Political Corruption in Bulgaria after 1989 - Essay Example

Political Corruption in Bulgaria after 1989 The post communist Bulgaria strives hard to emerge as an economic power in Europe. But the transition period had its all confusions and uncertainty in the governmental affairs. The people and the government have caught between two worlds- the old communist thoughts and the modern capitalistic liberal attitude. However, it is a fact that the Bulgarian economy shows some positive signals. While scrutinizing the statistics, it is obvious that Bulgaria is one among the emerging countries. Variable 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 GDP $49.79 billion Real GDP $49.79 billion 6.2 % 6.3% 6.2% 6.6% 4.3% Per Capita $12,900 Inflation 7.8% 12.5% 6.5% 6.5% 4% 5.6% Unemployment Rate 6.3% 6.9% 9.1% 10.7% 12.2% 14.3% Official Exchange Rate Lev per $1 U.S 1.3 1.33 1.49 1.66 1.44 Not Available (Source: U. S. Department of State, http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/3236.htm) But the corruption, a chronic problem since the collapse of communism, underlines the destiny of the nation. Though showing some improvement in the recent years, Bulgaria holds the shame of being labeled as the corruption capital of Europe. It is the corruption at the political level that is most dangerous in the country. All political parties operate with an open funding system. Such a condition, with no obvious management, surely encourages corruption. However, some facts and figures will show the 'politics' behind Bulgaria's corruption. In an attempt to modernize the nation's economy, the communist government enforced different industrialization programs. Until democratizing reforms began in 1989, Bulgaria remained a communist country. The Bulgarian nationalism underwent a drastic change since its first multi party elections in 1990 (U.S.-Bulgarian Relations, 2008). But the transition from the communist rule to a free market economy was not easy. The introduction of Banking reforms, and program to privatize state-owned assets turned out to be challenging issues. Due to the fall of communism, the country lost all its Soviet market. The Bulgarian goods could not find a good market. It led to a substantial contraction of the financial system. The rising inflation and unemployment became major problems. To add oil to the fire, the Bulgarian government had to battle with the uncontrolled corruption at all levels of administration. In the last two decades, Bulgaria underwent complete political transformation. It is imperative to say that the political transformation has contributed much to the restructuring of the nation's entire mechanisms. On the other hand, how effective those reorganizations, is a question of active debate. However, it could enjoy steady economic growth and macroeconomic stability, problems are too many. It struggles hard to come up as a democratic power. Unfortunately corruption has become a key word in any study of Bulgaria. The National Assembly, which is supposed to monitor all anti corruption mechanisms, proved to be ineffective. Corruption is among the five most important problems Bulgaria is facing today. Five most critical problems Bulgaria is facing Unemployment 58,40 % Low incomes 51,30 % Crime 45,40 % Corruption 38,50 % Poverty 31,60 % High prices 22,90 % Political instability 17,70 % Healthcare 11,50 % Pollution 3,60 % Education 2,70 % Ethnic problems 2,10 % The sum of percentages exceeds 100, as respondents have given up to three answers (Source: Five most critical problems Bulgaria is facing, http://www.online.bg/coalition2000/eng/ci-feb99/2.htm) This social evil happened to spread widely in various fields of Bulgarian public life. Corruption has developed as a key principle in many fields like administration and judiciary. Political party finance, public administration and judiciary are the most affected areas. The Bulgarian community has begun to understand the magnitude of corruption of ministers and senior officials. Due to corrupt bureaucracy, any official procedure has become a 'hard nut' for the common man. He has to pay a huge amount to the police, health department, and local administrative officers and so on. The post 1989 governments implemented many administrative systems to make all official proceedings transparent. But all such efforts proved to be ineffective. Various anti corruption policies and investigative measures could not back Bulgaria to go on to national stability (World Bank, 2001). Political party finance: There are no clear cut regulations on political party finance in Bulgaria. Due to that, various political parties handle donations without any governmental supervision. Such a non transparent system promotes illegal funding and corruption. Political party financing is totally unregulated in the country. One of such situation has been reported by The Times. The report says that "the EU, eager to improve the lives of the 7.5 million Bulgarians, dangled 11 billion or nearly $15 billion, in aid. Far from halting crime and violence, the money effectively spread the corruption. Once Bulgaria's shady business types realized how much EU money was at stake, said many of Sofia's anti-corruption reformers, they moved from buying off politicians directly into politics" (Carter, 2008). In another report, it is said that "after undergoing a series of revisions over the past decade of post-communist transition, Bulgaria's party financing system is unstable and at worst. The Bulgarian law on political parties has gone through several modifications since it was accepted at the round table talks in 1990, and was finally replaced with a new one on 28 March 2001 under the rule of the United Democratic Forces (ODS) government" (Bulgarian under the table funding, 2002). A national anti corruption strategy was undertaken in October 2001. Following this a number of important steps have been taken to bring the country in to stabilization. All those measures failed utterly due to many reasons. Experts opine that the procedures were not fruitful because its implementations had a number of loopholes. Foremost of all, the implementation focused only low level corruption. It did not have an effect on the higher levels (Fourth anti-corruption policy, n. d.). The anti corruption activities got an acceleration when the country took steps to claim entry to the European Union. The European Commission put a lot of pressures to make all the governmental systems well-organized. The Bulgarian government came forward to neutralize all its corruptions at different levels. The European Commission assisted the government to promote anti corruption policies. One of the findings of the Commission remarks that "genuine efforts and some progress have been made following extensive legislative activity by the two Governments, (Bulgaria and Romania) but that the focus should now be on implementation. The reports focus mainly on judicial reform and the fight against corruption and organized crime. , the Commission concludes that Bulgaria has continued to make progress in remedying weaknesses, but that determined implementation is needed in order to secure irreversible change" (EU News, 2007). Corruption in Bulgaria and its entry to the European Union: It was the wide spread corruption that delayed Bulgaria to enter the European Union. The organization makes it clear that the high-level corruption is an issue of concern. The Copenhagen European Council stresses that a few criteria have to be fulfilled if a country wants to join the European Union. It also stated that the candidate country needs to have steadiness of institutions guaranteeing democracy, the rule of law, human rights and respect for and protection of minorities; the existence of a functioning market economy as well as the capacity to cope with competitive pressure and market forces within the Union; the ability to take on the obligations of membership including adherence to the aims of political, economic & monetary union. Bulgaria really had to do a herculean task to enter the European Union in 2007. Even after getting accessed to the EU, it cannot, in fact, ensure its position. By all measures, Bulgaria is considered to be the most corrupt country in the European Union. It warned Bulgaria that its fight against corruption and organized crime is not yielding sufficient results. Criminals repeatedly remain unpunished, and their assets are hardly ever confiscated. It is a fact that was reported world widely that Bulgaria has lost millions due to failure in tackling corruption. "Bulgaria's failure to tackle a "serious situation" of fraud and high-level government corruption linked to organized crime could block aid worth over 8 billion, the European Commission has warned. I n an unprecedented move and despite pressure from Sofia, Commission officials yesterday suspended European Union funding worth over 380 million and blacklisted two Bulgarian government agencies handling the funds" (Waterfield, 2008). The commission report further says that there have been severe accusations of irregularities as well as suspicions of fraud and conflicts of interest in the ward of contracts. EU officials have warned that if measures are not taken to clean up its administration, Bulgaria is likely to miss the future funds too. Steps have been taken to announce the assets of MPs and other senior officials. But that also became ineffective because of an inadequate supervision and enforcement. Lack of rigid rules and regulations made Bulgaria a fragile political and economic entity. It is amazing to know that the country lacks specialized anti corruption agencies. To add, the country could not establish an Ombudsman effectively. Recent governments passed many laws to reform and restructure the entire public administration systems in Bulgaria. For purposes of local administration, Bulgaria is divided in to 28 regions each headed by a regional governor. As well, the local self government is divided in to more than 250 municipalities. All activities of these levels were scrutinized carefully to make it corruption free (Bulgarian local authorities, n. d.). The implementation of the Civil Service Act was a significant step taken by the government. In the beginning, this act has given much hope. But, due to over politicization the newly implemented act had an immature death. Judiciary: judiciary is one of the most corrupted fields in Bulgaria. Even after initiating judicial reforms, the condition remained to be the same. It became a fashion among the officers to delay the proceedings for no obvious reasons. So many factors contribute to its ill functioning. No adequate funds are granted to the proper working of judiciary. Even if it is provided with necessary financial assistance, the funds get distributed among the officials at various levels illegally. Quite often the judiciary was alleged of lapsing different funds. It is notorious for its malfunctioning in both the civil and criminal cases. The Sofia News Agency reports some significant news in this regard. The reports says that "regarding the issue of corruption in the judiciary system, Bulgaria ranks along with countries such as Cambodia, Georgia and Mongolia. Nearly 10% of all Bulgarians say they would not report corruption due to fear of repressions, something that does not exist in any of the other European Union Member States. Only 5% of Bulgarians admit they had paid a bribe in 2008 while 76% believe