Publisher: Център за изследване на демокрацията

Disposal of Confiscated Assets in the EU Member States: Laws and Practices

Disposal of Confiscated Assets in the EU Member States: Laws and Practices

Author(s): Barbara Vettori,Atanas Rusev,Todor Kolarov / Language(s): English

This report was prepared in the context of the Study RECAST – REuse of Confiscated Assets for social purposes: towards common EU Standards. The Study was awarded to the University of Palermo – Department of European Studies and International Integration (coordinator: Giovanni Fiandaca, professor of criminal law) by the European Commission, DG Home Affairs, under the 2010 ISEC Programme. It was carried out in cooperation with the Center for the Study of Democracy and the FLARE Network (co-beneficiaries) and with the support of the Italian Agenzia nazionale per l’amministrazione e la destinazione dei beni sequestrati e confiscati alla criminalità organizzata and UNICRI (associate partners). This report analyses laws and practices for the management and disposal of confiscated assets in the European Union. The analysis explores the challenges and best practices of the Member States in this hitherto neglected area and strives to contribute to improvement of the overall effectiveness of the existing confiscation systems. This mapping has been carried out by the University of Palermo – Department of European Studies and International Integration (UNIPA) and by the Center for the Study of Democracy (CSD). The main tool used to gather relevant information was a questionnaire administered to one (or more) national expert/s in each Member State; this information was complemented with secondary data.

Financing of organised crime

Financing of organised crime

Author(s): / Language(s): English

The report Financing of Organised Crime contributes to a better understanding of the financial aspects of organised crime. The analysis explores topics such as the sources and mechanisms for financing organised crime, settlement of payments, access to financing in critical moments, costs of business and the management of profits. Drawing on the results of the analysis, the report also suggests possible new approaches to tackling organised crime. The report has been produced with the joint efforts of the Center for the Study of Democracy, the University of Trento and Teesside University and in close collaboration with the State Agency National Security in Bulgaria, the State Police in Latvia and the French National Institute for Advanced Studies in Security and Justice.

Child Trafficking Among Vulnerable Groups: Country Report Bulgaria

Child Trafficking Among Vulnerable Groups: Country Report Bulgaria

Author(s): Kamelia Dimitrova,Yva Alexandrova / Language(s): English

The current report looks at three specific forms of trafficking in persons: child trafficking for begging, for pickpocketing and for sexual exploitation of boys and the way they manifest themselves among Roma communities. The report examines the profiles of victims and discusses the vulnerability factors that make the Roma minority a particular group at risk. The study provides empirical knowledge on the mechanisms of recruitment and exploitation of victims in order to inform identification efforts and counter-trafficking responses. Particular attention is devoted to the policy and measures for assistance of victims. In this field, the report identifies specific gaps in assistance and the way they affect Roma victims in particular, and suggests how child victim assistance could be improved. The active involvement of Roma organisations in the research through participatory methods aimed to gain a deeper understanding of the risk factors involved, bring knowledge back to the communities and support Roma experts’ involvement in counter-trafficking policy and mechanisms.

Assessing the Integration of Vulnerable Migrant Groups in Ten EU Member States

Assessing the Integration of Vulnerable Migrant Groups in Ten EU Member States

Author(s): Mila Mancheva,Andrey Nonchev,Slavyanka Ivanova / Language(s): English

This publication presents the results of a comparative monitoring study of the integration policies and outcomes for third-country-national (TCN) women, TCN children and TCN victims of trafficking in ten EU member states: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Spain. The study produced findings at two levels of analysis: an in-depth assessment of how migrant integration policies and programmes meet the needs of vulnerable migrant groups, and an assessment of their integration outcomes. Drawing on the analysis of these findings, the publication provides recommendations for improving monitoring mechanisms for migrant integration at the national and EU levels and for elaborating policy approaches for better integration of vulnerable migrants.

