Yearbook

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  ATTRACTIVENESS OF INVESTMENT FUNDS IN BULGARIA

  This paper addresses the issue of attractiveness of Bulgarian investment funds to various classes of investors over the last decade. It exploits data on AUM (assets under management), return, number of funds, risk profile of funds and fund managers in order to grasp trends in the investment fund sector. Also, the asset allocation in aggregate ... This paper addresses the issue of attractiveness of Bulgarian investment funds to various classes of investors over the last decade. It exploits data on AUM (assets under management), return, number of funds, risk profile of funds and fund managers in order to grasp trends in the investment fund sector. Also, the asset allocation in aggregate portfolio is traced, in order to determine the overall portfolio strategy. It turns out, that the growth of AUM is not justified by the potential of household savings and nonbank financial institutions’ asset base. The average equally weighted funds’ return is below, while AUM weighted is slightly above benchmarks for 2015-2019. The examination of the overall investment funds’ portfolio shows a strong bias towards “Cash” and “Other Investment Funds” allocation of assets. In depth examination of the portfolios of specific funds reveals an unwholesome practice of deviation from declared portfolio strategy. In addition, the low level of AUM per fund is likely to hurdle Bulgarian investment funds to offer competitive fees.

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  THE NATIONAL SECURITY SYSTEM OF THE REPUBLIC OF BULGARIA AS PART OF THE EUROPEAN UNION SECURITY

  The topic of security is becoming more and more relevant. The challenges of the environment and the dynamics of social processes place new demands on policies and the responsible bodies involved in their implementation. The national security system is perceived as a permanent organization, functioning in order to protect and preserve the ... The topic of security is becoming more and more relevant. The challenges of the environment and the dynamics of social processes place new demands on policies and the responsible bodies involved in their implementation. The national security system is perceived as a permanent organization, functioning in order to protect and preserve the material goods created by society and people's lives. The activity unites the efforts of so many people and resources at the same time, like no other. This paper presents some security interpretations that need to be taken into account in the preparation and implementation of security policies, both at national and European level. A content analysis of the regulatory and strategic framework in Bulgaria in the context of European security policy has been made. A critical analysis of the existing theories with regard to the national security system has also been conducted and the national interests and strategic goals have been outlined, based on which the challenges, risks and threats to national security have been identified.

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  CHALLENGES FOR LOCAL ACTION GROUPS IN BULGARIA

  Local Action Groups (LAGs) in Bulgaria are one of the most promising forms of public-private partnership which carry out public benefit activities and contribute to solving many problems in rural areas - economic, social, environmental, cultural, health, educational, etc. Challenges for the LAG exist in all EU Member States, but their nature and ... Local Action Groups (LAGs) in Bulgaria are one of the most promising forms of public-private partnership which carry out public benefit activities and contribute to solving many problems in rural areas - economic, social, environmental, cultural, health, educational, etc. Challenges for the LAG exist in all EU Member States, but their nature and scale vary from country to country. The aim of the study is to analyze and evaluate the opportunities and challenges of local action groups in Bulgaria as the most recognizable and powerful tool for rural development, ensuring long-term institutional sustainability at the local level. Directly related to the objective are the tasks: Research of secondary and primary sources of information to describe the key problems of LAGs; Analysis of the LAGs' relationships and dependencies with their stakeholders; Defining proposals for improving the environment for the functioning of the LAG in the country. The study scopes the 64 local initiative groups in Bulgaria which apply the community-led local development (CLLD) approach in the programming period 2014-2020. The study seeks to determine the problems, difficulties, and challenges that the LAGs have encountered in creating and their functioning in Bulgaria and which they continue to face at the present time. The thesis of the study is that in order to fully and comprehensively use the potential of LAGs as a universal tool for local development and for strategies to have a significant and broad territorial impact in rural areas to address their huge number of problems (economic, social, environmental, educational, technical, cultural, health, etc.), it is necessary to improve the management environment. Qualitative and quantitative research of the LAG has been conducted in two stages. During the first stage (March-April 2021), individual interviews were conducted among persons working in the local initiative groups in the country. The aim is to study the factors that led to the emergence of difficulties in the work of the LAG, and to expand the ideas about the subject under study. During the second stage (May 2021), a survey was conducted, through which quantitative information was collected on individual aspects of the subject of analysis. The questionnaire is structured on the basis of the results of the qualitative analysis in the first stage, as well as on the basis of the experience of the author, working in a LAG in recent years. Key problems were presented to the LAG during the programming period 2014-2020, the reasons for their occurrence and development in dynamics compared to the previous programming period - 2007-2013. Among the most important recommendations is the improvement of the administrative capacity of the governing bodies and of the regulatory framework, the frequent change of which contributes to a severe difficulty in the work of the LAG.