Principles, Parameters and Practices of Civic Control in the Republic of Bulgaria (1996-1997)

The project aimed at making an evaluation of the recent situation, generalizing and summing up the experience of the NGOs, clarifying the parameters and legislation framework, within which the civil control could be exercised by these organizations, laying down the principles of interaction between them and the state institutions and making recommendations for further action in the field of civil control.

The project activities included a two-day workshop focused on the relations “state institutions – non-governmental organizations” in the areas of: human rights, ecology, local development, information projects and other problems of public interest. The workshop summed up the experience of the Bulgarian NGOs and contributed to the formulation of the principles of effective interaction with public institutions in the sphere of civil control. As a result, in an address, issued on the Association’s initiative, 33 NGOs appealed to the Delegation of the European Commission to Bulgaria and to the Bulgarian authorities for NGO participation in the control over the distribution of EU humanitarian aid, to guarantee publicity and transparency of the distribution procedure. Their position was taken into account in Council of Ministers’ Decree 42 of 10 February 1997, and Ordinance 1 of the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy, and civic boards were set up. The reports presented at the workshop and the discussions were published in the book Civil Control in the Republic of Bulgaria (1999).