Lifting the Lid on Lobbying in Bulgaria

In a letter addressed to the inter-departmental working group for elaboration of a draft text of the Strategic Guidelines for Counteraction and Prevention of Corruption 2015-2020, Transparency International-Bulgaria, the national chapter of Transparency International, the global coalition against corruption, insists that the strategic document should include measures for:

• Counteraction to political corruption and the irregularities in the electoral process (including measures for strict implementation of the legislation regarding the financing of political activity and election campaigns; discontinuation of the mechanisms for control and manipulation of electoral results at precinct commission level; discontinuation of the mechanisms for control and pressure over voters, stemming from economic dependencies; guarantees against dependencies between the law-enforcement authorities at local level and the political actors, interested in the elections outcomes);
• Limiting the undue influences both over the political, and the economic life in the country and restoring public trust in state institutions (including measures for developing all components of the ethical infrastructure, transparency and integrity instruments in regard to lobbying activity);
• Effective implementation of the anti-corruption legislation (including improvement of the capacity, competencies, independence and public accountability of control authorities in all sectors; coordination of anti-corruption activities; protection of the persons who submit signals for irregularities);
• Effective control and check-ups of declarations of assets and declaration of conflict of interest of public officials;
• Overcoming the existing deficits in the process of illegal assets fortfeiture, including measures to improve the capacities of the Commission for Illegal Assets Fortfeiture and effective management of confiscated assets.

Special attention was drawn to the need for adoption of a plan with specific measures the absence of which would make the Strategy practically ineffective.

The recommendations are based on the experience of the team of Transparency International Bulgaria in research and counteraction of political corruption, as well as the comparative studies of Transparency International such as the National Integrity System study, the Corruption perception Index, the Global Corruption Barometer, the monitoring over the application and implementation of the UN Convention against Corruption, monitoring over illegal asset confiscation in Europe and others.

Transparency International Bulgaria will continue to carefully monitor the process of adoption and implementation of the Strategic Guidelines for Counteraction and Prevention of Corruption 2015-2020.