Speech by Mr Olli Rehn
Member of the European Commission, responsible for Enlargement

"Towards good governance - combating corruption in public sector reform"

Seminar organised by "HAUS" Finnish Institute of Public Management
Sofia, 14 October 2005

Your Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is a great pleasure for me to have the opportunity to address this seminar. Let me first congratulate the organisers of this event. Both the Bulgarian and Finnish partners are successfully implementing a Phare project which aims at addressing the very complex issue of the fight against corruption.

Before going to the subject of this particular conference, allow me to note some figures. Since 1998 1.3 billion Euros have been allocated to Bulgaria through the different pre-accession programmes. Out of this, around 200 million Euros were dedicated to the reform processes in the judiciary, public administration and to the fight against corruption. These are very impressive figures and show the commitment of the European Union to the accession of Bulgaria. Now is a good moment to take stock of what has been achieved with the contribution of EU assistance.

Reform of the judiciary, public administration and the fight against corruption are part of the political criteria which were adopted in 1993 at the Copenhagen European Council. Measuring Bulgaria's progress on these issues is not an easy task. Corruption, for example, is closely linked to people's perception of what is corrupt, and this might not always fully reflect the situation on the ground.

Nevertheless, even with those caveats as regards measurement, I think most of us recognise corruption when we see it. And the fact remains that we see an awful lot of it in Bulgaria.

Combating corruption is a fight which we all have to conduct every day, in Bulgaria, in our present Member States and elsewhere. It is like an infectious disease which easily spreads and even when we think it has been defeated, it can spread again. Thus, the fight against corruption will never be totally won. However, we have to fight this phenomenon.

The fight against corruption always figured high on the agenda of the Commission and the monitoring of the candidate countries' ability to fight corruption was always an integral part past reports of the Commission on the countries. This will also be the case in the Comprehensive Monitoring Report on Bulgaria's preparations for accession which will be adopted by the Commission in two weeks' time.

Corruption is a cross-cutting problem which affects all European policies. The European policies cannot be effectively implemented and the European taxpayers' money cannot be efficiently used if there is dishonest behaviour. That is why this topic is of such utmost importance.

However, I would not wish to reduce the combating of corruption solely to the aim of efficiently implementing European policies. Corruption harms all parts of society and deprives them in the worst case of their most fundamental rights, including fair access to health services or education or having a fair trial and investigation. Therefore, Bulgaria needs to combat corruption as a first priority because of its own national interest, the interests of its own citizens.

In the same vein, reforming the judiciary and fighting corruption is of paramount importance for the future economic development of Bulgaria. In fact, I would suggest that these are the two most important factors in further increasing the attractiveness of Bulgaria as a place to do business, both for home-grown entrepreneurs and foreign investors.

An inefficient and ineffective justice system kills entrepreneurship and slows down investment. It fosters unpredictability and compromises property rights.

Corruption increases the threshold for foreign investors to enter the country and frustrates present and prospective entrepreneurs thereby preventing Bulgaria from releasing its full potential.

Looking back 10 years the situation as concerns corruption has definitely improved in Bulgaria. Governments have made considerable efforts to develop legislation which would allow the state to prosecute both the one who offers a bribe and the one who accepts it. In addition, a number of strategies, action plans and other measures were taken in order to make people more aware of this phenomenon of corruption in public life.

These measures were fully acknowledged and appreciated by the European Commission. We could see as well that following these measures Bulgaria's position in the ratings of international organisations improved considerably. And one can see that particularly petty corruption has been reduced. However, despite these efforts this is no time for complacency. A lot of work still needs to be done and reforms have to be pursued in earnest now.

There is firstly an urgent need for additional legislative steps. Such steps include the adoption of codes of ethics for Ministers and politically appointed officials, the code of administrative procedure which is now in Parliament and the law on liability of legal persons. These and other measures would strengthen the possibilities for law enforcement bodies to more efficiently investigate and prosecute corruption.

