Transparency International - Bulgaria presented the results of the Global Corruption Barometer, a survey of Transparency International
Transparency International’s (TI) Global Corruption Barometer (the Barometer) presents the results of a public opinion survey of about 59,661 people in 62 low, middle, and high-income countries. The survey was carried out by Gallup International, on behalf of TI, from July until September 2006.
The Barometer asks people about their opinion regarding which sectors of society are the most corrupt, which spheres of life are most affected by corruption, whether corruption has increased or decreased in relation to the past, and whether it is likely to be more or less prevalent in future.
Summary of findings:
• Experience of bribery is widespread outside Europe and North America; police are most often bribed
• Government performance in the fight against corruption is not felt adequate in most countries
• The perception remains that political parties and parliament are most corrupt, followed by business and police
• Political and business life are judged more affected by corruption than family life in most countries.
For more information please see the attached Press release and Report here.
Transparency International announced the results of its Bribe Payers Index 2006
The BPI 2006 is a ranking of 30 leading exporting countries according to the propensity of their firms to bribe abroad. This survey looks at the use of bribes by companies with headquarters in 30 of the world’s leading exporting countries (either in global or regional terms). It is based on two questions asked of 11,232 business executives from companies in 125 countries, who are surveyed about the business practices of foreign firms in their country. To assess the international supply-side of bribery, executives are asked about the propensity of the foreign firms that do the most business in their country to make undocumented extra payments or bribes. The survey is anonymous.
For more information regarding the Index you can download here the Press Release of the survey.
Lack of transparency in the financing of the 2006 presidential election campaign
In the beginning of September 2006 Transparency International - Bulgaria announced its initiative to monitor the financing of the presidential election campaign in Bulgaria. The main objective of the campaign is to exercise civil control and to encourage the participants in the political process to observe the principles of transparency, accountability and integrity in the financing of political activity.
Immediately after the formal start of the election campaign on 19 September 2006, Transparency International - Bulgaria sent an invitation letter to all of the registered candidates for president and vice-president to join the initiative. The letter included as attached files projects for an Integrity Declaration, a Donation Contract and Monitoring Implementation Rules. The purpose of these documents was to provide information about the monitoring, as well as to engage the candidates to abide by the Bulgarian legislation and the accepted international standards of election campaign financing.
At present – two weeks after the start of the election campaign – none of the registered candidates for president and vice-president of Bulgaria has provided any answer.
Transparency International - Bulgaria is deeply concerned by the apparent lack of willingness of the candidates to grant official access to civil society organizations to information, regarding the financing of the present presidential election campaign. Transparency International - Bulgaria considers the lack of response on the proposed initiative as an indicator for the continuingly low level of transparency in political financing in Bulgaria.
Transparency International - Bulgaria anounced the results of its assessment survey about the level of transparency and integrity in state administration
The survey was conducted by Transparency International-Bulgaria between 15 – 30 August 2006, among employees in the central, regional and municipal administrations, using the quota sample method. This is the first stage of a larger survey on transparency and integrity in the state administration. The survey provides information on the opinion of the state administration employees on the ongoing reforms and the effectiveness of the implementation of the Programme for Transparency in the Activity of the State Administration.
Please see the attached resume of the survey.
Transparency International - Bulgaria launched the first of its kind in Bulgaria Advocacy and Legal Advice Centre
Transparency International - Bulgaria anounced the official opening of its
Advocacy and Legal Advice Centre, an initiative made possible with the financial support of the Geman Foreign Ministry . The activity of the Centre will include providing free of charge legal and practical help to citizens, who are victims of or who have witnessed corrupt behavior of public officials and are willing to refer their claims to the competent authorities. Citizens can reach the Centre on the created free of charge telephone hot-line: , through the specifically designed mechanism for submitting signals of corruption, found on the Internet site of the organisation: http://transparency-bg.org/ (In Bulgarian), on the e-mail of the Centre: or by post: P.O. Box No 72, Central Post Office, Sofia. The Centre receives no anonymous calls and garantees the confidentiality of the obtained information.
Please see here the attached rules of activity of the Advocacy and Legal Advice Centre, Bulgaria.