Mapping Anticorruption Enforcement Instruments

Mapping Anticorruption Enforcement Instruments

Author(s): Alexander Stoyanov,Alexander Gerganov,Andrea Di Nicola,Fabrizio Constantino,Fiamma Terenghi,Andrea Cauduro,Barbara Vettori / Language(s): English

While the enforcement of anticorruption policies has been prioritised by international and national governments, the tools for evaluating this enforcement have not been developed. The main reason for this underdevelopment is that corruption is measured and policies evaluated only at the societal level, while the level of actual corrupt transactions - the public institution - is rarely analysed. This paper outlines the conceptual justification for rethinking the focus of anticorruption monitoring, maps the corruption measurement and monitoring landscape and sketches a new instrument designed to serve a better targeted policy evaluation - Monitoring Anticorruption Policy Implementation (MACPI).

Monitoring the Hidden Economy in Macedonia: Trends and Policy Options

Monitoring the Hidden Economy in Macedonia: Trends and Policy Options

Author(s): Ana Mickovska-Raleva,Emil Shurkov / Language(s): English

Macedonia features in many discussions as a country with high hidden economy. The European Commission has repeatedly voiced its concerns in its regular country reports about the size and proliferation of hidden economy practices. Hidden employment or undeclared work in Macedonia is of particular concern to the authorities, provided the very high and stubborn levels of official unemployment and low employment levels. However, most studies and research on the matter involve a high level of ambiguity, as they refer to specific narrow outcomes of the hidden economy, usually towards a specific point in time, with dynamics being difficult to trace. The current report, prepared jointly by the Center for the Study of Democracy (CSD) and the Center for Research and Policy Making (CRPM), Macedonia proposes a methodology that would allow the tracing of the dynamics of the hidden economy and its components (e.g. hidden turnover, hidden employment, etc.) over time. This would make possible for the Macedonian government and its European partners to follow the impact and assess the effectiveness of their policies for tackling the hidden economy. Estimates suggest that the hidden economy size in Macedonia ranges from 24% to 47% of its GDP according to different measurement methods. The current report indicates that the percentage of hidden salaries remains the most acute concern, with the employment income of some 40% of Macedonian employees being at least partially undeclared. Moreover, 7% of all Macedonian employees work without a contract, and are not being paid any social security contributions whatsoever. The interviewed business representatives confirmed wide scale violations of the Labour Code. Over half of those respondents claimed that signing contracts with ‘hidden clauses’ (not accounting for the full remuneration paid out) were commonplace in their sector. Moreover, large-scale tax evasion seems to continue to pose a serious problem for the Macedonian economy and social system as the government tries to adjust them in order to be compatible with the principles of the market economy without imposing too extensive erosion of the social fabric and the existing social benefits. Tax avoidance is especially widespread among the poorest members of the society, which makes the underprivileged especially vulnerable as they may find themselves being criminally prosecuted for unpaid taxes or charged with paying large penalties. VAT returns are provided back to companies with significant time lags and represent additional burden for companies which are part of the formal economy. The issuance of cash register receipts also remains an issue, as only less than a half of the respondents claimed that they always received receipts when buying groceries. The situation is similar with the purchase of services.

Socio-Economic Effects of Public Investments for Roma Inclusion in Kavarna

Socio-Economic Effects of Public Investments for Roma Inclusion in Kavarna

Author(s): Yva Alexandrova,Slavyanka Ivanova,Anna Ivanova / Language(s): English

The aim of the current report is to provide new data and insight on the social and economic effects of public investments in Roma communities from a human development perspective. Its objective is to establish the effects of a wide range of public investments made by Kavarna municipality in the mostly-Roma neighbourhood of Hadji Dimitar, between 2004 and 2014. The investment covered areas such as housing and infrastructure, healthcare, employment, income, poverty and social exclusion, justice and crime, and political participation. It reviews a range of indicators with the aim of establishing the effects of these investments on the social and economic development of the neighbourhood and its residents, both Roma and non-Roma. It also looks beyond the neighbourhood to provide a comparative perspective on a national level. The data presented here is derived from a variety of sources and covers a range of indicators. Every effort has been made to ensure the use of similar indicators and definitions as previous household surveys, notably the UNDP/FRA study, and the NSI, however, the results are not directly comparable due to the difference in survey methodologies, samples and scope. The data presented should be taken as an indication of trends and tendencies. The lack of concrete data on the initial investments, the inputs and relevant baseline indicators has also challenged the quantifying of the contribution of individual public investments. Different investments have had different impact on the development of the neighbourhood and reducing the distances with the Bulgarian residents. This impact has been established by looking at the results obtained from a specialised household survey conducted among 300 Roma and non-Roma households in the Hadji Dimitar quarter of Kavarna in 2015. The relevance and impact of these changes is analysed through comparison with the national averages for the whole population and the averages for Roma nationally. It is also measured against the investments to establish a positive correlation between the effect and the investment where such data exists.

