BULGARIA
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A panel discussion about transformation experience of the new EU members

Minister Gergana Grancharova

Representatives of the liberal Think-Tanks in MSOE and the Bulgarian Minister of European Affairs Gergana Grancharova discussed in Sofia Bulgaria’s transformation experience compared to other EU members. “For sure, the membership in the European Union will increase the prosperity of the citizens, but this will not occur at once and not for everyone”, the Minister says. “The crises in some other still unreformed fields show us what challenges we have to fight, but in the same time they are not a part of the consolidation process.”

Ruta Vainiene from the Lithuanian Free Market Institute in Vilnius paid attention to the introduction and importance of the Currency Boards in Lithuania. With the introduction of the Currency Boards, an undemocratic decision was made: “In this way the national currency was withdrawn from the influence of the government and given back to the people”, said the finance expert.

A. Arrak, Dr. W. Sachsenröder, Minister G: Grancharova, M. Sevcik (from left to right)

Miroslav Sevcik from the Liberal Institute in Prague announced Czech Republic’s experience. In fact, the transformation process was thought by many to be completed by 1994, but the final reformation of the state government, public finance and also the health and pension systems is yet to be made. Andreas Arrak from the Minor Business School in Tartu informed about Estonia, which many said to be “the model student of the EU”. One of the first and most successful reforms was the elimination of the corporate tax: “In the beginning, the country was criticized; for that reason, it precariously accessed the European Union. This important reform proved to be good and Estonia’s example was followed by other countries.”

Adriana Mladenova, an expert at the Institute for Market Economics in Sofia explained, together with Minister Grancharova, Bulgaria’s experience. Serious reforms had been started barely in 1997 after the financial and economic crisis and so had they later in most of the other countries in Middle and South-East Europe. In spite of that, the budget deficit rapidly decreased while the gross domestic product and direct investments increased strongly.

During the discussion

All participants in the panel discussion agreed that the transformation process is not completed in any of the new EU member states. Since the beginning of the changes, there has been a big progress, but in a lot of fields serious reforms are still necessary. Within the discussion, an interesting debate followed between the ministers, deputies, representatives of the economy, journalists and students.

Dr. Sachenröder

About 100 participants and partners of the foundation attended a good-bye gala party after Dr. Wolfgang Sachsenröder’s lecture. Dr. Sachsenröder, who has been working for a long time for the Foundation for Freedom on different continents, since 2005 has been in charge as a project director in the South-East Balkans countries - Bulgaria, Romania, Moldova and Macedonia. Partners, friends and colleagues from the Foundation thanked for the good and successful team-work and wished Dr. Sachsenröder and his wife all the best for his future retirement.

Elena Dimitrova