Bulgaria, the poorest country in the European Union, is also its most corrupt and the situation is getting worse, according to a damning new study published on Monday.
"Key public institutions have been captured by private interests," the Sofia-based Centre for the Study of Democracy (CSD) think-tank said.
"Critical sectors of the public administration and the judiciary have become dysfunctional to the extent that nothing short of a drastic shake-up would have any impact," it said.
It said the number of corruption cases processed by law enforcement and punished was "negligible compared to the real magnitude of the problem". Public officials' susceptibility to corruption has also reached some of the highest levels since the CSD starting carrying out its surveys in 1999, with one in five Bulgarians admitting to paying a bribe last year.
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