Balkan States Rank Poorly in Governance Index

Balkan states bump along the bottom of the table in a new Sustainable Governance Index published by Germany's Bertelsmann Stiftung, which takes a close look at how 41 OECD and EU member states are governed.

The ranking looks at each country's future viability based on 136 quantitative and qualitative indicators grouped under three main pillars - policy performance, democracy and governance [accountability].

The report covers only some Balkan countries - Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece and Romania, plus one other former Yugoslav republic, Slovenia - all of which rank poorly, with the marked exception of Slovenia, which came in 20th place out of 41.

At the absolute bottom of the pile is crisis-stricken Greece, on account of its "excruciatingly high" unemployment rate, poor universities, low level of spending on healthcare and primary education and high levels of child poverty and tax evasion.

Almost the only bright spot was that "citizens now have a more realistic view of Greece's constraints".

Next worse in the ranking in the region was Croatia, in 36th place, despite its robust growth rates in 2016.

The report complained of non-existent economic reforms, high rates of tax evasion and it said joblessness had come down mainly as a result of labour emigration.

On democracy, the report said that while civil rights are "formally" protected in Croatia, de facto discrimination against Roma and ethnic Serbs is widespread and domestic war crimes prosecutions appeared biased.

The Constitutional Court had been "tarnished" by the appointment of politicians and anti-corruption efforts remained feeble.

In terms of accountability, the report complained that few people had much knowledge of public policy as the main broadcaster was ...

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