Secondly, existing action plans or White Papers have to be put into practice urgently. As we are now only a little bit more than 14 months before the envisaged target date of accession there is an urgent need for the timely and full implementation of all the measures foreseen in these documents approved by the Bulgarian government.

I already said during my visit in March this year that the time of strategies and action plans is over - that the Commission wants to see results. We look at the track record, not commitments. Deeds, not words, count.

Through its own actions Bulgaria needs to give the European Commission the ammunition to counter those in the European Parliament and Member States who have a tendency to question Bulgaria's readiness. Through these measures the country will be much better prepared for accession, including to derive the full benefits of the EU structural funds.

By results, however, I mean not only legislation but an improvement of law enforcement. Efficiently prosecuting corruption cases up to the end of the judicial process will also set an example and show to the public that the existing rules and action plans are implemented in practice and are not just empty pieces of paper. Bulgaria has started to enforce the existing legislation, particularly as concerns petty corruption. Nevertheless, the failure to obtain one single significant conviction for high-level corruption in recent years despite commonly available information on its scale is a cause for serious concern. Urgent efforts are needed here.

Judicial reform plays a key role here. I hope that the reforms particularly of the pre-trial phase will have a direct impact on the efficiency of investigations and prosecutions of corruption. By adapting the pre-trial phase to the best practices in Member States, law enforcement will have a much better basis for carrying out their tasks in this fight against corruption.

Ladies and gentlemen,

Please allow me to now turn to the public administration more concretely.

A lot has been done as well to combat corruption in the public service by the Bulgarian authorities and by the Bulgarian authorities and the European Commission through Phare projects like this one. Apart from legislative measures, training was provided and - I would like to underline here the importance - awareness campaigns within the public service started to fight against corruption and to report attempts of corruption in order to allow to prosecute them.

These measures are highly appreciated, but need to be further enhanced. All civil servants have to know and understand that corruption is not a `gentlemen's deed', but a serious crime by which they are harming the whole society and which will be prosecuted in the strictest sense.

I am well aware that in certain areas disciplinary and other measures have been taken in cases of so called petty corruption. The focus now has to shift from petty corruption to high level corruption to win back the confidence of the citizens in public administration. International reports show that still a number of public services are perceived by the public as highly corrupt. Some cases of successfully completed prosecutions would certainly improve the image of these services. No one should be above the law.

Having said that, allow me to turn to civil society. Of course not only the public administration itself, but also civil society has to play an important role in the fight against corruption. Firstly, every citizen should be aware of corruption and its consequences on the society as a whole and for him individually. The citizens have to become more active to withstand corruptive practices and to denounce them to the relevant authorities. Secondly, I am very encouraged by the involvement of the civil society in combating corruption and I would like to encourage the NGO sector to continue their very committed fight.

The public administration reform plays also an important role. By simplifying structures, making procedures less complicated and more transparent, possibilities for corruption can be reduced. Here I would like to mention that measures such as the introduction of e-government or the implementation of modern IT equipment can help to an important extent to achieve this aim. Furthermore, access to public information has to been improved, the licensing system eased and other measures taken. But I will not go further into details concerning these measures, as I am sure that the Minister for State Administration will further develop these themes after me.

Bulgaria stands at one of the most important turning points in its history. In the final period before its accession to the European Union the country has now to complete its preparations, not only for the sake of joining the Union, but for the good of the country as a whole. And in this perspective an enhanced fight against corruption accompanied by a sound public administration reform will be an important tool to achieve this aim. It is in the interest of the European Union and Bulgaria itself to be fully and completely prepared for accession.

Let me end with some words of Abraham Lincoln which can serve as a message to those who think they can get away with corruption.

Lincoln noted that "You can fool all the people some of the time and some of the people all the time, but you can't fool all the people all the time." After a while, people simply stop being fooled. 

We are all judged by our deeds not our words. I trust that Bulgaria has the will to show that it has the political will and can really tackle corruption in the country.

I thank you for your attention.