Transcript Slide 1

Creating a Regional Policy
Network from Tabula Rasa
in Bulgaria: the Beginning
Antoinette Primatarova and
Georgy Ganev, CLS
SOCCOH Final Conference
Brussels, 2008-01-11
Brief Outline
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Bulgarian regional policy overview
– A short history
– Present policy-making structure
– The 2007-2013 programming phase in the selected region in practice
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Profile of the Region
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Social Network Analysis of the region
– Quantitative results of four aspects of the network:
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The basic network of reported contacts
The network of contacts related to EU funding
The network of reported informal relationships
The network of influence attribution
– Qualitative analysis. Evaluation of the learning/administrative capacity of the
institutional infrastructure
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Conclusions – EU and Bulgarian regional policies
SOCCOH Final Conference
Brussels, 2008-01-11
Bulgarian regional policy: a short
history
• 1959-1987: stable districts around District Communist Party
Secretaries
– Today’s NUTS3 districts are exactly the same
• 1987-1998: redefinition and counter-redefinition
– Political changes deemphasize districts, legitimize municipalities; de
facto no regions
• State of affairs at the end of 20th century: Tabula Rasa
– No regions
– No regional policies
– No regional policy-making traditions, procedures, bodies, powers.
• The 21st century:
– Regions reintroduced because of EU, and for no other reason
– Initially regions have no personnel, no budgets, no powers
– So irrelevant, nobody noticed the drastic 2006 changes
SOCCOH Final Conference
Brussels, 2008-01-11
Regional Policymaking Structure in
Bulgaria
• Financial Centralization
– Constitutional amendment for fiscal decentralization 2007 –
further legislation pending
• Except at the center, administrative capacity to make
and implement policy is limited at all levels
– 265 municipalities – self-government, with limited discretion,
competencies and resource base
– 28 districts – de-concentrated administrations of the central
government; no elective bodies; governors appointed by
government
– 6 NUTS II level regions – planning regions (established in 2000;
revised in 2006); no own administration; no own resources;
consultative bodies acting on initiative of the central government
SOCCOH Final Conference
Brussels, 2008-01-11
The 2007-2013 programming phase in the
selected region in practice
• The envisaged role of the Region, esp. the Regional
Development Council, is rich
– Yet, under the supervision of the Ministry (Regional Development
and Management Systems Directorate) and the Council of
Ministers
• The partnership principle is well designed at all three
sub-national levels: municipal, district, and regional
• The RDC has only recently been formed
• In practice, the basic programming documents for 20072013 (NSRF and OPRD):
– were only marginally based on the regional strategy and plans
– were centrally prepared in the Ministry, so
– de facto, the input of the regional policy network was very limited
SOCCOH 3rd Project Workshop
Prague, 2007-06-22
Profile of the South Central Region
• Geography and society:
– Relatively large population, socially diverse, geographically diverse,
border with Greece and Turkey
• Economy
– Second biggest in Bulgaria, among the poorest, but also among the
fastest catching-up, highest share of industry (30 %) in the country,
average but unevenly distributed unemployment
• Politics
– No regional self-government and politics
– So, all politics come from the local or national level
• Major developmental challenges besides catching-up
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Integration of minorities, esp. Roma
Policies towards remote communities
Environmental standards, esp. given high share of polluting industry
Infrastructure, esp. for transit
SOCCOH Final Conference
Brussels, 2008-01-11
SNA results – major actors
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Survey – 44 surveys, of which 35 face-to-face interviews
Actors
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Central government:
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Regional actors
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Regional unit of managing authority
Regional development council
District governors
District development councils
Local actors
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Parliamentary committee
Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works
Managing Authority
Ministry of Finance
Line ministries
Mayors – of district centers and of other municipalities
Municipal councils – of district centers and of other municipalities
Civil society actors
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Trade unions
Business and employer organizations
Non-government organizations
SOCCOH Final Conference
Brussels, 2008-01-11
SNA quantitative result – basic
network
• Density
district center mayors
other municipal councils
trade unions
managing authority
other mayors
Ministries
civil society organizations
business organizations
RDC
RegDevMin
MinFin
district center municipal council
district dev councils
district governors
regional unit
parliamentary committee
SOCCOH Final Conference
– Binary edges – 0.87
– Valued edges – 1.45
• Centrality
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In-degree – 17 %
Out-degree – 23 %
Betweenness – 0.9 %
In-closeness – 23 %
Out-closeness – 24 %
Brussels, 2008-01-11
SNA quantitative result – basic
network structural equivalence
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Structural equivalence with CONCOR
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4 second level categories, 7 third level groupings
Civil society vs. the rest, trade unions aloof
District centers group
Ministerial group with small municipality connections
SOCCOH Final Conference
Brussels, 2008-01-11
SNA quantitative result – EU-funding
network
• Density: 0.12
• Centrality
parliamentary committee
trade unions
– Degree – 70 %
– Betweenness – 16 %
other mayors
regional unit
• Central actors
business organizations
Ministries
MinFin
district governors
other municipal councils
district dev councils
district center mayors
RegDevMin
RDC
civil society organizations
district center municipal council
managing authority
SOCCOH Final Conference
– MRDPW
– Other municipal
councils (?)