Transparency International-Bulgaria will monitor the financing camapaign of the upcoming 2006 presidential vote
In September-October 2006 Transparency International – Bulgaria is going to carry out an independent civil monitoring of the financing of the presidential electoral campaign in Bulgaria. The initiative is a part of the Project “Promoting Transparency in Election Campaign Financing in Bulgaria”, realized with the financial support of the Democracy Commission at the US Embassy in Sofia.
Transparency International - Bulgaria was denied access as an independent observer of the work of the interdepartmental committee, responsible for renegotiating the clauses of the contract for the "Trakia" motorway concession deal
Transparency International – Bulgaria was denied access as an independent observer of the work of the interdepartmental committee, responsible for renegotiating the clauses of the contract for the concession of “Trakia” motorway, despite the official claim of the organization to Minister Asen Gagauzov, sent on 4 August 2006.
In its reply to the organization from 25 August 2006 the Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works rejected the request and pointed out the discussion of financial and commercial matters and the will of the negotiators as grounds for the confidential status of the discussions.
The organization does not accept the arguments for confidentiality as a reason for denial of its request, because in the letter sent to the Ministry it explicitly offered the representatives of TI to sign an agreement for confidentiality of the information.
Transparency International - Bulgaria finds extremely alarming the continuing lack of transparency over the negotiations for “Trakia” motorway, as well as the lack of willingness of the Ministry to allow representatives of civil society to observe the actions of the administration, concerning matters which involve significant public interest.
Letter to the Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works
In a letter to the Minister of Regional Development and Public Works Mr. Asen Gagauzov, Transparency International-Bulgaria asked to be included as an independent observer in the new working group, engaged with reexamining the clauses of the contract for garanting concession on “Trakia” Motorway, due to the high level of public interest in the deal and the previous work of the experts of the organization.
The full text of the letter is attached here (in Bulgarian)
Transparency International – Bulgaria organizes the training panel “Money in politics: raising transparency and accountability”
The organization of the event falls within the scope of the project “Political corruption: challenges and mechanisms for counteraction“, implemented by Transparency International – Bulgaria with the financial support of the European Commission. The event will take place within the agenda of a four day training session of the Bulgarian school of politics.
Among the participant of the event are representatives of political parties, NGOs and the media. A central part of the envisaged training is the seminar “Money in politics: raising transparency and accountability”, which will take place at Sredetz Hall of Sheraton Hotel on 13 may 2006 in accordance with the program attached bellow.
By organizing the current seminar Transparency International – Bulgaria aims to contribute to the ongoing efforts for building capacity of the Bulgarian political elite for implementing efficient anti-corruption mechanisms. The participants in the seminar will be acquainted with crucial international standards for transparency, accountability and integrity in the process of financing of political parties.
You can download the program of the event here.
National Forum “Business against Corruption”, under the auspices of the President of the Republic of Bulgaria, Georgi Parvanov
On the 18th of April 2006, at the “Sheraton” Hotel – Sofia, Bulgaria was conducted the National Forum “Business against Corruption”, under the auspices of the President of the Republic of Bulgaria, Georgi Parvanov.
The forum was organized by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) jointly with Transparency International – Bulgaria, the Bulgarian International Business Association (BIBA), the Bulgarian Business Leaders Forum (BBLF) and the National Association of Municipalities in the Republic of Bulgaria (NAMRB).
Participants at the forum were Mr. Neil Buhne, UN Resident Coordinator in Bulgaria; Mr. Boyko Velikov, Chair of the Standing Parliamentary Committee against Corruption; Ms. Huguette Labelle, Chair of Transparency International; Mr. Manuel Escudero, Head of the Global Compact Networks, New York; Dr. Krassimir Mirev, Chair of the National Association of Municipalities in the Republic of Bulgaria; Ms. Sasha Bezuhanova, President of BIBA; Mr. Maxim Behar, Chairman of BBLF; Mr. Ognyan Minchev, Chair of the Board, Transparency International, Bulgaria; Ms. Elena Panova, representative of UNDP Bulgaria, etc.
More information about the Forum is available here.
Global Corruption Report 2006