People’s interest in decisional transparency will diminish corruption, Igor Botan

If the people express greater interest in decisional transparency in the institutions of the public authorities, the level of corruption will decrease and the quality of the documents drafted by the authorities will improve, considers the executive director of the Association for Participatory Democracy (ADEPT) Igor Botan, Info-Prim Neo reports. “The decisional transparency is aimed at combating disloyal lobbying or traffic of influence and at improving the quality of the documents adopted by institutions of the central administration, i.e. the Government, Parliament, departments, ministries. The authorities’ openness to the people is very important and forms part of what we call participatory democracy,” Igor Botan told a news conference. He said that the people can become involved when the documents start being drafted and can make proposals within public debates. ADEPT called on civil society to keep an eye on the websites of the central administration. “We must be able to assess the quality of governance as the Government must do what it proposed and promised when it was invested. We, the people, must be aware of the existing lobbying activities,” said Igor Botan. ADEPT’s message is that the people must express more interest if they want to be informed in the decision-making process. “The people can inform the servants about the shortcomings that they do not see very well in their offices. The civil or professional organizations working in the economic sphere can inquire about all the decisional initiatives,” said the Associations’ executive director. In 2008, there was adopted the Law on Transparency in Decision Making. In about a year and a half, the Government adopted a decision containing mechanisms for implementing this law. Under it, the institutions of the central administration must have websites on which to report on the decision-making process. ADEPT said the situation concerning decisional transparency has improved, but there are still drawbacks that must be removed. Earlier, ADEPT launched an appeal signed by 36 organizations, whereby it asks Parliament to eliminate the faults in ensuring transparency in decision making and informing the public about its daily work. The legislature was given time until February 1 to provide information on how it implements certain provisions of the Law on Transparency in Decision Making and if it publishes information of public character on its site.