Civil society must better in 2015 than in previous years, when was rather loyal to political interests instead of defending public interest, the chairman of the National Council for Participation (CNP) Sergiu Ostaf told IPN.
“I hope that in 2015 civil society will detach itself from these interests of political parties and will be able to build a system of national and public interest”, said Ostaf. His hope is based on the fact that civil society will have more tools to influence the decision-making processes as these efforts have been previously limited.
“I also hope that in 2015 civil society will be more vocal and uncompromising in its relations with the foreign development partners. The latter have become themselves entangled in opportunistic interests of supporting the government, forgetting the real mandate of these organizations – to act for the good of the people”, explained Ostaf.
Among the bills that will be supported by civil society in 2015, Sergiu Ostaf listed the bill on tobacco control, the bill on the financing of electoral campaigns and political parties and the bill on the transparency of mass media ownership. “Unfortunately, civil society hasn't been a strong supporter of these bills and remained under the influence of parties and powerful people who manipulated it as they wanted. Civil society was stripped of it had – its image as a sector that cared much about the good of the people”, he said.
The CNP chairman is upset by the increasing number of opportunists in civil society, who work by unofficial contracts and personal commitments to political and elite groups. Ostaf says that a solution to this problem is the diversification of financing sources for NGOs and the social contracts. According to him, introducing the possibility for people to redirect part of their taxes towards NGOs will consolidate civil society.
