References: There is a variety of agencies and commissions that are specifically designed to target corruption. Some of them have no investigative powers, such as the Commission on Prevention and Countering of Corruption (which is a coordinative body at the level of the government, headed by the Minister of Interior: See the website of the council of ministers: Penal Code, Art. 321. Several other executive agencies have prerogatives in the fight against corruption, including investigative powers.

Peer Review Comments: There is no specific agency specifically designed to target corruption. There are only commissions and other smaller bodies within some government institutions or the Parliament. Beginning in 2008, the State Agency of National Security will operate. Its prerogatives, among many others, must include the fight against serious cases of corruption.

Peer Review Comments: There is also a parliamentary Combating Corruption Committee. See [ LINK ].

The executive Commission on the Prevention and Countering of Corruption is a governmental body, which has no institutional guarantees for independence. The same is true of government agencies, such as the Unit for the Fight against Organized Crime.

The new State Agency on National Security will have institutional guarantees of independence, such as a fixed term in office for its chairman, direct accountability to parliament, etc.

References: Parliamentary Anti-corruption Commission, www.parliament.bg

Peer Review Comments: There is no such agency, and the existing bodies are related to the ruling coalition.

References: Interviews with Yonko Grozev, CLS, and Stefan Popov , risk monitor, November 2007

Peer Review Comments: The new State Agency on National Security will have some institutional guarantees of independence, such as a fixed term in office for its chairman, direct accountability to Parliament, etc. But still, the chairman was elected from among the circle of the ruling Bulgarian Socialist Part. Indeed, the current chairman was an officer in the communist State Security before 1989.

References: Interviews with Yonko Grozev, CLS, and Stefan Popov , risk monitor, November 2007

Peer Review Comments: We will see when the agency starts its work.

Peer Review Comments: As the heads of the anticorruption bodies are political appointees (for example, ministers etc), there is no guarantee against unjustified dismissal.

References: There are no reports suggesting that appointments to these bodies are heavily politicized. See Report of the Centre for the Study of Democracy, [ LINK ]

Peer Review Comments: The chairman who was just elected is from among the circles of the ruling Bulgarian Socialist Party and was an officer in the communist State Security Services before 1989. It is hard to believe that only his professional qualities were decisive in his election, because there are many other professionals worthy election.

References: Study of the Centre for the Study of Democracy, [ LINK ]

Daniel Smilov, Anti-corruption Bodies as Discourse-Controlling Instruments (forthcoming in an edited volume (Peter Larmour and Luis de Sousa) from Routlege.

Peer Review Comments: When such an agency begin its work in 2008, it will have a full-time staff.

References: There are no reported problems of underfunding of existing structures. For a general overview, see [ LINK ]

Peer Review Comments: When formed, it will use state budget funding.

Peer Review Comments: The present anticorruption commissions established within the executive, judiciary and legislative branches, as well as the Chief Inspectorate, have no separate budget and are heavily underfunded. In order to initiate certain activities, they have to rely on different PHARE-funded projects or on the budget of their members (for example, ministries). The National Anticorruption Strategy and its action plan do not envision a special budget for its implementations.

References: [ LINK ]

Peer Review Comments: The existing bodies--not agencies--provide such data, at least once annually. Some of the data are included in the regular reports of the Public Prosecutor to Parliament, which are constitutionally required. Others are published electronically. We will see what the practice of the new agency will be, because it is not orientated only to corruption; corruption is only one of its priorities.

References: The combination between different anti-corruption commissions and executive agencies such as the structures of the Ministry of Interior and the anti-corruption units at the Prosecutor's Office have all necessary powers.

Peer Review Comments: No single agency has such powers, but if all anticorruption structures work in a coordinated manner, they have all the needed powers to investigate corruption offenses.

References: I am skeptical of the possibility to assess the efficiency of such agencies in such general terms. Since there are no criteria for performance measurement, all such ratings will be questionable. The general opinion of Bulgarian experts is that the performance of these bodies deserves criticism. They do initiate investigations, but these rarely lead to convictions.

Peer Review Comments: There is no case of initiating investigations but rather of creating a public opinion.

Peer Review Comments: The new National Security Agency will have more efficient institutional power and means to combat corruption.

References: There have been no reports of systematic disregard of complaints.

Peer Review Comments: There have been no reports of what percentage of complaints have been handled and how quickly.

References: Interviews with Yonko Grozev, Centre for Liberal Strategies, Sofia, November 2007.

Peer Review Comments: No, and for this reason many of the complaints are anonymous.