Paper/Speech Details of Conference Program for the 19th NISPAcee Annual Conference Program Overview General Session Author(s) Maria Velikova Varna Free University "Chernorizets Hrabar" Varna Bulgaria Title Sustainable development of Bulgarian municipalities: Opportunities and challenges in the context of the "Europe 2020" strategy File Paper files are available only for conference participants, please login first. Presenter Abstract Relevance of the issue: An active discussion on the future realization of the Europe 2020 Strategy has started in the European Union and in its member-states. According to the Strategy the model for European growth has three pillars. The base is the “smart” economy which is run by knowledge and innovations. Its sustainability is due to the “greener” resources and higher competitiveness, and the social element is secured by the inclusion of all individuals and regions in the economic development. Through Bulgaria 2020 initiative the president of the Republic of Bulgaria posed the question for the necessity to develop a National Strategy for the decade. The essence of Bulgaria 2020 Strategy is to bring out the working, profit-making decisions in economy and other spheres. In conformity with this the efforts of the public authority of Bulgaria have to be directed to improving the quality of life of the population, which is directly revealed through increasing employment, increasing the income and improving the physical living environment. These efforts are best seen at a local level and they can turn into reality if there is sustainable developing local economy, which demands developing and implementing series of projects for setting up an attractive business environment. In other words, to create the necessary conditions for market development in an adequate and competitive way it is necessary to take into account the local development as a key component of the national politics for sustainable development (SD) directed to the achievement of this goal. Subject of analysis and assessment in the proposed report are the opportunities, challenges, and the role of the public authority in Bulgaria (at national, regional, and local level) to achieve SD for the municipalities in the context of Europe 2020 Strategy. These positions are to offer comments and assessments on issues related to: the essence, range, and manifest of SD at local level; the goals, principles, and instruments for measuring and assessment of SD; the prerequisites, conditions, and restrictors for the participation of Bulgarian municipalities for achieving SD; the mechanisms for interaction and the partnership forms of the local authority (with the central authority, with the business, with structures of the civil society) in order to achieve the desired parameters of SD. Practical applicability: A system of indicators will be offered that will allow following the dynamics of the assessed processes and making inter-municipal comparisons. Through the value of the indicators it will be possible to evaluate the level of achievement of the goals set and the achieved specific results in the implementation of the SD policy for the municipalities. Research methods: critical analysis of scientific literature and normative documents; problematic analysis of results of practical and applied researches and analytical reports, comparative analysis and assessment of results from sociological and authors researches; the method for defining the politics based on the desired future results (back-casting). The data that will be analyzed are related to: information about the economic, social, and ecological measures of sustainability at municipal level maintained by the National Statistical Institute; structural indicators for the period 2000 – 2010 following the achievement of the goals from the Lisbon Strategy maintained by Eurostat. Target groups that will benefit from the research: the public authority at national, regional and local level; managers and experts in municipal and regional administrations; business organizations; representatives of civil society structures.