Bulgaria's authorities cannot successfully deal with the corruption in the country. Corruption in the private business sector is seen as a new trend, with 54% of the respondents believing businesses pay bribes to secure favorable political decisions and legislation" (Sofia News Agency, 2009). The judicial inefficiency in Bulgaria has been a topic for many debates and discussions throughout the world. The fact is that the corrupt political system hijacked the entire judiciary. The nation had to regret much concerning to the disorders in the judicial system when it proceeded to European Union accession. The telegraph reports that "Bulgarian judicial reforms, a condition of the country's EU membership in January 2007, was harshly critical but held back from triggering legal and economic sanctions. Reform of the judiciary and law enforcement structures is necessary and long overdue," said the Commission. "The fight against high-level corruption and organized crime is not producing results"(Waterfield, 2008). In addition to judiciary, Customs Administration also is much affected by corruption. It is not an exaggeration to point out that the government is trapped by different lobbies and mafias. Such external forces have become a powerful force within the territory. They often put the rulers under pressure to get a hold of administrative affairs. These forces are grown under the partial support of the authorities and political parties. Finally, they have come out to be a parallel governmental system. They spend huge amount to bribe the officials for various purposes. Permits and licenses are given illegally to different private parties without considering necessary criteria. In due course, corruption has become a habit in all fields. The ordinary citizens of Bulgaria are forced to bribe the officials for a variety of purposes. In addition to custom officers and the police, even the doctors are also found to be immersed in corruption. The doctors began to demand huge amount without bothering about any professional ethics. The rate of corruption had a sudden increase in Bulgaria when the country adopted liberal policies. Privatization of public sector establishments was a critical resolution of the parliament. With the implementation of privatization, companies owned by the state ate sold to private individuals or private companies. This is the area where the corrupt officials can demand large amount for sanctioning licenses. The corporate companies and affluent people came forward to bag the license by bribing the concerned officers. As a result, discrimination and favoritism took place to divide the entire people in to two. The frustrated mass revolted against this preferential treatment. Many national and international agencies reported that most of the privatization deals are corrupt and illegal. But the Bulgarian legal world paid a deaf ear to these revolts. Even a peripheral study of statistics would make it clear that the rate of corruption at the local government level is uncontrollably high. There are massive disorders and discriminations in spending the central funds at the local levels. Disorders can be traced in the handling of tenders and other trade activities. Measures taken: Even in the midst of all these distortions, the fact cannot be denied that the anti corruption legislations in Bulgaria have developed significantly in the recent years. With some amended policies, bribery is made an offence by the Bulgarian criminal code. Major administrative departments have undergone a thorough restructuring. Any official caught for illegal proceedings is likely to get one to six years' imprisonment. In addition to receiving bribes, offering it also made an offence by regulations. Laws are passed to curtail violations in performing official duties. Any official who refuses or delays any proceeding came under the same law. A superior officer who tempts or allows illegal activities is also put on trial. In addition to imprisonment, various other penalties are implemented to completely wipe out corruption from the Bulgarian soil. Apart from creating some superficial improvements, all these proved to be unproductive to monitor corruption. Different agencies published some facts and figures about corruption in Bulgaria in the 90s and early years of the following decade. The National Customs Agency of Bulgaria has brought forward a factual report on the country's fight against corruption. Asset declaration of senior officials has been a land mark in the history of anti corruption movements in Bulgaria. MPs, ministers, judges, magistrates, governors and all other civil servants occupying senior official positions were forced to declare their assets publically. The personal properties of such officers as well as their relatives are calculated to publish it officially. This step disclosed the belongings the officials. All of them were prosecuted and the goods were confiscated. It can be said that this particular step had a good effect in the course of Bulgaria's anti corruption measures. Corruption is a cancerous evil for Bulgaria. Corruption in the bureaucratic level reached the private sector too. A number of establishments faced the threat of shutting down due to either a considerable shortage in money or loss of credibility among the people. Consequently, people began to feel that those organizations are less trustable. "Corruption and the Private Sector (GCR) shows that corrupt practices such as bribery, price-fixing cartels and undue influence on public policy, cost billions and constitutes a destructive force that undermines fair competition, and slows down economic growth. In the report, Bulgaria is analyzed in the context of other countries in Central and