high hidden economy. The European Commission has repeatedly voiced its concerns in its regular country reports about the size and proliferation of hidden economy practices. Hidden employment or undeclared work in Macedonia is of particular concern to the authorities, provided the very high and stubborn levels of official unemployment and low employment levels. However, most studies and research on the matter involve a high level of ambiguity, as they refer to specific narrow outcomes of the hidden economy, usually towards a specific point in time, with dynamics being difficult to trace. The current report, prepared jointly by the Center for the Study of Democracy (CSD) and the Center for Research and Policy Making (CRPM), Macedonia proposes a methodology that would allow the tracing of the dynamics of the hidden economy and its components (e.g. hidden turnover, hidden employment, etc.) over time. This would make possible for the Macedonian government and its European partners to follow the impact and assess the effectiveness of their policies for tackling the hidden economy. Estimates suggest that the hidden economy size in Macedonia ranges from 24% to 47% of its GDP according to different measurement methods. The current report indicates that the percentage of hidden salaries remains the most acute concern, with the employment income of some 40% of Macedonian employees being at least partially undeclared. Moreover, 7% of all Macedonian employees work without a contract, and are not being paid any social security contributions whatsoever. The interviewed business representatives confirmed wide scale violations of the Labour Code. Over half of those respondents claimed that signing contracts with ‘hidden clauses’ (not accounting for the full remuneration paid out) were commonplace in their sector. Moreover, large-scale tax evasion seems to continue to pose a serious problem for the Macedonian economy and social system as the government tries to adjust them in order to be compatible with the principles of the market economy without imposing too extensive erosion of the social fabric and the existing social benefits. Tax avoidance is especially widespread among the poorest members of the society, which makes the underprivileged especially vulnerable as they may find themselves being criminally prosecuted for unpaid taxes or charged with paying large penalties. VAT returns are provided back to companies with significant time lags and represent additional burden for companies which are part of the formal economy. The issuance of cash register receipts also remains an issue, as only less than a half of the respondents claimed that they always received receipts when buying groceries. The situation is similar with the purchase of services.
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The report provides an overview of the state and dynamics of the corruption in Bulgaria as well as of the Bulgarian anticorruption policy and initiatives during the first two years of Bulgaria`s EU membership. This period can be described with a high rate of crimes without punishment such as political corruption and organized crime. This report explores the facets and sources of political corruption in Bulgaria. It tracks the dynamics of the hidden economy in the country and the main channels for corrupt interaction between business and politics.
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In the monograph the question of transformation of the role of higher education in the condition of the becoming of an innovative model of national economy is comprehensively studied, the mechanisms of intensifying transfer of educational and professional knowledge are justified. The current status, tendencies, quantitative and qualitative aspects of training of specialists in the sphere of higher education, taking into account the territorial peculiarities of such process and international experience, the peculiarities of formation model of employment of specialists in the conditions of the innovative development of national economy are analyzed by the authors. In this monograph it was paid attention to improving the competitiveness of graduates of universities on the labor market, providing them with timely and effective professional training under the conditions of intensive development of the national economy. The question about preparing the specialists for foreign countries as a factor of the preservation and development of national higher education in the condition of reducing its own contingent of students was explored in the monograph. A considerable attention is paid to the development of directions of improvement of the state regulation the spheres of training and employment the specialists with higher education, such as: implementation the strategies and mechanism of increasing the competitiveness of university's graduates, support programs of employment of youth with higher education, improvement of state regulation of educational services' export, social partnership relationships and intensification of interaction of the employers with universities. The monograph is designed for a wide range of specialists of the sphere of higher education, researchers, professors, employers, employees of bodies of state authority and local municipality.
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Celem monografii jest prezentacja, analiza i ocena faktycznego stanu oraz możliwości pożądanych zmian w rozwoju polityki społeczno-gospodarczej państwa wobec pracy kobiet w Polsce w latach 1990-2012. W pierwszej kolejności dokonano identyfikacji miar statusu społeczno-ekonomicznego kobiet oraz konkretyzacji pojęcia, celów oraz rodzajów polityki społeczno-gospodarczej państwa na rzecz równości płci. W dalszej części publikacji zbadano uwarunkowania pracy kobiet w Polsce w latach 1990-2012 w aspekcie ich sytuacji rodzinnej, edukacyjnej, zawodowej, ekonomicznej i politycznej oraz przestawiono stan prawny, koncepcyjny i realizacyjny polityki społeczno-gospodarczej państwa w obszarach najsilniej determinujących pracę kobiet. Następnie wyznaczono ogólne i szczegółowe wskaźniki efektywności polityki równości płci w obszarach mających decydujące znaczenie dla pozycji społeczno-zawodowej i ekonomicznej kobiet, a także wskazano na potencjalne kierunki zmian polityki społeczno-gospodarczej państwa w kontekście jej dążenia do osiągania równości płci. Przeprowadzone badania i analizy zawarte w rozprawie pozwoliły na pozytywną weryfikację hipotezy o zasadności i konieczności podejmowania zintegrowanych i kompleksowych działań w ramach polityki społeczno-gospodarczej państwa wobec pracy kobiet, zwłaszcza na rzecz wyrównywania szans płci. Polityka taka powinna obejmować działania z zakresu polityki: rodzinnej (zwłaszcza sprzyjające godzeniu życia zawodowego z rodzinnym), edukacyjnej (w szczególności poprzez zwracanie znacznie większej uwagi na problematykę równości płci), zatrudnienia i rynku pracy (poprzez znacznie większą intensyfikację działań, w tym w zakresie prawodawstwa na rzecz osiągania równości szans kobiet i mężczyzn w praktyce) oraz polityki sensu stricto (na rzecz wyrównania partycypacji kobiet i mężczyzn w procesach sprawowania władzy publicznej, w tym gospodarczej).
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