NGO: Croatian Parliament lags behind other legislatures in terms of transparency

NEWS 28.09.202117:12 0 komentara
Patrik Macek/PIXSELL

Croatian Parliament ranked fourth out of six parliaments in the region in terms of transparency of its work, ranking ahead of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia but behind Montenegro, Slovenia, and North Macedonia, the Croatian democracy NGO Gong said on Tuesday.

Gong underscored that the survey which looked into transparency and what they called “openness” of national legislatures rated criteria in four areas: transparency, accessibility, integrity, and efficiency, “with Croatia taking fourth place by fulfilling 61.15 percent of the indicators,” state agency Hina said, citing Gong’s press release.

The Croatian Sabor lags behind Slovenia’s Zbor in all four areas – the only other parliament of a European Union country in the region that was included in the survey, Gong noted. This is the first time that Gong has participated in the Regional Openness Index (RIO) survey.

Out of the six parliaments surveyed, the Croatian Sabor ranked in second place with regard to efficiency and openness of information, and third in transparency, fourth in accessibility and last, or sixth, in terms of “parliamentary integrity.”

The reason for ranking so poorly in terms of integrity is because all parliaments in the region have adopted a formal code of ethics. However, the Sabor still hasn’t got one, although a draft for an ethic code “was presented in 2016,” Hina said. Sabor also does not regulate lobbying activities.

Hina also said that Croatia’s law on preventing conflict of interest does not include holding public records of gifts received by state officials, whereas similar laws in Montenegro, Serbia, and Slovenia do.

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