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Description
Bulgarian citizens’ trust in public institutions is at a critically low level. One of the reasons for mistrust is the corrupted manner of nomination, selection, election and appointment of the managing bodies of the National Assembly or the executive power. The project aims at outlining opportunities to further counteract the ongoing occupation of public institutions by setting up mechanisms to bring to light the appointments of heads of single or collective managing bodies elected by the parliament or the government and based on methods for monitoring public appointments. The project will achieve its goal by keeping the successful efforts of the Bulgarian Institute for Legal Initiatives (BILI) to monitor parliamentary appointments and upgrading the monitoring platform we set up (www.appointmentsboard.bg). The focus will be on the appointment of the managing bodies of state committees and agencies and executive agencies and their territorial branches by analyzing the legal framework, the practice and international experience available. Based on the latter sources we will develop a methodology and test it in a pilot initiative. We will attract young people in the process, partner local NGOs and transfer monitoring expertise (in 5 district cities). We will put forward proposals to raise the standards for appointments and carry out innovative studies to trace the possible connections of local heads of managing bodies and how the latter affects local communities. The project will benefit representatives of public institutions, NGOs, young people, the media and experts. The project will help bring about more transparency and accountability of institutions at national and local level and greater civic competence to monitor public appointments.
Summary of project results
The project aims to address the issues with public procedures for the selection of authorities by ensuring transparency in the processes, with the goal of achieving a high-quality selection. Compromised procedures further diminish citizens'' trust in institutions and increase power distances within society.
Monitoring of public appointments was conducted, resulting in the recommendation of practices that adhere to the highest standards, ensuring selection based on candidates'' professional skills and personal qualities. The monitoring and related activities are publicly accessible on the platform www.appointmentsboard.bg. These include monitoring of all selection procedures conducted by the National Assembly during the project period, information on parliamentary appointments from previous years, public presentations of all candidates for election by the National Assembly to individual or collective bodies from September 2021 to September 2023, an updated schedule of expiring mandates given the increasing number of bodies functioning after their mandates expire, and an analysis of parliamentary appointments.
In the monitoring and analysis process, a special internship-mentoring program was integrated, successfully completed by 7 students. An analysis titled "High-Level Public Appointments In The
Executive Power In Bulgaria" was prepared. All project analyses and recommendations were consulted and discussed with representatives of institutions and citizens, and experts and representatives of the academic community participated in their preparation.
The project also addressed local communities by conducting sociological surveys in various locations (Varna, Vratsa, and Stara Zagora) on public appointments issues, presenting them in the first-of-its-kind report.
The analytical products provide the opportunity to present, in a suitable format, the vast amount of gathered information, conclusions drawn, and formulated recommendations to all bodies and institutions directly or indirectly involved and responsible for personnel policy issues implemented by the state.
The methodology for civic monitoring of public appointments has been presented to civil activists in the country and disseminated in the civil sector, thus providing an instrument for civic control towards increased transparency and accountability of institutions.
The feedback obtained from on-site studies offered a broader understanding of power networks, party and economic dependencies, transparency in appointments, and the accountability of institutions. In a practical sense, the opinions and attitudes of local communities set starting points for responsible authorities to find solutions aimed at improving selection standards and, consequently, enhancing the legitimacy of institutions.
The implementation of the project provided an invaluable opportunity for the first time to explore models for the selection and appointment of authorities and leaders of administrative structures at both central and territorial levels from different countries.
A positive practice from the project is conducting strategic cases to establish judicial precedent for increased transparency in governance.
Another positive practice is the maintenance and updating of a specialized platform – providing public access to diverse information on the subject of public appointments, both empirical and analytical.
The platform, which contains information on more than 10-year period of public appointments will continue to be maintained. The network of civic activists that has been created has the potential to keep up the monitoring activities. The most significant output is that the issue is now high in the public space and many politicians were involved with finding appropriate solutions.