On May 10th, 2002 the Institute was awarded 2001 Special Prize of the Council of Ministers of Bulgaria for our "overall contribution to the development of the civil society".

It is our honor to accept this recognition.

We do so with a mixed feeling of satisfaction and surprise.

The satisfaction comes from our confidence that IME as well as other think tanks provide both the government and the public with the utility of ideas to improve Bulgaria's life and international performance. The surprise comes from the fact that we have always viewed government economic policies with a pinch of skepticism, attempting to motivate correction and improvement.

To our best knowledge, it's quite rare that a market-oriented public policy institute receives government award. In our nine-year history it has been rather difficult to defend economic freedom and reduce the level of populism, protectionism and interventionism. Governments were often reluctant to pay attention to Institute's opinion or did the opposite to what we proposed.

We believe the award is recognition of the high quality hard work of the Institute, of the professionalism of IME staff and board.

We believe it is also recognition of the fact that think tanks in Bulgaria have been a major promoter of public good, that they operate in a highly competitive environment and that IME owes its high standards to the rivalry with other think tanks.

We believe that it is at the same time recognition of Institute's independence and its presence in the media since we always try our best to inform public opinion about what we think and what we propose.

We believe that this award shows that development of civil society is not understood as only charity but also as generation of ideas that benefit the society as a whole.

We thank the Council of Ministers of Bulgaria and we recognize the award as a challenge to enhance our activities in the name of the prosperity of our country, defending the values and principles we stand for.

Krassen Stanchev, Executive Director IME