Lobbying Draft Legislation, Manipulated Elections, Corrupt Political Parties and Legislation that makes the state servants powerful but uncontrolled.
Transparency International – Bulgaria elaborated a set of 11 proposals to the Government, in connection with the preparation of the National Strategy for Prevention and Counteraction of Corruption in Republic of Bulgaria for the 2021 – 2027 period.
We grouped our proposals under four priorities:
The Good Governance as an anti-corruption measure. Governance respecting the principles of transparency, accountability, and integrity. The most important means for its achievement concern the legislative process and more-specifically the activities of the members of the parliament: upon submitting of proposals for legislation it is essential that the MPs list the stakeholders that were consulted during the elaboration of the proposal, provide financial justification and conduct preliminary impact assessment. Shedding the light on lobbing is a necessity that cannot be gone around forever.
Another essential priority for effective prevention of corruption is the Creating an Environment for Public Intolerance Against it. We insist on comprehensive protection, support, and encouragement of the whistleblowers, both in private and public sectors. The current national legal framework concerning persons and entities reporting abuses and irregularities is rather scarce and insufficient to guarantee their safety. There is no legal definition of the phenomenon, as well as no provided measures for support and remedy in case they suffer retaliation.
Persuading the businesses to adopt international standards for corruption risk management is more than necessary. Global and national research shows that the corruption can only be tackled with the participation of all stakeholders’ groups – the public authorities, the civil society, and the private sector – all being equal parties in this process.
Counteraction to Political Corruption is a priority that does not lose but rather increase in importance. Ending the uncontrolled financing of political parties and political activity by “the business” and the possibility for financial influence, either domestic or foreign, is a must. This measure will bring our society back into the framework of international standards for political activity.
Involving the Local Governance in the Common Anticorruption Efforts by promoting of accountability and respect of the interests of citizens is a key priority that needs to be developed consistently through economic and regulatory instruments. This includes use of contemporary tools open and transparent municipalities; public discussions on the matters that directly affect the citizens and effective mechanisms for reporting and sanctioning od misconduct.
Our proposals are based on more than twenty years of work and acquired expertise in the field of prevention and counteraction of corruption.
The full text of proposal is available in Bulgarian language.