Acces-info: Public institutions become more transparent, but there is no interactive dialogue yet

The public authorities slightly improved access to information and increased transparency in decision making, says the Center “Acces-info”, Info-Prim Neo reports. “Acces-info” sent a number of access to information requests to public authorities. Fifty-five of the 100 monitored public administrations provided answers. Of the 16 ministries, only the Ministry of Culture ignored the request. Answers also came from about 74% of the administrative authorities andcentral institutions and bodies, half of the 34 district and municipal councils and 29% of the mayors' offices situated in district centers. Only 62.5% of the ministries and 21% of the monitored administrative authorities and central institutions and bodies published reports on the transparency in decision making in 2010 on their official websites. In order to determine the perception of the access to information and transparency in decision making, there were questioned 1,880 persons who are readers of public libraries in Chisinau, Balti and 32 district centers. Asked if they know about the Law on the Access to Information, about 66% of those polled responded affirmatively. Only 23% of the respondents said they made access to information requests, while 26% said they were denied access to informational at least once. The same number of respondents said they never asked for official information as they found other sources of information, 14% stated the answer would have been formal or incomplete, while the rest said the mass media provide sufficient information. According to those questioned, the local institutions are more open to the public, while the courts, police, the prosecutors' offices, the Ministry of the Interior, and the Security of Information Service avoid providing official information. The Center “Acces-info” reached the conclusion that there is yet no permanent, interactive and viable dialogue between the public administrations and the people, associations and interested factors. There are many cases when the legislation on access to information is violated and the forms and methods of citizen participation in decision making are underestimated.