CSD Policy Brief No. 67: Turkey in The Framework of the EU Energy Union: Energy Security and Governance Risks

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

The successful creation of a European energy union will not be possible without the active involvement of Turkey. The latter is going to play a vital role as the major transit country of future alternative natural gas supply from the Caspian region and the Middle East. Similarly, Turkey will benefit from the development of the Energy Union because it can transform itself in a major energy-trading hub, Turkey’s long-term energy policy objective. The EU and Turkey also share a common objective to diminish their dependence on Russian energy imports, which could provide a necessary boost to the formal energy dialogue between the two partners in January 2016.

Voters and Parliamentarians. An Attempt for a Portrait, December 7, 1990

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

In July 1990 the Center for the Study of Democracy carried out a post-election opinion poll study of the political orientations of the Bulgarian electorate. The study used the method of the direct questionnaire, carried out on a random sample of about 3 000. Parallel with this study, the Center carried out a testing for the values orientation of the respondents. The test was a kind of continuation of the questionnaire, was targeted at the same respondents at the same time as the poll itself.

Политически брифинг № 23 на CSD: Енергийната ефективност в България: към пазарен подход и прозрачност

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

Measured by using market currency exchange rates, Bulgaria has consistently ranked as the most energy intensive economy in the EU: in 2007, it used over a ton of oil equivalent to produce 1,000 Euro worth of gross product. Measured by using purchasing power parity, Bulgaria’s energy intensity is still dismal, around 600 kg of oil equivalent per 1,000 Euro of product. Even though still negligible by any standard, Bulgaria’s energy efficiency has actually improved by about 50% since 1996 and has been on an uninterrupted path to a change for the better by about 5% per year. Overall, the Bulgarian economy seems to have completed the transition from heavy industry to less energy intensive light industry and thus already picked the low hanging fruit of natural gains in efficiency. The country is probably at a point, as some experts argue, from which onwards any additional gain in efficiency will have to be attained through advances in technologies of energy production, conversion, transportation, and use which will call for cost-effective approach and a strong incentive system.

Политически брифинг № 25 на CSD: Екологични измерения на устойчивото развитие на енергетиката в Европа

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

Main purpose of this study is to review and discuss the development of regulation at EU level to guide corresponding national legislation and policies designed to address the challenges of sustainable development, notably those on the environment dimension and as regards to the most relevant economic sector – energy. The paper will briefly examine the development of the idea and strategy for sustainable development in Europe over time, the concrete EU legislation and instruments to facilitate national policies to support such development.

Политически брифинг № 57 на CSD: Регионалните медии в България: граници на оцеляването

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

The lack of adequate local media is a trend with devastating implications for the regions of Bulgaria. It affects not only the local public institutions; regional economic activity is also hindered by the absence of independent media. At the same time, when discussing the state of media in Bulgaria, the problems of local media are often overlooked. The current publication presents the results of a survey of 179 local media with internet presence. The analysis focused on the mechanisms and factors that prevent journalists and the media from informing the public in an objective, competent, and comprehensive way.

CSD Policy Brief No. 63: Оценка на уязвимостта към рекет

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

Extortion racketeering has long been pointed out as the defining activity of organised crime. It has also been identified as one of the most effective tools used by organised crime in the accumulation of financial resources and the penetration of the legal economy. Although in recent years this crime has not been among the top listed organised crime threats in the strategic EU policy documents, it still remains ever present in European countries. The seriousness of the phenomenon has been recognised at the EU level and the crime has been listed in a number of EU legal acts in the field of police and judicial cooperation in criminal matters.

Bulgarian Organised Crime Threat Assessment 2020

Author(s): Atanas Rusev,Tihomir Bezlov,Mois Faion,Mariyan Sabev,Stefan Ralchev / Language(s): English

The 2020 Bulgarian Organised Crime Threat Assessment is the third in a series of studies which, on an annual basis, canvasses the state, volume and structure of the major criminal markets. The report also captures the trends related to organised crime over the period 2017–2019.

CSD Policy Brief No. 99: Disinformation Narratives in the 2021 Parliamentary Elections

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

The Bulgarian society has long been exposed to disinformation narratives in traditional and social media. The deterioration of media freedom on the back of the oligarchization of the media market has undermined the quality and objectivity of journalism. The media environment has been further undermined by the indiscriminate penetration of social media networks, which algorithms have further amplified sensationalist disinformation. This policy brief zooms in on the prevalence and connections to the pre-election campaign of four popular (disinformation) narratives related to conspiracy theories about COVID-19, to the support of the large Russian energy projects, the opposition to the European Green Deal and the growing anti-EU sentiments in the Bulgarian society.

Accelerated lignite exit in Bulgaria, Romania and Greece

Author(s): Martin Vladimirov,Todor Galev,Radostina Primova / Language(s): English

In light of the ambitious targets for long term decarbonisation set by the European Green Deal, a critical question for decision-makers is how to sustain a coal phase-out that is as swift as possible while also ensuring security of supply, affordable electricity, and a just transition in regions dependent on coal. The aim of this report is to support decision makers in Bulgaria, Greece and Romania to implement a timely phase-out of coal by analysing the impact on electricity systems as well as the local economy, and highlighting policy recommendations to deal with potential issues related to compensation, system security and local economic impacts.