Child Trafficking Among Vulnerable Roma Communities: Results of Country Studies in 7 EU Member States

Child Trafficking Among Vulnerable Roma Communities: Results of Country Studies in 7 EU Member States

Author(s): Kamelia Dimitrova,Slavyanka Ivanova,Iva Alexandrova / Language(s): English

The current publication presents a study on child trafficking conducted in seven EU member states: Austria, Bulgaria, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Romania and Slovakia. The study looks at three specific forms of trafficking in persons: child trafficking for begging, for pickpocketing and for sexual exploitation of boys and the way they manifest themselves among Roma communities.The findings of the study are based on analysis of policy documents and existing statistical data, as well focus groups and in-depth interviews with key stakeholders. The fieldwork conducted in four of the countries, traditionally regarded as origin countries of trafficking victims, relied on participatory research methods. The active involvement of Roma organisations in the research aimed to gain a deeper understanding of the risk factors involved, bring knowledge back to the communities and support Roma experts’ involvement in counter-trafficking policy and mechanisms.The report examines the profiles of victims and discusses the vulnerability factors that make the Roma minority a particular group at risk. The study provides empirical knowledge on the mechanisms of recruitment and exploitation of victims in order to inform identification efforts and counter-trafficking responses. Particular attention is devoted to the policy and measures for assistance of victims. In this field, the report identifies specific gaps in assistance and the way they affect Roma victims in particular, and suggests how child victim assistance could be improved.

Shadow Power: Assessment of Corruption and Hidden Economy in Southeast Europe

Shadow Power: Assessment of Corruption and Hidden Economy in Southeast Europe

Author(s): Author Not Specified / Language(s): English

The current report, prepared by the Southeast European Leadership for Development and Integrity (SELDI) — the largest indigenous good governance initiative in SEE — makes an important contribution to the regional approach to anticorruption. It provides a civil society view of the state of corruption and comes in the wake of the 2014 SELDI comprehensive assessment of the various aspects of the legal and institutional anticorruption environments of nine SEE countries. In 2016, SELDI followed up on these assessments with an update of corruption monitoring and a special focus on state capture in the energy sector and the corruption–hidden economy nexus.The report underscores the need for broader political action for reform, which seems blocked or narrowing across the region. Inside pressure for such action has been suffocated by economic necessity and/or ethnic divisions, and the ossification of political and economic establishments. Outside pressure, delivered mostly by the European Union has been seen as wanting in relation to the size of the problems in the past couple of years due to a succession of internal and external crises.The authors underline that in none of the countries in the region has there been a clear sustained policy breakthrough in anticorruption though efforts to deliver technical solutions and to improve the functioning of the law enforcement institutions, mostly with support from the EU, have continued and even intensified in some cases. This has led to further slow decline in administrative corruption levels but at the expense of waning public support for reforms and of declining trust in national and European institutions.

