The Local Integrity System Index in Bulgaria for 2022 represents the results from a survey in the 27 municipalities which are regional centres. It includes data for the capacity, role and governance of 10 key institutions and sectors of public life on local level: the municipal council, the mayor, the municipal administration, court, police, political parties, business, media, civil society organisations and the municipal healthcare structures. The Index is compiled on the basis of a detailed set of indicators that assess the capacity for effective functioning of the surveyed sectors, their role and contribution to the development of local communities in the context of good governance and prevention of corruption.

For the first time this year, the survey includes municipal healthcare structures (hospitals with municipal share participation and Diagnostic Consultative Centres). The main reason for this is the reaction of the institutions of the healthcare system in connection with the containment of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has had a negative impact on the functioning of all other institutions and sectors of public life in the country.

The total value of the Local Integrity System Index for 2022 is 3.22 points with a maximum value of 5. The summarized data from the survey show that minimal progress has been made in some aspects of the activities of some of the institutions of local government and local self-government, while at the same time there is a lack of progress or retreat in other indicators. For example, the development of electronic technologies leads to the provision of a wider range of electronic services provided by municipal administrations to businesses and citizens, and to increased publicity in the work of mayors and municipal councilors. At the same time, the mechanisms for interaction with business, civil society organizations and the media continue to suffer from a lack of transparency and uncertainty who, when and in what way influences the policies for the development of local communities and specific management decisions. The topic of counteracting corruption is discussed in a declaratory manner, and good governance is mainly perceived through the introduction of e-government.

The 2022 survey confirms the previous positive assessment of the work of the local administration, which, despite the relatively limited financial resources in a significant number of the municipalities, manages to introduce new technologies and enhance staff qualifications, which is the basis for improving the administrative service provided to businesses and citizens.

Ranking by Municipalities

At the top of the ranking is Ruse Municipality with 3.74 index points. Burgas (with an overall index of 3.70 points) and Plovdiv (with a total index of 3.64 points) are also in the group of municipalities with a high index.

The municipalities with the lowest values of aggregate index are Kardzhali (with an overall index of 2.68), Silistra (with an overall index of 2.79) and Haskovo (with an overall index of 2.83 points).

 Ranking by Sectors

The sectors with the highest index are the municipal administration (with a total value of 3.86 points), the court (with a total value of 3.79 points) and the mayor’s institution (with a total value of 3.71 points). The local police structures (with a total value of 3.42 points) and municipal councils (with a total value of 3.03 points) are ranked next.

Civil society organizations are performing relatively well with an overall score of 3.00 points.

Healthcare is the sector with the lowest overall performance, with municipal healthcare structures receiving a score of 2.59 points. Second to last in the overall ranking is the business sector, with an index of 2.76 points, and third to last is the local media, with an index of 2.84 points.

How do institutions perform on a local level?

The overall score of Municipal Councils in 2022 is 3.03 points.

The Municipal Council of Burgas is leading in the ranking with a total score of 4.11 points, also being the only council with a score above 4 points. The Municipal Councils of Lovech, Razgrad, Veliko Tarnovo, Kyustendil, Dobrich and Ruse have moved up in the ranking for 2022 in comparison to previous years. At the bottom of the ranking are the Municipal Councils of Haskovo, Kardzhali, Pazardzhik and Pleven.

The key challenges identified are: the effective implementation of guarantees for the independence of municipal councilors from external unregulated influence, the formalized approach in the supervision of local authorities (especially in relation to the management of municipal enterprises), the insufficient transparency and the lack of a systematic approach to ensure equitable representation of interests.

In this regard, it is important to note that the there are no clearly defined mechanisms for participation of business and civil society organizations to guarantee equitable participation in the drafting of strategies and policies for local community development and the legal framework regulating economic activity at the local level. The few exceptions are the municipalities of Lovech, Burgas and Gabrovo. They have already taken the first steps to create rules for the participation of civil society organizations and businesses in public and consultative councils that contribute to the development of local policies.

The overall score of the mayor’s institution in 2022 is 3,71 points. The leading places in the ranking are taken by the Mayors of Ruse (4,59 points) and Dobrich (4,35 points), while the Mayors of Kardzhali (2.41 points), Silistra (2.74 points) and Haskovo (2.92 points) are at the bottom of the ranking.