Brussels, 2008-01-11
SNA quantitative result – informal
network
• Density: 0.19
• Centrality
managing authority
parliamentary committee
district center mayors
business organizations
regional unit
Ministries
district governors
district dev councils
• Central actors
RDC
RegDevMin
trade unions
district center municipal council
civil society organizations
– Degree – 52 %
– Betweenness – 15 %
MinFin
other mayors
SOCCOH Final Conference
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District governors
District dev councils
RDC
Mininstry of Finance
Brussels, 2008-01-11
SNA quantitative result – influence
attribution network
district governors
parliamentary committee
regional unit
business organizations
other mayors
• Density: 0.30
• Centrality
– Degree – 51 %
– Betweenness – 28 %
managing authority
RegDevMin
district center municipal council
• Central actors
district dev councils
MinFin
trade unions
other municipal councils
civil society organizations
Ministries
RDC
SOCCOH Final Conference
district center mayors
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MRDPW
Ministry of Finance
Line ministries
Trade unions (?)
Brussels, 2008-01-11
SNA qualitative results –
institutional learning capacity
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Dialogue and negotiation
– the major points of negotiation are the RDC and the Regional Unit.
– Both underdeveloped, but with prospects (“We are all learning”)
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Adaptation
– Informal links will develop, uninhibited by old ones
– Pressure from decentralization and separation of regional operating programs
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PPPs – it is still civil society vs. the rest. So far lipservice only
Common understanding of major issues
– Laundry lists vs. strategic priorities and programming
– Timing problems this time around recognized
– Willingness for better performance clearly present
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Policy adaptation
– Very positive attitude – “this is the first time, we will be more precise next time”
– All actors agree the policy-making process should get closer to the regions
– Coordination of separate regional operating programs recognized as a problem
SOCCOH Final Conference
Brussels, 2008-01-11
SNA qualitative results – types of
networks and centralization
• Types of institutional networks
– By design the policy-making network is still
developing, and potentially should become very
dense and not very centralized
– In reality so far, the network is centralized in terms of
informality and especially influence. The programming
is recognized as having happened top-down
• Central – local relations
– Major development – fiscal decentralization,
programming budgeting
– Major decision ahead – regional layer of elected selfgovernment
SOCCOH Final Conference
Brussels, 2008-01-11
SNA qualitative results – non-state
actors
• Recognized, but underutilized
• Linkages and trust between newly created government
actors and non-state actors need time
– yet both sides confidently claim they will happen
• Non-state actors can help regional development policy
by linking it to other policies and/or private projects
• Neighboring country’s regions are presently unimportant,
but are enthusiastically recognized as potentially very
useful by border municipalities and districts
SOCCOH Final Conference
Brussels, 2008-01-11
Conlcusions –
EU and Bulgarian regional policies 1
• In the case of Bulgaria the EU is by far the most
important factor with respect to regional policy-making
structures
– No previous such experience in the country
– EU is sole reason for having regions at all
– The EU operating program for regional development is the major
factor making the regional policy-making process move
– Most of the future of regional policy-making and its structure is
seen through the prism of EU regional development visions and
funding
SOCCOH Final Conference
Brussels, 2008-01-11
Conlcusions –
EU and Bulgarian regional policies 2
• EU is a major agent of change in Bulgarian governance structures
– EU is pressing for regionalization in a traditionally centralized country
– All actors recognize the their contact with the EU as enhancing their
understanding of policy-making, programming and project participation
– EU policies spearhead the creation of regional structures
– The EU can encourage this process by being less shy about contacting
the regions directly rather than through the national government, so
• Crucial in this respect is having separate regional operating
programs for the 2014-2020 planning period
• Crucial national issue to be resolved: regional self-governance
SOCCOH Final Conference
Brussels, 2008-01-11