site.btaCorruption in Bulgaria Hits 16-Year High, Report Says

Sofia, August 29 (BTA) - The corruption environment in Bulgaria has worsened in 2014 in terms of many parameters related to the standards of government and the functioning of public institutions, the Sofia-based Center for the Study of Democracy said in its latest report on corruption environment trends which was unveiled on Friday. According to the report, 2014 has seen the highest levels of administrative corruption and corruption
pressure from the public administration since 1999.

The degree of individuals' involvement in corrupt practices has reached a record 29.3 per cent of the country's adult population in 2014. The level is even higher than in 1999 and it implies that 1.9 million Bulgarians aged 18 and over admit that they have given money, gifts or services under the table in their interaction with public officers over the last year.

The corruption level is way above average rates in the EU, putting Bulgaria among the countries with a very serious corruption problem.

The researchers see a direct link between the level of administrative corruption and the political cycle. All
governments use anti-corruption rhetoric and/or pressure at the start of their tenure, but one or two years later they revert to the "old," established forms of corrupt conduct, political favouritism and cronyism.

According to the report, the Bulgarian government system lacks sustainable mechanisms to suppress corruption among public officers.

Pressure from the public administration is a major factor for corrupt conduct, it says.

While the public rejects corruption as immoral, the actual conduct of its members is conducive to corruption. The study shows that practical attitudes towards corruption are based not on morality but on rationality: in an environment dominated by corrupt relationships, a large portion of the public (70 per cent) show high or medium levels of inclination to become involved in corrupt practices.

The virtual impunity of corruption makes it a winning strategy and a "necessary evil," the report says.

The study also shows that administrative corruption in Bulgaria is endemic and systemic. The assumption that public officers expect to receive additional benefits for their services has become more widespread over the years. In 2001, some 79 per cent of individuals felt it was possible that they could come under corruption pressure, while in 2014 practically everybody (94 percent) expects that they can be asked to "give."

The endemic nature of corruption in the country makes the law an ineffective tool against it. While the number of persons sentenced annually for corruption-related offences has ranged between 100 and 150 over the last 20 years, individuals admit to involvement in corruption practices in hundreds of thousands of cases every month.

Anti-corruption legislation is very difficult to implement, the report says. Attempts are often made to exert political and economic influence on the judicial and law enforcement authorities, which makes their actions selective and, in many cases, ostentatious.

The corruption control system itself is subject to corruption pressure and is therefore non-transparent and inefficient.

Although corruption affects mainly institutions which are in charge of allocating considerable resources and discretionary power, it is in these institutions that every new government makes it its first priority to replace the leadership. Such changes are aimed at establishing political control over particular activities and sectors, rather than dealing with the problems of governance and reducing the corruption pressure.

In most sectors of society, corruption-related problems are due to specific structural imperfections, but these imperfections are only exacerbated by the policies which are supposed to suppress corruption: the attempts at improving legislation and tightening control, and the replacement of managerial personnel, the survey shows.