Bill to Combat Corruption in Public Enterprises

The Anti-Corruption and Corruption Prevention Commission in the parliament gave the green light to the Bill for amending and supplementing the Public Enterprises Act. The initiative, submitted by Anna Aleksandrova from GERB-SDS and a group of Members of Parliament, passed the first reading with the support of 12 votes "in favor", while seven MPs abstained.

The bill was presented by Georgi Krustev, also from GERB-SDS, who emphasized the bilateral nature of the reasons requiring the changes. "Through it, we are fulfilling the guidelines we have received from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in response to the measures to combat corruption and promote integrity in enterprises. We have also made such a commitment to the EP and the Council with the approval of the Recovery and Resilience Plan, we have such a reform enshrined", the MP explained.

Krustev's detailed explanation revealed the key elements of the proposed reform. For its successful implementation, the introduction of a mandatory system for managing corruption risk in state-owned enterprises is envisaged. This system will cover important aspects such as the selection of senior officials, taking measures to prevent conflicts of interest, adopting a Code of Ethics and the introduction of an integrity officer. The Agency for Public Enterprises and Control (APPC) will assume new responsibilities related to the adoption of the corruption risk management system, as well as the monitoring of its implementation. In addition, the APPC will be responsible for adopting a Code of Ethics for persons holding positions in public enterprises. The legislators foresee a three-month period, starting from the date of entry into force of the law, for bringing the secondary normative acts into compliance with the new provisions. Within the same period, the APPC must develop the corruption risk management system and the Code of Ethics.

In the hall of the parliament, the debates on the bill flared up. Georgi Hrisimirov from "Vazrazhdane" expressed skepticism about the effectiveness of the proposed measures, claiming that they are another example of fulfilling commitments under the Recovery and Resilience Plan, without actually addressing the problem of corruption. "You will mislead your partners with this, that we are making some changes in the direction of fighting corruption, I do not think these changes will work, they are good wishes, as well as absolutely everything that is being done in this direction", Hrisimirov noted, adding that the real fight against corruption requires a change in values and approaches, starting from the top.

Svilеn Trifonov from PP-DB drew attention to the measures to prevent conflicts of interest, pointing out that the existing provisions in the Anti-Corruption Act (ZPK) are mandatory, although they are not directly included in the bill. According to him, it remains unclear how the procedures laid down in the project will contribute to the effective fight against corruption.

The Ministry of Justice expressed support for the bill. Lyubomir Talev, director of a department in the ministry, stressed that "The introduction of an integrity officer has been agreed and recommended by the OECD Corporate Governance Committee". He explained that the anti-corruption measures described in the ZPK cover officials, while the current bill is aimed at controlling persons in public enterprises.