2.30 Varna 2023, Инвестиционен анализ
Оценки
3.35 | selected indicators on municipal council, mayor and municipal administration, police structure and court relating to the economic activity |
2.16 | selected indicators on civil society structures (media, civil organizations, business and political parties) relating to the economic activity |
3.00 | structured information for business regarding rules for economic activity and administrative service |
1.00 | encouragement of innovative start-ups and enabling conditions for start-up businesses |
2.00 | created conditions for attracting investments |
Local institutions are making efforts to develop the capacity of the municipal administration to provide quality administrative services and to attract investments. The mayor’s team and the Municipal Council have taken the first steps to attract investments (creation of a legal basis, determination of land for industrial zones), and in mid-2023 the intentions to create industrial zones were in the process of being revised. Deficits in the work of the local executive power in the person of the mayor and the mayor’s team are established in connection with the transparency in the selection of external contractors and the control of the quality performance of contracts for public procurement and other projects of the municipality. Perceptions of an unequal approach have been registered in relation to the control activity vis-à-vis private business.
The municipal council has adopted an Ordinance on attracting and promoting investments of municipal significance. Certain deficits were registered in connection with decision-making and the adoption of normative acts, reflecting lobbying influence and the influence of private interests.
The municipal administration has a built-in capacity for providing administrative services. Its management is based on the partial implementation of the basic principles of transparency, accountability and integrity – deficits in access to documents and up-to-date information have been registered. This has a negative impact on the opportunities for transparent and effective business participation in the discussion of amendments to the legal framework regarding economic activity and in the development of policies for the development of the municipality.
The municipality maintains a website that, given its scale and economic importance for the region, does not provide adequate access to information regarding investment opportunities and the development of new business initiatives. The information is structured in a way that makes it difficult to access documents and registers due to their publication in an unsystematic place in sections with other names. The “About the Business” section links to the “Buyer Profile”, the European Funds Information Centre and to the section for electronic submission of documents under the Tourism Act. There is also an official tourism portal that is aimed at users of tourism services. There is a lack of information on opportunities to support start-ups, including those in the field of innovation.
Local business has relatively good conditions for carrying out economic activity. Improved administrative service, easier and faster access to documents and services provided electronically have a positive contribution in this regard. The inconsistently implemented and non-transparent mechanisms for consultation and dialogue with business have a negative impact. To the extent that they exist, the mechanisms for interaction with local business have been formally implemented and some companies do not have the opportunity to participate equally in the process of drawing up regulations regarding economic activity.
The structures of civil society have an unsatisfactory contribution in the implementation of public control over the institutions. Local journalists work in conditions of dependence on financial means and the conditions for accessing information. The contribution of civil organisations (with the few exceptions of active environmental organisations) is modest.