Democracy Is a Discussion

These words of the President of Czechoslovakia (1918) Prof. Masaric were quoted in Razgrad on March 14th, 1997, at the first cycle of seminars named Local Authorities - Partners In Building Civil Society . The seminar was funded by the Civil Society Development Foundation and organized by the Foundation Local Government Reform in cooperation with the Municipality of Razgrad and personally with the mayor of Razgard Vesselin Ouzounov as well as the Regional Club of the Bulgarian Association for Fair Elections and Civil Rights.

The selection of Razgrad was not accidental. In May 1996 a project named Meeting of the Local Authorities from Razgrad Region was implemented there by the Bulgarian Association for Fair Elections and Civil Rights, Razgrad. Mrs. Ginka Kapitanova, Executive Director of the Foundation for Local Government Reform was invited to share her ideas on the cooperation between the local authorities and the non-governmental organizations with regards to sustainable development of the municipalities.

A year later both the organizers and the participants in the seminar had the opportunity to convince each other that the two parties - the local authorities and the civic associations, have done their share for the development to sustainability and due to that the meeting was not only held in an informal environment but it lead to specific results.

The preparation of the hosting party included also a pleasant surprise: on the eve of the seminar 22 NGOs from Razgrad submitted a joint petition to the local authorities from Razgrad region (the entire text we publish separately). The local media covered both this initiative and the forthcoming seminar.

After the inevitable theoretical introduction the seminar focused without any hesitation on the practical side consisting of exchange of experience and seeking of joint solutions. As organizers we were very pleased with the presence of mayors and chairmen of municipal councils as well as of the local administration staff from the municipalities of Koubrat, Loznitsa, Omourtag, Opaka. The attendance of a large group of representatives of the municipal authorities headed by Mr. Venelin Ouzounov, mayor of Razgrad, was of great importance. The topics of the discussion changed very fast to blunt and often not pleasant issues. It is not easy to recognize in public one s mistakes, but Mr. Ouzounov proved to be a strong man and flexible leader by catching up what he had missed and promised to host every Monday of the month a meeting with NGOs from the town. His example was followed by the mayor of Koubrat, Mr. Rossen Nenkov.

There were also other specific results from the sessions. During the seminar the NGOs established contacts between each other to carry out joint activities in the future, as well as contacts with the local private radio station Oberon whose representative expressed his eagerness to cover the work of the civil associations in the town and thus to make it popular. Ideas for future joint activities were shared.

It turned out that the major problem was practically the lack of communication channels and information exchange between the various civil groups, between each other as well as with the media, NGOs and the local authorities. In this sense, it is due to the seminar that all of the participants could realize the benefits of a mutual cooperation.

It is to be emphasized that the participation of Mrs. Emilia Marinova, Head of the Youth Cultural-Information Center in the town of Gabrovo, was invaluable. She shared her experience of six months of effective co-operation between that Center and 18 youth NGOs in Gabrovo. It is worth to remember her words: Positive results encourage and when young people are believe in that they are capable together in making something for their town, they are willing to participate in new beneficial initiatives . The young people in Gabrovo are looking forward to the implementation of their new joint project: a three day Easter Cleaning Action of the town. That experience has a particular importance at the background of the quoted opinions of the young members of the Public Council on Youth Problems in Razgrad municipality: Our life lacks a meaning and future .

The seminar ended with a practice session the topic of which was related to the present day i.e. Establishment of a Public Council in the municipality on the grounds of the Council of Ministers Decree No. 42 on the Distribution of Humanitarian Aid . Only the duration of the seminar, one day, was insufficient for the organizers and the participants. However, due to that time was not wasted in theorizing and the relevant issues were tackled in their essence and in a dynamic way.

For the FLGR, as an organizer of that seminar, it is important that the seminar became a catalyst for the promotion of the relationship between the different participants and has a follow-up:

• A Public Council for the Distribution of Humanitarian Aid was established in Razgrad in which representatives of NGOs will take part;

• A number of NGOs made a decision to jointly implement a project;

• The media began to cover to a greater extent the work of the civic associations.

At the end, the main idea of our seminar got even larger since not only the local authorities took part in the building of a civil society but also intentions were stated that the NGOs will start networking between each other, as well as the fourth estate, the media, will cover the public initiatives in Razgrad and the region.

APPEAL

to the Razgrad Region Local Authorities

We, the representatives of citizens associations from the Region of Razgrad share the idea that the Local Authorities are a fundamental pillar of a civil society.

We believe that the right of the citizens to take part in the government of public affairs is a leading principle of the modern civilization.

We are confident that the observance of the provisions of the Constitution of the Republic of Bulgaria concerning the Right of the citizens to unite in an association (Art. 12), the Right to an opinion (Art. 39), the Right to seek, obtain and disseminate information (Art. 41), as well as the Right of local self-government (Art. 136) represent an important step for the development of a civil society in Bulgaria.

The Right of the citizens to associate freely and get organized in different non-governmental groups is a fundamental principle of democracy. The pluralism of opinions, points of view, proposals help separate groups of the civil society to survive, by encouraging them to cooperate and negotiate between each other.

The non-for-profit organizations and the local authorities will be successful partners in the process of local development by interacting between each other. We support the cooperation and wish to join our efforts with yours in order to establish a strong local self-government.

We propose:

• In order to encourage the development of a civil society in Bulgaria the local authorities need to make their governance transparent at the maximum to the citizens. Procedures should be introduced to inform citizens on important issues of local significance;

• The NGOs should be given the opportunity to make proposals which should be part of the agenda of the municipal councils sessions;

• The civic organizations should have access to materials for review before the sessions in order to get acquainted with the issues of the sessions and have enough time to draft their proposals;

• The Municipal Councils along with the local administration staff should ensure the implementation of Art. 22 of the Local Self-Government and Local Administration Act according to which the municipal councilors should adopt rules, regulations, decisions and instructions related to the terms and procedures of citizens participation in the local self-government. It would be useful that competent persons and representatives of civil organizations participate in the work of the standing committees of the Municipal Councils;

• The adopted resolutions by the Municipal Councils should be announced in a timely manner and in appropriate way on information boards, in the building of the local administrations and by the media. The entire text of the resolutions to be available to the citizens and citizens associations;

• The Municipal Councilors should provide possibilities for regular meetings with the citizens: meeting hours, meetings with the public, public discussions;

• The local administration staff and the Municipal Councils should announce their current activities in an appropriate way: meetings with the citizens, discussion forums, reports and other forms;

• The introduction of procedures for a full transparency in the usage and the management of the municipal property;

• The civil organizations should take part in the process of analyzing the situation, identifying issues as well as in the decision making process and their implementation at a local level.

We are confident that the successful cooperation between the local authorities and the civil organizations will contribute to the actual democratization of the local self-government in the Region of Razgrad.

March 14th, 1997, Razgrad

/Signed by/:

Bulgaria-Belgium Friends Association, the Women s Democratic Union, the Thick Forest Association, the Association of the People of Arts, the Mother s Care Association, the Association for Environmental Protection, the Esperanto Cultural Club, the Psychiatric Society Club 16 , Razgrad Lawyers Association, the Regional Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture, the Regional Club of the Bulgarian Association for Fair Elections and Civil Rights, the Council of Retired People, the Zhilishtna pravda Association /Housing Justice Association/, 100 Years of Razgrad College Assocation, the Gladiator Sports Club, the Open Education Center, the Bulgarian Land Foundation, Roden Krai Foundation /Homeland Foundation /, YMKA.