Your source of expert economic & legal insights from Bulgaria and the region

Welcome to our monthly update!

This edition highlights IME’s contribution to A Blueprint for the European Commission, an initiative by EPICENTER aimed at shaping the EU’s economic future. Beyond EU policy, we also cover pressing national issues, including labor market stagnation, judicial independence, and public procurement practices. Dive in for expert analyses on Bulgaria’s economic and legal landscape.

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"A Blueprint for the European Commission": Key Reports Shaping Europe's Economic Future

Over the past year, former Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta released an ambitious report advocating for the EU single market, followed by Mario Draghi’s widely discussed report on the future of European competitiveness. Just a few days ago, the new European Commission introduced the Competitiveness Compass, which will shape EU policies over the next five years.

In response to these developments, EPICENTER has launched the initiative "A Blueprint for the European Commission", providing a roadmap for the EU’s future.

Institute for Market Economics is one of the eight organizations contributing to this initiative. In addition to helping develop these reports, IME is also responsible for their dissemination in Bulgaria. Here are some of the publications released so far:

• EU-WIN: Reviving Europe's Competitive Edge
• Europe in the Global Race: What Does the Future Hold for the EU's Green Transition?
• Trade in a Time of Tariffs

*You can find all reports in Bulgarian here.

Explore the key insights and recommendations in these reports to better understand the challenges and opportunities shaping Europe's economic future.

Between the Euro and the 2025 Budget: First Steps of the New Government

Latchezar Bogdanov

In the first days of the new government, we are getting more clarity on some open questions about the direction of economic policy. A few warning signals are already visible as well. In the Prime Minister's meetings with the President of the European Commission (EC) and the President of the European Parliament we could glimpse fragments of the new coalition intentions, including on future efforts to catch up in reforms and investment under the Recovery and Sustainability Plan and euro area accession. Read more

The Actions of the Prosecutor’s Office as a Textbook Example... of Institutional Arbitrariness

Ekaterina Baksanova

The prosecutor's office continues to give lessons in repression after this week, it became clear that it had carried out a preliminary investigation of Judge Miroslav Petrov from the Sofia Regional Court (SRC). The reason – his ruling on the criminal case of Ivaylo Noisy Tsvetkov for drunk driving, in which case the judge did not grant the prosecutor's request to seize the perpetrator's car (Art. 343b, para. 5 of the Criminal Code, CC), citing the Constitution and European Union law. ?Read more

Labour Market Stagnation Continues throughout 2024

Adrian Nikolov

Throughout 2024, labour market stagnation continues - unemployment is low, but so are job vacancies. The past year is essentially in terms of reform, so this result is largely prescient - after the turbulent dynamics of the pandemic and the recovery after it, structural labour market problems are once again coming to the fore. However, this is becoming a key constraint on economic growth in the medium term. Read more

Is Europe Changing Its Green Course?

Petar Ganev

Competitiveness is the new buzzword in Brussels. This is the logical result of the overstretching of green targets in recent years and the clear realisation that Europe is losing the global race. The EU's share of the world economy is shrinking from 25.8% in 2004 to 17.6% in 2024. In two decades, the EU has opened a big scissors with the US and has been overtaken by China. Read more

About the Crushed Stone and Bulgarian Private Hospitals with Predominantly State Revenues

IME

In 2020, a state-owned Bulgarian company outsourced the supply of crushed stone, gravel and rubble to a private Bulgarian company without a public tender for the sum of €44,600. The Public Financial Inspection Agency (PFIA) found a breach of the Public Procurement Act (PPA) as the amount exceeded the threshold above which procurement was mandatory under the PPA at that time (€35,000). The PFIA decided that the public interest and the rules governing public procurement have been infringed and imposed a fine. Read more

A Long Note on the Three Judicial System Act Draft Bills

Ivan Bregov

There is no political will and majority to solve the problems in the justice system. There is also no government.* However, there is no lack of legislative activity in the current Parliament on judicial issues. Three bills to amend and supplement the Judicial System Act have been submitted to the National Assembly and were even passed during the first reading a few days ago. Read more

Agricultural Municipal Economies Show Major Decline in 2023

Adrian Nikolov

Against the backdrop of the recovery from the shocks of the pandemic, the war and high inflation, the largest municipal economies in 2023 remain Sofia, Varna, Plovdiv and Burgas, while the leaders in terms of economic growth are small municipalities, focused on industry and energy. However, regional economic growth is a mixed bag, with much of southern Bulgaria registering growth in value added, but many regions in northern Bulgaria experiencing a decline. Read more

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