site.btaCivic Engagement in Bulgaria Rated 3.39 Points Out of 6

Civic Engagement in Bulgaria Rated 3.39 Points Out of 6

Sofia, February 22 (BTA) - Civic engagement in Bulgaria has been rated 3.39 points on a scale of 0 to 6, Iva Taralezhkova of the Civic Engagement Forum told a BTA-hosted news conference on Monday. Taralezhkova cited a 2015 index compiled by the Forum which represents over 100 NGOs active in nature conservation, social affairs, education and other areas.

"We are in a phase when civic engagement is still developing, although the necessary legal framework is already in place," she commented. She believes it is necessary to reduce the minimum number of signatures required in order to organize a referendum because the current limit makes things too difficult for civic organizations. Taralezhkova noted that public discussions on important documents come too late in the process; they are not debated until after being written.

The advisory bodies working with government institutions usually include a very small number of citizen representatives, said Toma Belev of the Bulgarian Parks Association. Belev serves with the Supreme Environmental Expert Council at the Ministry of Environment and Water. He said many advisory bodies do not include representatives of the NGO sector. In the Council on Genetically Modified Organisms, for example, the NGO representatives have no right to vote, and in the coordination councils on forest protection there are people from the courts and the prosecution offices but not from NGOs. One of the panels of the Supreme Environmental Expert Council does not include any citizen representatives, Belev complained.

Speakers at the news conference said that the education level and experience required from civic representatives should also be required from all other members of advisory bodies. All interested parties should be represented equally in these bodies, they demanded.