National Study on Domestic and Gender Based Violence

National Study on Domestic and Gender Based Violence

Author(s): Slavyanka Ivanova / Language(s): English

Bulgaria is among those half of EU-member states where statistical information about victim-offender relationship is not gathered, hereby making impossible the assessment of the share of domestic violence among crimes against the person. Domestic violence is not qualified as a criminal offence and is still not included in the Criminal Code – and respectively, in statistical data provided by the Police and by the National Statistical Institute. Information about numbers of complaints for domestic violence registered in the police and numbers of cases of domestic violence submitted to the courts are not present in the publicly available statistics either. The current report is part of the National Study on Domestic and Gender Based Violence (DGBV) and Elaboration of Victims Support Model (VSM), developed under Programme Area 29, BG12: Domestic and Gender Based Violence, Measure 3: Research and data collection of the Norwegian Financial Mechanism, in response to their aims: research and collection of data regarding the prevalence and measures to prevent and combat DGBV. The general objective of the study is to contribute to the prevention of DGBV and to improve the situation of DGBV victims in Bulgaria, with specific focus on Roma women and girls. The specific objective is to develop knowledge and expertise regarding the situation of domestic and gender-based violence to ensure that all stakeholders including the Bulgarian government can access strong independent analysis in order to facilitate better informed and evidence-based policy decisions. This objective is achieved by conducting quantitative and qualitative study in Bulgaria which provides data regarding the prevalence and measures to prevent and combat DGBV among the general and Roma population. Additional objective is to develop and pilot a Victims Support Model (VSM), which aimed to involve local community in the assistance and protection of DGBV victims and engage the key local stakeholders (police departments, service providers, local authorities, Roma organizations).

Hidden Economy and Good Governance in Southeast Europe. Regional Assessment Report

Hidden Economy and Good Governance in Southeast Europe. Regional Assessment Report

Author(s): / Language(s): English

The current report examines the key drivers of the hidden economy and its impact on the overall economy in SEE, and in particular the employment, social and fiscal sectors. The authors focus on the links between hidden economy and corruption, especially the administrative corruption, related to VAT drain, tax payment evasion, social security payment evasion, and “speeding up” business related services. They propose new approaches for measuring and analysing the phenomena, as well as preventive and counter-measures. The hidden economy in SEE remains wide-spread, perpetuates informality, which is linked to corruption, and denotes a substantial gap between formal and informal institutions. This gap is due both to underdeveloped formal market institutions, and also to the lack of coherent enforcement of rules, often related to corruption. Those engaged in the hidden economy are more likely to face corruption pressure than the rest of the population throughout the region. The immense diversity of the scale of the phenomenon (19 % in Croatia and 81 % in Kosovo), its prevailing patterns (no written contracts in Turkey, non-payment of health care contributions in Kosovo, envelope wages in Macedonia and Bulgaria, non-formalised business in Albania) and statistical estimation of the hidden economy in GDP across Southeast European countries leads to the conclusion that any successful counter-measures would require tailor-made policies and sequencing of reforms.

Legal Framework of Registration of Non-Profit Organisations: Assessment and Recommendations for Reform

Правна рамка на регистрите на юридическите лица с нестопанска цел: оценка и предложения за промени

Author(s): Maria Yordanova,Dimitar Markov,Miryana Ilcheva,Galina Sapundzhieva / Language(s): Bulgarian

Keywords: CSD; Center for the Study of Democracy; Legal Framework; Non-Profit Organisations; NGO; Reform

Improvement of registration of non-profit organisations (NPOs) is a necessary precondition for strengthening the civil society and increasing its transparency and accountability. An easy and simple registration procedure, with no duplication of information and functioning automatic exchange of data, would allow the civic sector to concentrate on its substantive priorities. The registration of NPOs and its subsequent maintenance determines to a large extent the relations between those organisations and the state authorities and is an indicator of the will of decision makers to lighten excessive administrative burden and thus facilitate the civil sector's development. The concept offered and the recommendations for legislative changes provide support to institutions in achieving that aim.

Vulnerable Groups of Prisoners: A Handbook

Vulnerable Groups of Prisoners: A Handbook

Author(s): Alejandro Forero Cuéllar,María Celeste Tortosa,Klaus Dreckmann,Dimitar Markov,Maria Doichinova / Language(s): English

Keywords: CSD; Center for the Study of Democracy; Vulnerable Groups; Prisoners; Handbook

In prison, certain groups of inmates are subject to disadvantages due to specifics of their origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, etc. These groups usually need special treatment, which is not always provided, which leads to unequal treatment and violation of their rights. This handbook examines the situation of such vulnerable groups within the prison systems of Belgium, Bulgaria, Germany, Lithuania and Spain. Starting from the classification of the UN Handbook on Prisoners with special needs and looking at the different national contexts, the authors identify different groups as vulnerable in different countries. In order to encompass as many groups as possible, their list was extended to include some particularly marginalised groups, such as sex offenders, prisoners with disabilities, etc. Each group is viewed in context, explaining the situations of vulnerability both generally and in the selected countries. From one side, the handbook presents the efforts for compensation of vulnerabilities in every country available in the legislation or provided by prison authorities or other actors. From the other side, it identifies the gaps in the measures and practices, which vary both from country to country and from group to group.

