There is practically no cooperation between Parliament and civil society, ADEPT

The cooperation between Parliament and civil society is neglected, the Association for Participatory Democracy (ADEPT) said after monitoring the activity of the legislative body throughout last year, Info-Prim Neo reports. ”In 2001-2003, there had been a cold war between the power and civil society. Only after the international financial organizations asked for cooperation, the relations started to improve and there appeared a kind of effervescence. In 2005-2009, the cooperation was useful and efficient. The strategy worked out and adopted in 2005 was a very good document. Many of the planned things were carried out,” ADEPT director Igor Botan said in a news conference. According to program director Elena Prohnitski, it is not only the Parliament’s fault that there is practically no cooperation with civil society. “We must admit that the legislature in 2011 became more transparent. The plenary sittings were broadcast live. But there should be published more information on the Parliament’s website, including about lawmakers’ voting options. The MPs would be thus more active. Last year, 40 of the 101 MPs were practically ‘mute’ at the sittings,” she stated. ADEPT said there were organized no public consultations and the Parliament’s website works defectively and does not include certain information of public interest. According to the monitoring report, the information about lawmakers’ contacts is incomplete or is missing. No reports are compiled on the cooperation events at the level of standing commissions and the information about the organizations selected for cooperation with these commissions is not updated. ADEPT considers that the delayed publication and non-publication of the income and property statements of the MPs and employees of the Parliament’s secretariat affect the transparency and image of the Moldovan legislature.