Politics & Security

Democracy and constituent power

Milen Milchov Varbanov — 2024-03-31

Modern jurisprudence regards constituent power as the radical truth of modern democracy. The purpose of the study is to explore in systematized form the existing relation between both concepts of constituent power and democracy, bearing in mind the ideas of collective acts of self-regulation, popular sovereignty and their legitimation.

The thesis of the author is that democracy and constituent power are interchangeably linked. Democracy outlines conditions regarding the execution of the constituent power in a way to achieve democratic openness, while constituent power is a juristic expression of the democratic impulse, a mechanism that can be used if necessary, to modify the democratic government by changing the Constitution.

The study proposes a legal interpretation of the interaction between the democracy and constituent power, by concluding that the latter lays the foundations of the legal order, it is an expression of the will of the sovereign, therefore it can be understood as a radical truth of modern democracy.

Despite there are a lot of publications in Bulgaria analyzing in depth the concepts of constituent power and democracy, there are no significant legal studies exploring the relation between both concepts.

Despite democracy and constituent power are concepts vastly examined by the political science and sociology, the current paper limits its scope on the legal aspects of the interaction between them.

The activities of the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) in combating corruption and ensuring the financial security of European Union funds

Bogdan Kołcz — 2024-03-31

In EU legislation, fraud is defined as a deliberate infringement that causes – or is likely to cause – damage to the EU budget. The fight against fraud and any other illegal activity – such as corruption – affecting the EUʼs financial interests is a shared responsibility between the EU and the Member States. OLAF has been active in the protection of the EUʼs financial interests. Between 2014 and 2020, the Commission and Member States detected more than 4,000 potential fraud irregularities, some of which were referred to OLAF. The irregularities concerned EU financial support of almost €1.5 billion, 72% of which was related to EU cohesion policy. Managing authorities in the Member States are responsible for taking proportionate and effective action against fraud in this area, taking into account the risks identified. The national institutions managing EU funds work in cooperation with OLAF. Anti-fraud includes prevention, detection and response, including reporting of detected fraud cases and recovery of funds unduly paid). The proportion of detected fraud in relation to the amount of financial support provided under the cohesion policy for the period 2014-2020 ranged from 0% to 2.1%, depending on the Member State. Between 2014 and 2020, OLAF protected EU taxpayers' money to the tune of around €500 million, recommending the recovery of more than €400 million on average per year for the EU budget due to fraud and irregularities and securing a further million euros. OLAF has also stopped a number of smuggling, counterfeiting and customs fraud attempts. It also helped enforce EU trade defence measures and developed strategies to prevent and counter new forms of fraud. In particular years, it has also investigated allegations of misconduct by staff and members of the EU institutions. In subsequent years, OLAF has carried out more than 250 cases a year.

Micro business – the meaning and the tasks, the chances and the threats

Maria Borowska — 2024-03-31

This paper concerns the functioning of micro business in economy. Generally, the subject of interest of different economic analyses is associated with the medium-sized and big business. Therefore, the aim of the paper is to indicate the importance of micro firms. It has been presented the definition of business, e-business, and also the division of the enterprises into: micro, small, medium-sized and big ones. Next, it has been discussed the significance of micro business as the most dynamic and competitive subpart of the global economy and also the tasks of micro firms in the economic and social sphere. This paper also presents the chances of the development of micro business and lists the threats and gives the determinants from which its proper functioning is depended on.