On November 8 in Gabrovo, the Economic Policy Institute participated in the discussion "Corruption Issues at the Public Administration" in the framework of Coalition 2000 Action Plan.

On November 8-12 in Sofia the Constitutional & Legal Policy Institute (COLPI), working together with Transparency International, sponsored a meeting of NGOs whose mission is to fight corruption providing a forum of exchanged experiences. The meeting was focused on providing NGOs with useful tools, including specific methodologies and strategies that have been used and proved effective in many CEE states. The program introduced the Stategies and Tools Section where Coalition 2000 experts presented their experience in Public Awareness Campaigns and Coalition Building.

On November 16 in Stara Zagora Mayor Evgenii Zhelev hosted a meeting of the National Association of Municipalities in the Republic of Bulgaria about cooperation among municipal councils and the public administration. The program included a presentation of best cooperation experience in Municipality of Nova Zagora - Mayor Zheliazko Millev and Munipality of Stara Zagora - Chairman of Municipality Council Prof. Ivan Bozhkov. Invited by the National Association of Municipalities in the Republic of Bulgaria, Zhivka Damyanova, Coordinator of Coalition 2000, presented the Clean Future Anti-Corruption Action Plan and the Local Transparency Plan accomplished through cooperation between NGOs and municipalities in the framework of Coalition 2000 Awareness Campaign.

On November 22 the Coalition 2000 press conference was organized at the Center for the Study of Democracy for introducing the Corruption Indexes - November. The presentation contained an overview covering results from the survey examining businessmen. Mr. Alexander Stoyanov, Director of the Social Agency Vitosha Research, reviewed the most significant conclusions from the survey based on comparing results from January. According to businessmen, the most important one is that corruption becomes main issue for Bulgarian society. The extensive research data and Corruption Indexes - November of Coalition 2000 are available at the Monitoring Section in Bulgarian only.

On November 22 the regional discussion about issues in the fight against corruption took place in Shoumen. It was organized by the Center for the Study of Political Processes - Shoumen in the framework of the project of Coalition 2000. Emil Tsenkov from the Center for the Study of Democracy informed participants about the Corruption Indexes - November from the survey over Bulgarian businessmen. Special emphasis was placed on the so-called "grey zones" with high corruption risk in economics that includes public recommendations, privatization and license regimes.

The District Prosecutor of Shoumen Kiril Angelov concentrated on the legal qualifications of corruption activities and responses to several questions from journalists about procedures of filing complaints and signals to attorney general's office. He considered specific cases from the experience of Shoumen's prosecutors. During the discussion, the "civic control" definition was introduced and the need of transparency in the public sphere.

Mr. Angelov supported the concept of implementing the "ombudsman" figure and believed that it represents the first step toward assuring civil rights. Illiana Doneva, civic observer from the Center for the Study of Political Processes - Shoumen, shared her experience in working with civil complaints and described the people's fear to expose their identity when filing facts about corruptive pressure. Several issues were discussed about difficulties to journalists in investigating corruption signals.

On November 24 the international conference "Establishing the Ombudsman Institution in Bulgaria" took place at National Assembly Hall No.134. The conference was organized by Parliamentary Committee of Human Rights, Religion, Complaints and Petitions of the Citizens, Association of Judges in Bulgaria, American Bar Association (ABA/CEELI) and the Center for the Study of Democracy. Professor Nikoforos Diamanduros, Ombudsman of Greece, shared his Greek experience and commented on the Ombudsman Draft Law.

On November 28 the Steering Committee meeting of Coalition 2000 for preparing the annual Policy Forum and discussing the Corruption Assessment Report 2000 was organized at the Center for the Study of Democracy. The Coalition 2000 report was introduced for the period July - December 2000.