Towards the Prevention of violent Acts at Sports Events: Proposal on a regional Cooperation Framework

Author(s): Marko Savković,Saša Đorđević / Language(s): English

Since 2000 until today seven people were killed due to the sports violence in Serbia. Over the last two years the incidents of violence at and before sports events have generated political, academic and media debate. Incidents at the Genoa stadium Luigi Ferraris jointly with the incidents during the Pride Parade have just “spiced up” the current debate. Additionally the presidents of Croatia and Serbia came with the initiatives to establish joint regional football compe¬tition, similar to the one already existing in basketball, and to co-host the 2020 European Football Championship. Yet, the sport of such international character as football is generates considerable “degree” of insecurity, particularly in this region. Incidents are constantly repeated, not only as random or organized acts of violence but also in the form of different criminal activities. This paper places an emphasis on the prevention of violence. The aim of the paper is to stir public debate about the lack of regional co-operation framework in the fight against hooliganism and violence at the sports events. In that regard, we made a brief analysis of the current situation with the focus on the mechanisms of prevention, which are already in place within EU and other European countries. Finally, we propose the model of the regional co-operation framework. The essence of our idea is to establish an additional, eighth Task Force in the current SECI Centre organisational structure, with its HQ in Bucharest. We have named it Task Force on Prevention of Violence at Sports Events. In order to achieve this goal, it is necessary to build capacity through appoint Laison Officers that will be in charge of this metter within NFP of the SECI Centre member states. We emphasize that our idea is not to set up a new regional body for strengthening cooperation in the areas of justice and internal affairs; although there is a tendency among the Western Balkan countries to do so (we refer to the initiatives of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia and Croatia). Our goal is to build up on the already existing institutional framework of cooperation.

Challenges of Women’s Participation in Serbian Peacekeeping Missions

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

This paper discusses the challenges of women’s participation in peacekeeping operations, global characteristics of the inclusion of women in peacekeeping operations, and the challenges of the related policy in Serbia. The attempt is to answer what obstacles to peacekeeping operations are present in Serbia, and what additional barriers women participating in the peacekeeping operations of Serbian military and police need to overcome. Based on interviews with the men and women participating in the missions and using secondary sources, an attempt will be made to present to the public the main challenges related to the participation of women in peacekeeping missions and to provide a number of recommendations to improve the situation in this area.

The Citizens on the Serbian-Albanian Relations and the Regional Security Cooperation

Author(s): Florian Qehaja,Arjan Dyrmishi / Language(s): English

Security Research Forum Belgrade-Prishtina-Tirana is a joint project of the Belgrade Centre for Security Policy, the Kosovar Center for Security Studies (KCSS) and the Institute for Democracy and Mediation (IDM), three independent think-tanks from Belgrade, Prishtina and Tirana, specialised in security issues. The project aims to initiate research-based discussion on possible ways to improve the relations among Serbia, Kosovo and Albania. The debate should include think-tanks, academia, politicians and the media.

Partnership for Safe Communities in Serbia

Author(s): Saša Đorđević,Gorana Radovanović / Language(s): English

The primary aim of this Report is to raise public awareness about the concept and importance of partnership, notably between the police and local self-government, in building safe communities. The findings should help the MoI and Ministry of State Administration and Local Self-Government in drafting the action plan to implement the Community Policing Strategy, whose development is late for 17 months already. Furthermore, civil society organisations will be able to rely on the Report in taking their own positions to espouse appropriate mechanisms for the improvement of safety vis-à-vis the police and local self-government. The first part of the Report contains a comparative overview of legal responsibilities of the local self-government in regard to safety and development of the community policing concept following the adoption of the strategic plan in April 2013. The second, main part analyses the operation of municipal safety councils so far. The gender dimension of local safety is then presented, followed by the analysis of the safety situation in Aranđelovac, Golubac, Leskovac, Niška Banja, Novi Pazar and Paraćin. The research methodology is presented in the final section of the Report.

