Many of the nongovernmental organizations in Moldova consider that they can seek funds, but should not necessarily give an example of transparency. Not many organizations make public the annual activity reports and the financial and audit repots, said the chairman of the National Youth Council of Moldova (CNTM) Eduard Mihalas. Contacted by IPN, he stated that the NGOs should not wait for somebody to monitor them.

“An NGO that respects itself should make these reports public without anyone asking for this. Many organizations work from one project to another without having an organizational strategy,” said the young man. According to him, the lack of transparency at the NGOs derives from their internal culture. Not making the report public becomes a practice. This happens because not all the donors ask for this.

Eduard Mihalas said the executive bureau of the NGOs should be elected publicly. “Unfortunately, there are organization heads who work for 20 years without being confirmed by the members of the organization,” he stated.

As to the state institutions, the CNTM chairman said that many of them became more transparent as they started to publish draft decisions on their official websites. “Even so, there are shortcomings as regards the involvement of the citizens in decision making. Not all the data published are accessible and easily comprehensible to everyone,” said Eduard Mihalas.

He also said that the previous experience shows that the Government and Parliament not always take into account the necessity of ensuring transparency in decision making. Civil society was bewildered at the swiftness by which the 2012 state budget was adopted. Another example is the bills passed by Parliament lately. Also, the legislature’s website cannot be accessed owing to technical faults.