The study of the capacity of the mayor’s institution is based on an assessment of the ability to implement a clear management vision and mobilize the necessary resources for community development. In 13 of the surveyed municipalities, the mayors (with mandates for the period 2019-2023) have ensured publicity and accountability on the implementation of their management program. The Mayors of Dobrich, Ruse and Lovech have demonstrated a significant level of reporting on the goals achieved. A retreat from established reporting practices in comparison to the previous survey was identified in Gabrovo and Sofia.

The role of the mayor in building a sustainable Local Integrity System is studied through the prism of three indicators: management of the local administration, control over the providers of public services, transparent interaction with local business and impartial approach in the control of compliance with the rules of economic activity. The indicators on transparency in the selection of external contractors and control over suppliers have the lowest score with a total value for all municipalities of 3.33 points. The 2022 survey reiterated previous findings regarding the unsatisfactory degree of transparency of the consultative process and the interaction with business and civil society organizations on municipal development policies and important management decisions. The total score for this indicator is 3.57 points, and it is significantly lower in several municipalities (Kardzhali, Silistra and Haskovo).

The total score of the Municipal Administration Index in 2022 is 3.86 points – the highest value of the index compared to other institutions and sectors. Leading positions are occupied by the municipal administrations in Sofia (4.44 points) and Burgas (4.43 points), and the lowest score is given to the administration in Silistra (2.84 points).

The study of the capacity of the local administration is based on an assessment of the effectiveness in the use of resources for the provision of administrative services and the degree of independence in the work of employees. The survey in 2022 shows that there is significant progress in the implementation of complex administrative services and the development of modern platforms for the provision of electronic services – the total score of the surveyed indicators is 4.27 points in 2022, compared to 3.91 points in 2017. Among the municipalities that meet these criteria to the highest extent are Burgas, Veliko Tarnovo, Gabrovo, Dobrich, Kyustendil, Pleven, Plovdiv, Ruse, Sofia and Stara Zagora.

The role of the municipal administration in building a sustainable Local Integrity System is studied through the prism of a group of indicators, including: transparency and accountability in public procurement, transparency and accountability of revenues and expenditures, management and accountability of municipal companies, providing opportunities for participation of citizens and businesses in the planning of municipal policies, administrative services, conducive to investment. The indicators for opportunities provided for participation of local businesses and civil society organizations are applied to a comparatively higher degree by the administrations in Sofia, Burgas, Lovech, and Sliven.

Significant progress is being made in ensuring publicity of the registers maintained by municipalities, which is a prerequisite for creating conditions for unhindered access to information that is important for citizens and businesses – half of the municipalities provide access to the registers through their websites.

The 2022 survey includes a new indicator related to the development of favorable conditions for investment. In this regard, in addition to the municipalities that have been working for several years on the development of separate industrial zones and specialized administrative structures (such as Sofia, Burgas, Varna, Plovdiv, Ruse), the progress of  Stara Zagora, Razgrad, Sliven and Yambol should also be noted.

Within the management dimension of municipal administrations, the progress made in 2022 in meeting the accountability requirements for the work of the administration should be pointed out. In this regard, there are good examples of accountability and feedback to citizens in Ruse, Burgas, Varna, Gabrovo, Dobrich, Targovishte.

The total score of the Index of the Court in 2022 is 3,79 points.

The better score in comparison to the previous study is due to assessments of the capacity and the management of the courts. The large share of judges trained and the introduction of common standards for publicity and accountability for the work of the courts have made a major contribution to the increase in points.

The indicators measuring the effectiveness of the administration of justice (delayed cases, timeliness of the administration of justice and appealed court decisions) receive the lowest aggregated scores. The problem of delayed cases has come to the fore in 2022 (the summary value is 2.96 points). In the indicators assessing delay and timeliness in the administration of justice, the courts in Vidin, Vratsa, Lovech, Razgrad and Targovishte score the best, while Veliko Tarnovo, Gabrovo, Kardzhali, Plovdiv, Ruse, Sofia and Stara Zagora score the worst.