Public Perception of Serbia’s Foreign Policy

Author(s): Miloš Popović,Sonja Stojanović Gajić / Language(s): English

GEOPOLITICS IS LOCAL: RAMIFICATIONS OF CHINESE PROJECTS FOR HUMAN SECURITY IN SERBIA

Author(s): Maja Bjeloš,Vuk Vuksanović / Language(s): English

The research was conducted in three Serbian cities with large PRC investments -Smederevo, Bor and Zrenjanin - to establish the impact of these projects on local communities and how they affect human security, understood in terms of human rights and human dignity. In that regard, several forms of human security endangerment were observed in the course of the research project:• Environmental hazards: Since the arrival of the PRC investments, cities of Bor and Smederevo have recorded a major surge in the emission of various harmful particles. Environmentalists have so far filed several criminal charges against Chinese companies for air pollution, including pollution of the river Mali Pek. The future will bring further environmental challenges for the inhabitants of Zrenjanin, as the Linglong tyre factory could endanger the nature reserve Carska Bara as well as the food production in Vojvodina.• Public health: Serbia is a country with the highest rate of pollution-related deaths in Europe. Cities of Bor and Smederevo have experienced a rise in the rates of cancer and various other respiratory and heart diseases connected with industrial pollution.• Socio-economic and human rights: A feature of Chinese projects is the influx of labor from Asia to Serbia. A whole range of exploitative practices against foreign and domestic workers has been recorded in all PRC projects, including human trafficking of Vietnamese workers for the purpose of labor exploitation. Despite public pressure, the Serbian authorities are ready to tolerate violations of labor and human rights in order to maintain foreign direct investments, employment and political rating.• Rule of law: PRC projects are often declared as those of ‘national interest’ and are characterised by the lack of transparency and public scrutiny. PRC investors enjoy privileged treatment by local authorities and administration that adjust the legal framework and make numerous concessions at the expense of citizens and local communities.• Cross-cultural issues: The fact that Chinese workers are not trying to integrate and interact more profoundly with the local communities remains a big problem. In the absence of interpersonal communication and intercultural exchange, inter-ethnic and sexual assault-related incidents have also been recorded in some cases.• Surveillance: Chinese cameras equipped with face recognition technology have not been utilised in these cities to date, but local population fears that cutting-edge technology could be used as the PRC presence grows

PANDEMIC MANAGEMENT: LESSONS LEARNED FOR A MORE SECURE FUTURE

Author(s): Srđan Hercigonja,Gorana Pebić / Language(s): English

Negative headlines, positive tone: how military exercises, peacekeepinig missions and IPAP are seen in Serbian media

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

In Serbian media peacekeeping missions and military exercises are mainly referred to in the context of Kosovo. Multinational operations are overwhelmingly brought up in positive context. Individual Partnership Action Plan (IPAP) is mostly touched upon in positive tone, but the reports are generally very polarized and the number of neutral texts is rather small. Overall, military exercises are the most frequently mentioned topic. However, in the reports on military exercises, Russia is never referred to in a negative tone. On the other hand, NATO is primarily mentioned in a neutral or a negative tone. This analysis focuses on media reporting regarding selected keywords, namely military exercises, peacekeeping missions, multinational operations and IPAP. These keywords were selected because they receive considerable attention in the media, but there is often a mix of true and false information in reports on them. The analysis covered 383 media pieces published between 1 December 2018 and 28 February 2019. Media sources included online portals, printed newspapers, TV and radio. The goal was to determine how often and in what context these subjects are mentioned in the media, which media sources report on them the most and whether they are brought up in positive, neutral or negative tone. We also measured how often key international actors, namely NATO, Russia and the EU are referred to. Furthermore, the tone towards NATO and Russia was analyzed in media pieces regarding military exercises and IPAP respectively.

COVIDOCRACY IN THE ELECTION PROCESS

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

Excess cultural baggage. Social mobilisation in an authoritarian Russia

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

In contemporary Russia, the traditional socio-political culture has left a legacy of conviction that the political leadership, headed by the president, is the only body empowered to act, capable of making decisions and entitled to make them, while society is subordinate to the government and acts as a petitioner appealing to the goodwill of the decision-maker. The conviction that this model is natural for Russia is upheld by an extensive network of actors, both those who deliberately foster the state-centric vision (representatives of the state administration, PR advisors, journalists) and average citizens, teachers, parents, who unknowingly reproduce the view that certain things are a “natural course of events” for Russia. As a result, society’s dissatisfaction with the condition of the state is frequently accompanied by a feeling of powerlessness and disbelief in any change of the present system.

GENDER ADVISORS IN THE SERBIAN SECURITY SECTOR

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

Mechanisms for introducing a gender equality policy into security sector governance, aimed at bringing about gender-sensitive treatment of women beneficiaries of the security system, are still lacking in Serbia. One way to ensure that gender equality issues are continuously addressed is to create a specific position for an individual whose job would be to advise top management about measures for improving gender equality. The National Action Plan (NAP) for the implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 in Serbia envisages the introduction of a gender advisor to the minister/director at the Ministry of Defence, the Ministry of Interior, the Customs Administration, the Security-Information Agency, and the Administration for Enforcement of Penal Sanctions. The advisor’s task would be to advise managers during the process of developing and implementing policies, with the goal of facilitating respect for the rights of women and men, both those employed in the security sector and those who use the services provided by security sector institutions. The same document envisages the inclusion of gender advisors in the composition of Serbian contingents in multinational operations. The intention of this text is to provide a position description, a method for selecting the gender advisor, and the ideal profile of a gender advisor. Conclusions and recommendations are made, based on the experience of other countries and on guidelines provided by participants in a specific round table on gender advisors, organised by the BCSP with the support of DCAF, and in workshops on gender advisors, organised by the BFPE in cooperation with BCSP with the financial support of the OSCE Mission in Serbia, within the framework of the training programme “Introduction of a Gender Perspective into Security Sector Reform”.