Local NGOs to participate in a project concerning the transparency of the decision-making process

The Euroregional Centre for Democracy from Timisoara (CEDT) intends to implement in Chisinau, partnered by several NGOs, a project that would promote the necessity of transparency in the City Hall and the Municipal Council and would increase the citizen’s interest in the decision making process. In 2005 several officials and municipal councilors participated in a project of the Center, in Timisoara, being impressed by the way their colleagues from Romania work. In spite of this, till now, in the Municipal Council of Chisinau, not a single decision which would relate to the decision making transparency has been examined. Executive director of the Euroregional Centre for Democracy, Ilona Mihaies, while visiting Chisinau these days, appreciated the opening of the Centre for Information and Documentation at the City Hall as a first step towards the correct information of the citizen. On the other hand, there are a lot of things which could be improved in this centre, asserts Ilona Mihaies. She will suggest a common workgroup in this sense. “There is a similar Centre functioning in Timisoara, this is why our experience could help Chisinau City Hall to avoid passing through the same problems”, Ilona Mihaies added. Executive director of the CEDT considers that NGOs should become nongovernmental, not anti-governmental, and if public authorities are open to the citizens, civil society should become more active. The aim of a local public administration should be to correctly inform citizens concerning the made decisions, but also to engage them via public debates and consultations. All these measures will help citizens understand and support much easier the decisions made, added Ilona Mihaies.