Prison Conditions Monitoring Index: Methodology and Pilot Results

Prison Conditions Monitoring Index: Methodology and Pilot Results

Author(s): Dimitar Markov,Maria Doichinova / Language(s): English

Keywords: Prison; Monitoring Index; penitentiary system; Prison Conditions Monitoring Index; PCMI; NGO

International organisations, national governments and human rights NGOs exercise various types of monitoring of the penitentiary systems. In order to quantify their results, there are some generally accepted indicators (such as the number of inmates per 100.000 citizens), but in many specific areas like healthcare, employment, security and safety, such indicators have never been applied. Therefore, those monitoring efforts will substantially benefit from an instrument capable of supplying comparable and easy-to-use data on the situation in prisons. To address this need, the Center for the Study of Democracy, in cooperation with the Dortmund University of Applied Sciences and Arts, the Observatory on the Penal System and Human Rights with the University of Barcelona, the Law Institute of Lithuania and Association Droit au Droit, developed a Prison Conditions Monitoring Index (PCMI) – a system of indicators translating into comparable figures the situation in different prisons. In the end of 2014, the PCMI was piloted in several prisons in Bulgaria, Germany and Lithuania to test its operability and analyse the potential use of the results it generates. The present report elaborates on the methodology underlying the PCMI and offers a summary of the results of its pilot implementation. It is intended for a broad audience of readers including policy makers, prison staff, lawyers, social workers, academics and NGOs interested in the topic of prison monitoring.

Ambulant sanctions as an alternative to imprisonment in the European Union

Ambulant sanctions as an alternative to imprisonment in the European Union

Author(s): Christine M. Graebsch,Sven-Uwe Burkhardt / Language(s): English

The issue of imprisonment vs. alternative penalties has been debated in various European countries during the last decades, and ambulant sanctions have been heavily on the rise. Community sentences and other alternatives to imprisonment are regarded as modern instruments for the rehabilitation of offenders. The objective of the present study is to examine the scope of application of penalties without deprivation of liberty as compared to imprisonment as well as to identify promising practices of alternative criminal sanctioning in Belgium, Bulgaria, Germany, Spain and Lithuania. As this study covers several European countries, the comparative perspective suggests itself nearly as a matter of course. In this connection, it seems reasonable to describe the existing ambulant sanctions of the different member states involved, taking into account their legal arrangement and their relation within the system of penal sanctions including their relation to the deprivation of liberty. It in addition appears sensible to describe and compare these ambulant sanctions with reference to their contribution to the re-socialisation or rehabilitation of those subjected to them as well as with special attention to the involvement of civil society in their execution. In a further step, promising practices in connection with ambulant sanctions could be highlighted which may be recommended for imitation by other member states. Such an approach proves to be impossible for multiple reasons, though, and it would be inadequate just to make such an attempt. There are exemplary references to ambulant sanctions in Belgium, Bulgaria, Germany, Lithuania and Spain. This is due to the fact that scientists from these countries have taken part in the realisation of this project but not necessarily because of specific outstanding features of their sanction systems in comparison with other member states.

Reader of Articles: Best Practices in Monitoring Hidden Economy

Збирка трудови од најдобри практики за следење на скриената економија / Përmbledhje punimesh mbi praktikat më të mira për vëzhgimin e ekonomisë së fshehur

