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Bulgaria's road to Accession 3 Public Sector AdministrationThe public sector is performing a key role in preparing Bulgaria for implementation of the EU environmental acquis. This chapter identifies some of the key stakeholders, and discusses the reform initiatives taken by Bulgaria to help meeting its obligations. The Public Sector’s Role The requirements for the applicant countries in the area of public administration are specified indirectly by conditions set in individual directives. In many areas ‘good operational practices’ have been developed internationally to assist in the transformation process. This applies, for example, to practices and procedures relating to the inspection and enforcement of environmental permits, which have been developed by the IMPEL network and the network for developing common practices for organising water basin management. However, there is no concrete set of requirements to which Bulgaria and the other applicant countries have to adhere. This means that it is ultimately down to the discretion of each country to demonstrate that it is developing the capacities and administrative systems to meet its obligations through public sector administration. These obligations can be considered under two headings: i) the capacity to prepare, co-ordinate and carry out the accession process itself and ii) the capacity to implement the EU acquis and to operate effectively within the EU on an ongoing basis. Over the last ten years, the Commission and bilateral donors, including the Danish assistance, have assisted in preparing the Bulgarian public sector for meeting these dual obligations. The most recent Regular Report by the Commission gives the following assessment of the progress achieved so far: "Overall, and in view of Bulgaria’s target date for accession, Bulgaria has achieved a reasonable degree of alignment with the acquis in many areas. Administrate capacity has also developed, although significant further efforts remain to be made. More attention needs to be paid to how laws will be implemented and enforced. In this regard, progress on the public administration and juridical reform needs to be sustained" (Regular Report 2002) Outline of the main Executive Bodies A structure for co-ordinating the European integration has been in operation for two years, and is being further strengthened by creating a Unit for European Integration within the Council of Ministers. The Council of Ministers holds monthly meetings on European integration, and a separate Ministerial Council of European Integration, also chaired by the Prime Minister, meets once or twice a month. There are two supporting units in the Council of Ministers and in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Additionally, there are working groups for each of the acquis chapters, including chapter 22 on the environment. MoEW is the executive ministry as regards the environmental sector. The Executive Environmental Agency and 15 regional inspectorates for environment and water make up the monitoring, inspection and permitting system. In addition there are three directorates of national parks and four newly established Water Basin Directorates in Blagoevgrad, Varna, Plovdiv and Pleven. The Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works implements the national policy in the area of territorial planning and public works, including planning of the water supply and sewerage systems. This ministry holds the National Expert Committee, which approves environment infrastructure projects, including the endorsement of feasibility studies involving public finance - including ISPA projects. The ministry is also the leading agency for regional and territorial planning, and co-ordinates (among other areas) the preparation of pilot Local Environmental Action Programmes and waste management planning for municipalities. The Ministry of Health monitors the impact of the external environment and the working environment on human health. In particular the Ministry determines state policy for protecting the quality of drinking water. A regional network of 28 regional health inspectorates is linked to the Ministry. The Ministry of Energy and Energy Resources was created one year ago, replacing the former State Agency for Energy and Energy Resources. The State Energy Efficiency Agency is attached to this Ministry, and has now been turned into an executive agency. A State Energy Regulatory Commission was created in 1999, with the main task of issuing licences to operating power companies. Since the beginning of this year, it has also assumed the leading role in setting prices and tariffs for power, natural gas and district heating. The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry carries out activities relating to the protection, restoration and management of agricultural land and forests. A department for agro-environment is responsible for planning and executing environment related policies covering organic farming, the protection of vulnerable zones etc. The ministry is partly accredited to managing the SAPARD programme, according to the extended decentralisation implementation system (EDIS). The Ministry of Transport and Communication regulates the control of pollution from the transport sector by preparing norms for harmful emissions from vehicles, and also controls their implementation. The Ministry of Finance provides funding from the state budget for priority environmental investments, and the ministry also allocates funds to the local government budgets. In co-operation with municipalities, the ministry sets fees and tariffs for water and solid waste management services, although this aspect is in the process of being transferred to an independent