The project aims at the monitoring and evaluation of enforcement of anticorruption policies and legislation in Poland, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia, in four thematic groups relevant to the prevention of political corruption and misuse of public funds. This will include: i) a legal framework of the access to information on the administration of public funds (public procurement, EU funds, state-owned enterprises), ii) Act on civil service and depolitization of civil service, iii) financing of political parties, and iv) transparency of the legislative process and lobbying regulation.
Those areas were identified in the course of project “Involving European civil society players into detection and prevention of political corruption and public money fraud” supported by HOME/2011/ISEC/AG in 2012, as key risk areas of national level anti-corruption efforts in terms of their vulnerability to political corruption. Not sufficient separation of political appointees from non-political staff and low guarantee of independence of state officials creates opportunities for clientele networks to influence decisions about public investments and use of public funds and property. Non-transparent legislative process and low or non-existent regulation of lobbying creates an opportunity for influencing legislative and policy making processes in private interests of clientele networks. Gaps both in providing information and access to information are an obstacle for effective public control. Thanks to low level of control of the political parties financing, there is a clear opportunity for clientele networks to safely “pay back” for services to their partners in political parties.
Project will compare and report actual state of the enforcement of anticorruption policies and legislation based on international recommendations and best practices. Project will involve relevant stakeholders into the identification of problems and will inform them.