Author(s): / Language(s): Albanian,Macedonian

Recognizing the profound significance of the problem to countries in Southeast Europe, the Center for the Study of Democracy (CSD) in Bulgaria and the Center for Research and Policy Making (CRPM) in Macedonia have started an initiative to monitor and analyze the hidden economy and to outline actions for curbing its negative implications in Macedonia. CSD and CPRM seek to introduce evidence-based tools for monitoring and awareness raising for tackling the hidden economy in Macedonia, based on the experience CSD has acquired in monitoring and fighting the hidden economy in Bulgaria for more than 10 years. The purpose of the current review is to outline recent leading research and best international practices in monitoring the hidden economy. The compilation of articles summarizes the most recent activities in countering the hidden economy in the EU and beyond. Understanding current research and policy work on the hidden economy will help Macedonian government, practitioners, and civil society to better understand its nature and implications for development on national and local level in Macedonia. This introduction makes a brief review of the prevailing understating and definitions of the hidden economy, ways of measuring it, and concludes with a summary review of the articles included in the reader. The current reader aims to aid Macedonian policy-makers and other stakeholders to better understand, monitor, and tackle the hidden economy and its negative consequences on society and the economy, and in particular on the most vulnerable groups. It brings together the best recent academic knowledge on the hidden economy compiled and adapted to address the needs of the local constituency in Macedonia. The reader tries to serve as a helpful reference tool as well as a source of ideas and recommendations for action.

Right of Defence and the Principle of Equality of Arms in the Criminal Procedure in Bulgaria

Right of Defence and the Principle of Equality of Arms in the Criminal Procedure in Bulgaria

Author(s): Maria Yordanova,Dimitar Markov,Miriana Ilcheva / Language(s): English

The publication analyses the regulation of the right of defence in Bulgaria and explores the principle of equality of the parties in the pre-trial phase. For the purposes of the study the authors present the system of judicial and investigative bodies as well as the most important characteristics of the criminal proceedings, in particular of the pre-trial proceedings. The study discusses the rights of the defence counsels and their procedural role and outlines a number of problems that attorneys face in defending their clients during the criminal proceedings.

Justice Sector Institutional Indicators for Criminal Case Management: Efforts on Supranational and National Level, Bulgarian and Polish Perspective

Justice Sector Institutional Indicators for Criminal Case Management: Efforts on Supranational and National Level, Bulgarian and Polish Perspective

Author(s): Nicola Giovannini,Malena Zingoni,Miriana Ilcheva,Paweł Wiliński / Language(s): English

This publication reviews the existing practices of courts’ performance measurement and criminal cases management based on the concepts of efficiency and effectiveness, transparency, quality care, benchmarking, result orientation and accountability. These efforts are considered on supranational and national level as two components of the process of implementing a quality model in the justice sector, growing increasingly intense at EU level. At national level, the report examines the achievements in implementing performance indicators in England and Wales, Germany, Netherlands, Finland, Belgium, France and Spain, as well as in Romania. The normative, policy and strategic framework of Bulgaria and Poland is also tackled in order to cover the prospects for introduction of such indicators in the two target countries.

Antimafia – The Italian Experience in Fighting Organised Crime

Антимафия. Италианският опит в борбата срещу организираната престъпност

Author(s): Barbara Vettori,Andrea Di Nicola / Language(s): Bulgarian

The current reader presents the Italian policies against organized crime, which encompass a broad set of instruments tailored to counter the threat from ‘mafia’ and other organised crime threats in Italy. The key measures among these are: the confiscation, administration and utilization of confiscated criminal assets; the dissolution of local municipal councils, infiltrated by mafia; special penitentiary regimes for high-ranking leaders of organized crime. All these policies are a direct response to the challenges imposed by the organized crime. They expand the scope and the set of instruments available to the prosecution and law-enforcement systems. This set of policies complement the traditional approaches against the mafia, which have proven to be not sufficiently effective in a situation of persisting mafia pressure upon the political and economic life in the country. In light of this, the Italian experience could be applicable to countries, such as Bulgaria, which are vulnerable to corruption and organized crime.

Crime Trends in Bulgaria 2000 – 2010

Crime Trends in Bulgaria 2000 – 2010

Author(s): Tihomir Bezlov,Philip Gounev,Alexander Gerganov / Language(s): English

The present study examines cime trends in Bulgaria between 2000 and 2010 based on a comparison between surveys of crime victims (National Crime Survey) and police statistics. In addition to overall crime trends data, the report presents data on ten different categories of crime, as well as regional specifics of crime in Bulgaria. Criminal justice and socio-economic data is also analysed in an attempt to explain the observed trends in crime.