The governance dimension shows an improvement in the indicators of transparency (ensuring publicity in the work of the court) and accountability (publicly available detailed report on the work of the court, the availability of clear and publicly available judicial statistics, the existence of a system for dealing with signals for corruption and disciplinary practices).

The total score of the Index of the Regional Directorates of the Ministry of Interior in 2022 is 3.42 points.

In the overall ranking of the main pillars of the Local Integrity System, the authorities of the Ministry of Interior occupy the fourth position out of ten surveyed structures. This sector registered a tangible improvement in its performance compared to the period 2015-2017. Compared to 2017, there is a significant improvement in the performance of the Ministry of Interior in the following indicators: effectiveness of the investigation – share of returned pre-trial proceedings due to significant procedural violations in the investigation; ensuring publicity of information about the work of the Ministry of Interior; sustained practice of police accountability at the local level. At the same time, a retreat is identified in two of the indicators: revealed corruption crimes, in particular “bribery”; impartiality in the activities of employees – resisting corruption pressure.

Leading positions in the ranking are occupied by the structures in Plovdiv and Razgrad, with Plovdiv registering a significant improvement compared to the previous survey (17th place in the index for 2017). The structures of the Regional Directorate of the Ministry of Interior in Shumen and Pleven have a significantly better performance compared to 2017. At the bottom of the ranking are the structures of the Ministry of Interior in Blagoevgrad and Targovishte, with lower scores of indicators measuring corruption investigations and police accountability at local level.

Civic dimension of the Local Integrity System

In the Local Integrity System Index – 2022, political parties and civil society organizations receive relatively higher ratings, while business, media and municipal healthcare have significant deficits in more than one aspect. The lowest score is received by the municipal healthcare sector – 2.59 points.

The overall score of political parties is 3.22 points. The highest score is given to the local structures of the parties in Ruse (3.93 points), Sofia (3.77 points) and Plovdiv (3.76 points).

The overall score of local civil society organisations is 3,00 points with no change in comparison to previous surveys. The highest scores are received by civil society organizations in Sofia (3.77 points), Plovdiv (3.72 points), and Stara Zagora (3.71 points). These scores are the result of a relatively even development of indicators in the three dimensions – capacity, role, and management.

It is important to point out that the COVID-19 pandemic had an extremely negative impact on the mobilization of the non-governmental sector in the implementation of initiatives related to the principles of good governance. The “closure” of institutions and their reduced capacity and willingness to interact with civil society entities had an additional negative effect. As a result, civil society organizations had a more modest contribution to the implementation of anti-corruption initiatives.

The lack of sufficient financial resources civil society organizations is largely due to the lack of financial programs that support initiatives aimed at good governance, civil control and counteraction to corruption on local level. To compensate for this deficit, NGOs resort to successful strategies to mobilize non-financial resources to implement their activities: involving volunteers, experts, authoritative personalities from local communities; interaction with local media; active use of social networks.

The Business scores a total of 2.76 points, making it the sector ranking second to last in the overall ranking of the ten surveyed sectors. Leading positions in the ranking are occupied by municipalities that have created a relatively good investment climate and in which the business has the capacity to work efficiently. The highest score is given to the local business structures in Plovdiv (3.65 points), and several structures in other municipalities have a total index score of over 3 points – Yambol (3.63), Sofia (3.50 points), Ruse (3.39 points), Burgas (3.33 points), Stara Zagora (3.25 points), Razgrad, Vratsa; Two municipalities have below 2 points – Smolyan (1.97 points) and Kardzhali (1.94 points).

The highest score from the overall business survey is given the capacity dimension (3.05) and the lowest – to the role of the business and its contribution to the Local Integrity System (2.38). Intermediate place is occupied by the assessment of business management in the country, the average rating here is 2.83 and reflects the neglect of the business ethics’ standards.

The capacity of the business to prevent corruption is assessed through the prism of three indicators: independence of local business from local government decisions and the presence, respectively – the lack of undue influence on economic activity, hampering the activity of the business; ability of businesses to assert their interests when affected by unlawful decisions of local authorities through the use of the legitimate tools of litigation and arbitration. As with previous surveys, in 2022 the adverse impact of the non-transparent decision-making process of local authorities is indicated, which leads to favoritism of certain companies and creating difficulties for others. In this regard, the establishment of (1) clear rules for business participation in the local level consultation process, combined with (2) transparency on the compositions of established expert/advisory/public councils, has not yet to be systematically done.