regulatory body. The Ministry of Finance holds the National Fund, which provides public co-financing to pre-structural projects, and is assigned as the National Authorising Office for approval of EU funded projects. The future management procedures for EU Structural and Cohesions Funds have now been proposed. The Ministry of Finance will be responsible for coordinating the programming of Structural Funds assistance. In addition, it will become the managing authority for the Community Support Framework and for the Cohesion Fund. A number of Operating Programmes (OP) are envisaged: a regional OP will be managed by MoRDPW, while an OP for rural development will be managed by MoAF. The payment authority for all Structural Funds and the Cohesion Fund will be the Ministry of Finance, and this will be executed through a Directorate National Fund. Public Sector Reforms A reform of public administration aims partly at further strengthening of the capacity to prepare for EU membership and for effective administration after EU accession. This reform is spelled out in the Strategy for Modernisation of the State Administration that was adopted in June 2002. Individual measures are designed to strengthen the administrative capacity to implement the EU acquis and also to strengthen the administrative capacity for managing the Structural Funds. The timeframe for the implementation of these reforms is 2002 to 2005. An inter-ministerial working group on administrative capacity to implement the acquis has recently been formed. This will help to strengthen administrative structures for implementing EU directives, and to develop the instruments and capacity to make full use of EU funds. MoRDPW is the leading ministry, with participation of MoEW and MoAF. In 2001 a report was prepared for MoEW on the need for administrative strengthening of the environmental institutions. The main conclusion was that more than 600 experts should be appointed at both national and regional level during the period up to 2005, if the ministry was to discharge its obligations effectively. As an immediate result, five extra persons have been appointed to the coordination unit for ISPA projects. In addition, a department for issuing integrated permits in accordance with the IPPC directive has just been formed, as have four new Water Basin Directorates. In line with this strategy, the Council of Ministers approved a decree enabling the recruitment of 519 new experts in the MoEW by the beginning of 2003. The extra staff is to be deployed at both central and regional levels. Sixty-two persons are to be placed at MoEW, 47 in the Environmental Executive Agency, 180 at the Regional Environmental Inspectorates and finally 230 persons at the River Basin Directorates. In March 2002, a new department on programming and co-ordination was established within the General Directorate for Regional Policy of MoRDPW. Within this department, 25 experts covering the 28 districts were appointed. Among other things, they will assist in the programming and implementing of future EU Structural Funds. They will also have the role of improving the coordination between MoRDPW and the district authorities. In addition, a new unit for managing ISPA projects has been formed, with a staff of six persons. Salary levels are low and human resource management is considered weak by the EU Regular Report. Although civil service salaries were increased by ten per cent in 2002, they remain low and there is a shortage of qualified staff to ensure sustainability of the reforms. The Civil Service Law defines the salary system, and currently this does not take sufficiently into account the jobs, skills and performance of the individual civil servants. The Council of Ministers has recently adopted a Strategy for the Training of Civil Servants. This covers introductory, continuous and specialised training for civil servants. Training on implementation of EU legislation is stressed. In line with this, the Institute for Public Administration was inaugurated last year. By the end of 2001 about 1,500 civil servants had attended courses. Further Challenges The 2002 Regular Report concludes that Bulgaria still needs to make sustained efforts to develop sufficient administrative and juridical capacity to implement and enforce the acquis. Continuing horizontal reforms of the public administration is needed as well as capacity building in the areas of environment and regional development. Further efforts are also required to establish the necessary administrative capacity for managing EU funds. The importance of the public sector reform strategy is recognised by the Bulgarian Government but it is the EU Commission’s opinion that serious efforts are required to ensure an efficient, transparent and accountable public administration. The EU Commission encourages Bulgaria to further develop its reform strategy by setting up a concrete action plan in 2003. It is evident that a concrete action plan for strengthening the public sector will also provide the basis for identifying gaps where bilateral intentional assistance is needed. Bilateral donors, including the Danish assistance, have during the last ten years been very active. The most needed areas of support are related to the staff increase at regional and local levels of the environmental administration. Here there is a concrete need for setting up a capacity building strategy and in turn to assist in setting up large-scale training programmes for new staff. There are also immediate needs for bringing in place expertise in bottleneck areas in a flexible manner, for instance the expertise to co-ordinate the implementation of environmental infrastructure projects funded by ISPA, IFIs and local means.
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