Bulgaria Results Report 2022-2024

Despite a challenging political context, Bulgaria organized its most inclusive and thorough action planAction plans are at the core of a government’s participation in OGP. They are the product of a co-creation process in which government and civil society jointly develop commitments to open governmen... co-creation processCollaboration between government, civil society and other stakeholders (e.g., citizens, academics, private sector) is at the heart of the OGP process. Participating governments must ensure that a dive... to date, involving civil society co-implementers in every commitmentOGP commitments are promises for reform co-created by governments and civil society and submitted as part of an action plan. Commitments typically include a description of the problem, concrete action.... The action plan increased pandemic-related public spending transparencyAccording to OGP’s Articles of Governance, transparency occurs when “government-held information (including on activities and decisions) is open, comprehensive, timely, freely available to the pub... More and provided access to preliminary analysis of government COVID-19 expenses. Moving forward, stakeholders are encouraged to think of ways to ensure ongoing government-civil society dialogue throughout implementation, including in times of political instability.

Implementation

Bulgaria’s fourth national action plan saw three commitments achieve early results. Commitments in the fields of transparency and open data produced the strongest early results. Commitment 6 enabled the public to access some consolidated COVID-19-related public spending information, as well as a brief analysis of that spending. Six of the fourteen commitments were fully or substantially completed, which is comparable to completion levels in the second national action plan and better than completion levels in the third plan.^[1] Factors supporting commitment success were the shared implementation responsibility by government and civil society for each commitment, introduced for the first time, and ongoing support and dedication by the government OGP team.

Participation and Co-Creation

Bulgaria’s participation in OGP is coordinated by the Administration of the Council of Ministers and its Administration Modernization Directorate. In the hiatus between the third and fourth national action plan, the government OGP team drafted Decree No. 132 of 2021 which established formal rules for a multi-stakeholder forum, adopted by the Council of Ministers. The government OGP team led the most inclusive and thorough action plan co-creation process yet, which combined three public consultations and a discussion phase. In addition, the criteria for including commitments in the action plan set by the government supported the creation of stronger commitments. This co-creation process was significantly more extensive, thorough, and transparent than that of the second and third action plans.^[2] However, Bulgaria’s fourth OGP action plan did not meet the minimum requirement for a space for dialogue during implementation, as government and civil society did not meet at least every six months, as per the OGP Participation and Co-Creation Standards. This could partly at least be attributed to several elections and changes in government since 2021.^[3]

Implementation in Context

This action plan ended years of inactivity in OGP and helped revitalize the OGP process in Bulgaria. It was implemented during a time of political instability which saw four parliamentary electionsImproving transparency in elections and maintaining the independence of electoral commissions is vital for promoting trust in the electoral system, preventing electoral fraud, and upholding the democr... More and five changes of governments. This means that the OGP process was led by four different political leads from four consecutive Councils of Ministers, leading to frequent changes in the composition of the multi-stakeholder forumRegular dialogue between government and civil society is a core element of OGP participation. It builds trust, promotes joint problem-solving, and empowers civil society to influence the design, imple... (MSF) and long periods were there was no political lead of the MSF.

Bulgaria’s European Union integration efforts deepened during the implementation period. The country made progress towards joining the Schengen area after 12 years of negotiations, with the EU agreeing to lift air and sea border controls for Bulgaria from March 2024. Bulgaria also continued working towards eurozone membership, which was officially confirmed in June 2025.^[4]Finally, Bulgaria has started its OECD accession process.^[5]