The Media Index has a total score of 2.84 points, thus ranking in the 8th position among the pillars of the Local Integrity System. The comparative assessment of the three studied dimensions (capacity, role and governance) shows that the most significant deficits are in the implementation of the role of the media – the assessment on this complex of indicator is 2.30 points.

The media receive a low score on the capacity dimension (resources and independence), with a score of 3.34 points. The majority of local media are in a difficult financial situation, which, according to journalists, leads to compromises with high professional standards of quality and objectivity (shortage of human resources, outdated equipment, lack of specialized software). With the exception of Sofia (3.65 points) and some larger cities, the number of media that reflects the full spectrum of significant points of view, political and social positions shrink.

The study identified the trend of increasing dependence of local media on the budgets for media services of municipalities and on publicity budgets for European projects implemented at local and regional level.

The most serious concern is the low ratings of the media on the indicator role in the Local Integrity System – an overall score of 2.30 points, with only the media in Sofia, Plovdiv and Stara Zagora receiving scores above 3 points on this group of indicators. Journalists in local media rarely conduct journalistic investigations. Although corruption is sometimes present in local media, it is more about reporting on national media revelations than independent investigations of local journalists. Most local media in the surveyed municipalities have not conducted effective journalistic investigations in the last year and have not exposed cases of corruption or abuse at the local level. The exceptions are few and show in the work of media in Sofia, Stara Zagora, Varna, Plovdiv, Blagoevgrad, Shumen.

In the overall ranking of the Index, the structures of municipal healthcare occupy the 10^th last place with an average score of 2.59 points. The sector is included for the first time in the study of the Local Integrity System Index for 2022.

The assessment of the contribution of municipal healthcare structures to the Local Integrity System is based on a survey of 16 indicators, the information about which is accumulated through interviews, surveys, additional data provided under the Access to Public Information Act, as well as an analysis of the official websites of municipal medical institutions. The indicators are grouped into three categories – capacity, role, and governance.

Leading positions in the ranking are occupied by the municipal healthcare structures in Ruse, Sofia, Burgas and Plovdiv, and the last places in the ranking, with scores below 2 points, are the structures Kardzhali, Montana, Pleven and Kyustendil. Municipalities where there are specialized hospitals (COC Ruse, for example) massively register better results in the index. Municipalities where there are no municipal medical institutions or the municipality has a minimum share generally register lower scores (Kyustendil).

Capacity has been assessed by means of three main indicators: legal framework; human resources and material resources. The most frequently cited problems in this respect are the ageing staff and the shortage of specialized staff. Although there are exceptions to this situation (Smolyan and Stara Zagora), in most cities this problem is particularly acute.

The study identified some good practices for overcoming the human resources deficit. For example, some regional cities seek to attract specialists by providing free municipal housing to doctors from other settlements (Pernik) or by concluding a tripartite contract with the Thracian University for practical training of nurses (Smolyan). The presence of medical universities in regional cities has a beneficial impact on the workforce in this sector, although it is insufficient to meet the needs of medical institutions.

The role of municipal healthcare structures is measured by two main indicators: participation in anti-corruption policies at local level and support for civic initiatives for good governance. Indicators for this category record the weakest results. In general, the topic of corruption remains distant for the structures of municipal healthcare and although there are few exceptions, municipal hospitals and Diagnostic Consultative Centres do not participate in such initiatives.

Interaction with the civil sector exists as long as it does not concern anti-corruption initiatives. In the field of social services and additional assistance to patients, a better level of interaction between the structures of municipal healthcare and the civil sector has been found.

In general, the results of the survey show that municipal healthcare structures do not have well-developed systems for counteracting corruption and generally do not perceive this topic as important. They report periodically to the municipal councils. In this respect, there is a sustainable practice in all regional cities, which is also legally regulated. However, the practice of ensuring transparency and accountability to civil society organizations and media differs from the practice of accountability to municipal councils and the National Health Insurance Fund.