General sponsor of the only European Summer University in Bulgaria was Ivana Consultancy. On this occasion the main organizer, the Director of the Institute of European Law Mr.Atanas Semov spoke with its manager Gergana Todorova.

Ivana Consultancy was established in 1998 and is specialized in the field of taxation – consultations and services in the field of accountancy, tax and trade legislation. It services Bulgarian and foreign clients, some of which are large corporative companies. In September 2005 it opened a new department of European Integration engaged in staff training, tax consultancy on trade relations with EU companies.

Mrs. Todorova, I cannot help starting our interview with the question, why after we sought your cooperation to find a general sponsor for the European Summer University, your company decided to assume this role itself?
Ivana has a European way of thinking. Traditionally, we try to stimulate the development of young people – for instance, trainees in the company (students and even schoolchildren), who can be trained in the specifics of our profession. For seven years we have had over 40 trainees and we have followed their development up to date. So when we were asked to cooperate for the provision of sponsorship, I thought to myself that the development of Ivana in the next few years will inevitably be tied with the European Law – therefore, it is particularly important for us to seize the opportunity provided by your summer university to establish contacts with promising young people from different European countries. Besides, we got convinced of the significance and usefulness of this unique undertaking in Bulgaria, so we felt honoured to support it!

You must have accumulated many-sided observations in your work so far. What do you think is the toughest problem confronting Bulgarian business, which may prove hard to cope with in the next 5 to 10 years?
It is definitely the mentality! For example, the mentality of the Bulgarian small and medium-sized companies, which believe they can go unnoticed when they step off the right way, and get away with it. The idea that having a small or medium-sized business does not oblige you to run your activities legally and lawfully will surely be an obstacle for us. The idea that profit making is more important than observing the rules distinguishing us from the Western world. It is a fact that there is a shady economy in Bulgaria, but it is also a fact that the system is full of administrative and legal irregularities and blatant discrepancies, which either lead the business to transgressions or merely create an atmosphere of chaos, where offenders are not penalized.

Let us go the whole hog and speak frankly. Do you encourage your clients to evade the law?
If we acted in the early 1990s, the answer would have inevitably been positive. However, the enforcement of the Tax Procedure Code in 2000 put an end to all of this, so all companies find it better to adhere to the standards regarding their documentation and tax payment.

Today we take pains to direct our clients' activities to a more rapid and stable development. What the business now needs is an immaculate and representative image, tax sovereignty, which is attainable by means of greater efforts and aspirations for higher incomes and profits. Our role is to make the best intermediary between the administration, on the one hand, and the businesses, on the other. You cannot run a company with 200,000 levs annual turnover and declare monthly wages of 200 levs. Through the unwritten rules for “living wages”, conscientiousness and fiscal culture, we help observe the written rules and regulations. In other words, “we translate the language of the norm into the language of practice”.

Then, is the Bulgarian business ready for Bulgaria's membership in the EU today or not? This is a rather topical and controversial issue…
The answer cannot be definitive. There are companies that have been working on the European market for 10 to 15 years, so they have already acquired the European mentality for work and profit making. But many others will not be able to alter their line of business in compliance with the new standards. To a great extent this process will be objectively conditioned, and to a smaller degree – subjectively. Therefore in the next 5 or 10 years the firms and non-governmental organizations will need a “trampoline”.

What can act as a trampoline for the Bulgarian business on its way to Europe?
Flexible economic and tax policy, openness on the part of the state to all sectors in the public-economic life (administrative institutions, municipalities, branch associations, firms, cultural and educational institutions, etc.). Now and in future the business must continue to cooperate with the respective ministries, which work under EU programmes (the ministries of economy, environment, finance and regional development). The state must regard the business as a top concern, not merely as its donor!

What will pose the greatest challenge to the Bulgarian business in the EU?
The fact that we are poor… Because of our smaller financial, capital and technological resources, we find it difficult to meet EU standards for quality and consumer price. Frequently, with already concluded long-term contracts and orders made by EU firms, the prices and quantities of our companies' products are altered due to quality claims. Poorness plays a negative role also in the qualification of the workforce, the security of the labor contracts (the legitimate calculation of wages and respectively health insurance payments), the formation of employers' and employees' social culture. For instance, in order to meet the western requirements, the companies in the light industry, which use materials supplied by the customers, work twice as much at a lower labor efficiency…