Southeastern Europe. The report found that corruption was viewed as a much larger problem by business leaders in Bulgaria. In Bulgaria, the experience of corruption in public sector contracts was at a high level" (Sofia News Agency, 2009). Smuggling was a pervasive problem even in the communist Bulgaria. The open market system of the globalized world attracted the entire people of Bulgaria. As a result, there was a sharp rise in demand for imported goods. The smugglers made maximum out of this situation. It is an obvious fact that the smugglers came to an agreement with the officials. Even in the most tactical harbors and airports, there was a flow of goods of the smugglers. All measures to wipe out this were fruitless due to the involvement of officers and politicians. Consequently, smuggling thrived to destroy the very foundation of Bulgaria's economic stability. Media: Though the Bulgarian constitution guarantees absolute press freedom, it does not work in the practical version. Various governmental agencies discourage investigative journalism. If media are getting a chance to probe deep in to controversial issues, they can surely bring out the corruption involved. In order to prevent this, many restrictions are put by both the political and bureaucratic systems. To everyone's shock, it has been reported that even the media are corrupt. The media persons come to a mutual understanding with the political parties and government officers. Receiving a good amount, the media either hide or highlight certain issues according to their benefit. Infrastructure development: Infrastructural development is the key to any country's development. It is the advancement in basic facilities that indicates the development of a country. A satisfactory transport system makes the country ensure a smooth functioning. The funds allotted for the construction or patch up of roads get eaten up by the contractors and other officials. As a result, transportation gets rarely developed. It affects tourism too. A poor road never invites tourists. In this way, the Bulgarian Government misses a huge amount from tourism. In addition to the central fund, the European Union also had some amount to grant for the Highway development. But Bulgaria lost millions due to corruption. "The National Road Infrastructure Fund which was to allocate millions of Euros to road building has been frozen. This could mean that key infrastructure which is needed to attract more tourists and investment to Bulgaria might not go ahead as planned" (Sofia News Agency, 2008). Tax collection: Taxation is one of the prime sources of accumulation money for all countries. Any disorder in collecting taxes will directly affect the nation's economy. Tax collection in Bulgaria has been largely inefficient for the past few years. Education: Bulgaria could not attain the desired improvement in the field of education owing to its wayward operation. In purchasing learning materials from publishers, ministry of education found massive disorder. Topping it, the allotted funds never reached the destination as a result of widespread corruption. "Promoting anti-corruption education in the secondary schools is one of the new activities of Coalition 2000. It became especially a pertinent issue to work on in 2004, since a further and more effective development of the educational reform in the country is on the agenda, including the adoption of the Strategy for development of the secondary education in Bulgaria and the announcing of 2005 as the Year of Democratic Citizenship Through Education by the Council of Europe" (Anticorruption Education, n. d.). Health: in the field of health also, the Bulgarian government could not achieve any distinction. The medical care at public sector proved to be inefficient. The authority often fails to deal with the spread of epidemics. "Corruption in healthcare, and particularly in the pharmaceutical sector, can limit people's access to essential medicines and drain public resources. In Bulgaria, drug company interests and their allies in government may be skewing public policy. This would mean that the most cost-effective choices are not made, budgets are spent inefficiently, priorities are not met, and access to drugs is unduly constrained for those who need them" (Corruption Vulnerabilities, 2006). Flow of foreign capital: After the elections in 1991, the government began initiating economic reforms. The reforms were laws allowing foreign investment. "Bulgaria has averaged more than 6% growth since 2004, attracting significant amounts of foreign direct investment, but corruption in the public administration, a weak judiciary, and the presence of organized crime remains significant challenges" (Dimireva, 2009). Bulgaria failed to present itself as a safe and favorable place for foreign investment. No foreign investors came forward to make investments due to its weak political and economic systems. Such a negative image had its impact on International funding too. The organizations like EU refused to grant funds as the country failed to execute it transparently. The road to democracy in Bulgaria is still under construction. The main reason for this delay is nothing but the corrupt political system and inadequate regulations on the functioning of political parties. They cease to show any commitment towards the nation and its people. Day by day, the number of offenders increases. Quite often it is charged that corruption persists due to low penalties for offenders. The nation puts maximum efforts to make it a democratic one by wiping away all anti democratic tendencies. But, corruption at various levels weakens any attempts to set up a democratic system. 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