Romania, Croatia Badly Governed, Index Shows

Romania and Croatia are two of the worst governed countries in Europe according to a new study by the Bertelsmann Stiftung's Sustainable Governance Indicators project.

The platform surveyed 41 European and OECD countries in six sectors: economic, social and environmental policies, quality of democracy, executive capacity and executive accountability.

Against an EU average of 6.2 out of 10, 1 being the worst possible score and 10 the best, Romania scored 4.48 overall, Croatia 4.82, Bulgaria 5.1 and Slovenia 5.32.  Only Cyprus was lower down the scale, at 4.3.

However, Croatia economic policies got a major thumbs' down on the SGI rating, scoring the worst of the lot at only 3.9 out of an EU average of 5.7. Cyprus rated 4.1, Bulgaria 4.4 and Romania 4.7 in this category.

The only arena in which Balkan states scored relatively highly was in terms of their environmental policies. Against an EU average of 6.4, Croatia scored 6.1, Bulgaria, 6.2, Romania 6.3 and Slovenia an impressive above-average 6.9.

All four Balkan EU states scored dismally in terms of executive capacity. Against an EU average of 6.1, all scored between 4.4 and 4.6.

In terms of democracy, only Slovenia scored well in the Balkans. Against an EU average of 7.3, Bulgaria scored 5.8, Croatia 5.9, Romania 5.1, and Slovenia an above-average 7.6.

The four Scandinavian countries of Denmark, Finland Sweden and Norway topped the league with overall SGI scores of between 8.2 and 8.4.