References: General clause of administrative liability in the Constitution.

References: The most important decisions of the government are explained to the public via the media and other outlets. It is a different question whether the reasons given are always convincing, but this is a matter of political judgment.

Peer Review Comments: He announces the decisions through the media or his Press Office but doesn't always explain in depth the reason for a decision. He controls the way decisions are explained and answers only questions he wants to, ignoring those that are not convenient for him. Example: the dismissal of the Minister of Economy Roumen Ovcharov; political discussions between the leaders of the triple coalition.

Peer Review Comments: Not all important decisions are explained and justified to the public. There are many suspicions that some decisions are made in a non-transparent manner in favor of certain business interests and at the expense of the public's interest. For instance, there was a series of scandals related to the unclear criteria that the government applied with regard to the inclusion of territories of environmental significance into the European network of protected territories Natura 2000.

References: The Constitution, Chapter 6, The Judiciary, [ LINK ]

References: Report of the Supreme Administrative Court for 2006 at [ LINK ]>:;04%202006~bg?OpenDocument

Peer Review Comments: I cannot remember such cases and do not think this it is common practice. Also, I could not open the provided link to convince myself of the credibility of the evaluation.

References: The Bulgarian government has limited independent legislative functions. It needs primary legislation by parliament on the basis of which it adopts secondary legislation.

Peer Review Comments: In some cases, executive orders may contain clauses that contradict the primary legislation. In other cases, the executive is too slow in adopting the subsequent ,secondary legislation, which impedes implementation of legislation acts (for example, the law on electronic governance).

Peer Review Comments: The government is the main source of bills introduced in Parliament, but the National Assembly approves these bills turning them into legislative acts.

Peer Review Comments: It is true that the government has limited legislative functions, but it is also true that it has a great influence over the enforcement of legislation, as it is responsible for sub-statuary regulations.

References: Bulgarian Constitution, Chapter 5, Art. 103, [ LINK ]

References: Bulgarian Constitution, Chapter 5, Art. 103, [ LINK ]

References: Law on Public Disclosure of Assets of High-ranking State Officials, Art. 2

References: Law on Public Disclosure of Assets of High-ranking State Officials

References: A Code of Conduct of High-ranking Government Officials does exist, specifying certain rules.

Peer Review Comments: Code of Conduct of High-Ranking Government Officials specifies certain rules for this, although these rules are not enforceable in court and are not strengthened by sanctions.

Peer Review Comments: Some rules governing gifts and hospitality offered to members of the executive branch are part of the Code of Conduct of High-Ranking Government Officials, but they have no legal force.

References: The State Audit Office reviews the asset declarations of politicians.

Peer Review Comments: Several laws were amended in 2006 to allow for auditing asset disclosures and political party financing.

References: There are no conflict of interest rules.

References: There are no such restrictions.

References: The Code of Conduct of High-ranking Government Officials is non-enforceable in the courts. It is difficult to monitor the gifts given to government officials.

Peer Review Comments: Keeping in mind that there is no objective information about this, I think it is more fair to evaluate this situation as 50/50: There is no information pro, and there is no information con.

References: Reports of the State Audit Office

Public interviews with the head of the State Audit Office

Peer Review Comments: Only a small percentage of all declarations are audited.The State Audit Office doesn't have sufficient administrative capacity do it.

Peer Review Comments: Actually, they cannot quite be audited, but since 2007, all high-level asset disclosures have been compared with the registers. Also, they are online, and this makes them easily accessible for public control.

Peer Review Comments: It is still early to judge with precision what the effect of these measures will be.

References: Law on Public Disclosure of Assets of High-ranking State Officials, Art. 6

Peer Review Comments: Citizens can access government officials disclosure records on-line or by submitting a request to the National Audit Office.

References: Published on the Internet at [ LINK ], but only for those magistrates who give their permission for publication. At the time of the writing of the report, there were no declarations published there. However, there was a list of names of magistrates who have not submitted declarations - the Web site features the names of just a few high magistrates.

Peer Review Comments: In most of the cases where officials at ministerial level are concerned, declarations are made public by journalists who have requested information from the Audit Office.

Peer Review Comments: Yes, it's possible, especially because the records of high-ranking officials are available immediately to journalists, and after that are published on the Web sites of the institutions.

Peer Review Comments: The information is online not only for magistrates but also for the head of the state, the prime minister, ministers etc. See it at [ LINK ].

Peer Review Comments: The comment provided by the researcher above concerns the magistrates only. As far as the head of the state and the government are concerned, there is a written order of the chairman of the National Audit Office, regulating the access to government officials disclosure records ([ LINK ]). Access is provided within one week. Although there are no specific legal regulations, in the past years some governmental institutions started publishing the disclosure records of their highest ranking officials online.

References: Published on the Internet only if permission is granted by the magistrate in question. [ LINK ]

Peer Review Comments: I do not know why the evaluator stressed only the magistrates. The information about asset-disclosure records of about 5,000 high-level Bulgarian officials, with small exceptions, is online at [ LINK ].

Peer Review Comments: Accessing government officials disclosure records is not expensive. Some government officials disclosure records can be found online for free.

According to a constitutional court decision in 2004, members of the cabinet should not leave their office during an electoral campaign. This is probably a good decision, since the country needs a government even during elections, but it gives an opportunity for governing parties to use administrative resources and extra access to public media.

Also, the president of the republic always could lend some support for his party by making public appearances in his official capacity during campaigns. These issues are very difficult to regulate. In my judgment, there is no excessive abuse of administrative resources in Bulgaria, as compared to other countries in the region and in Europe in general.

References: This happens to the extent possible in a parliamentary government