Executive authorities in the region publish the most basic information about work, and the public is generally denied access to key information, according to the regional openness index.
This was announced at the third panel of the regional conference "Process of creating public policies: participation, transparency, responsibility", organized by the Center for Democratic Transition (CDT).
Speaking about the transparency of institutions in Serbia, the representative of Partners Serbia, Kristina Obrenović, stated that research, reports of international organizations and the reality of citizens show that institutions are increasingly closed.
"This year marks the 20th anniversary of the application of the Law on Free Access to Information of Public Importance in Serbia, and it seems to us that we cannot single out those champions of openness," said Obrednović, CDT reported.
She pointed out that for years there has been a list of unanswered questions, which is growing every day.
"Although the Regional Index of Openness shows that institutions publish the most basic information, access to key information is still lacking," said Obrenović.
She said that public debates are held in Serbia, but that, as she judged, they have very little effect.
According to Obrenović, a much more important moment is missing, namely the early public consultations.
"At the stage when we have a draft law and a public discussion, it is already a formed law, a formed proposal. There, the public discussion can only contribute to some technical changes, or if the public strongly opposes a solution, it is possible to change something," Obrenović pointed out.
She added that neglecting early public consultations means that the interested public loses the opportunity to influence the structure, content and quality of the law.
Obrenović questioned lex specialis laws that are passed without public participation, pointing out that the adoption of these laws is relieved of the mandatory activities that precede the adoption of regular laws.
Representative of the Citizens' Association "Why not?" from Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), Amina Izmirlić Ćatović, said that even in that country there has been no greater, more visible progress in terms of the transparency of the work of institutions. "Part of the institutions, a very small number, managed to recognize the importance of openness and transparency and improve the results, but no change on a wider level took place. We still have numerous institutions that are stagnant, with some minimal progress or everything else is at a low level of openness", said Izmirlić Ćatović.
She explained that institutions at the state level are characterized by greater transparency, which, as she stated, usually depends on the head of those institutions.
"Institutions are more open if we move towards higher organizational levels of government, but unevenness exists within those groups of institutions and we can conclude that openness depends only on the goodwill of the person who heads them," said Izmirlić Ćatović.
At the same time, as she added, the institutions at the state level achieved slightly better progress compared to the institutions at the entity level, which means both entities.
At certain state institutions, Izmirlić Ćatović stated, basic organizational information is missing, recognizing that the segment of budget transparency and public procurement could be significantly improved.
Commenting on the process of public hearings in Bosnia and Herzegovina, she said that, if we are talking about laws that are political in nature and for which it has already been decided that they will be adopted, citing as an example the Law on Agents of Foreign Influence in the Republic of Srpska, public hearings are only held formally. conduct.
"Essentially, public hearings do not represent any means to influence the amendment of laws that are usually adopted by urgent procedure", Izmirlić Ćatović assessed.
The representative of the Metamorforzis foundation from North Macedonia, Mila Josifovska Danilovska, stated that, in relation to the beginning of the realization of the Regional Openness Index, progress was recorded in the degree of transparency of the executive and legislative authorities.
"When we first pointed out to them what their shortcomings were in the area of good governance, they adopted a strategic approach to solving all these problems," said Josifovska Danilovska.
She pointed out that they did not reach the highest level, but at the beginning the Government obliged all institutions to publish a set of 21 information about their work.
"Then they introduced a tool for the accountability of public office holders, where it is possible to see for each official how he spent the money. This functioned until 2021," explained Josifovska Danilovska.
Commenting on the achieved results of the ministries in North Macedonia, which are better compared to the results of the departments from the region, she highlighted the Transparency Strategy as a partial reason for that success, which, as she explained, was created in a consultative process with civil society and institutions.
"This Strategy is mainly based on the principles of the Regional Index of Openness, because Metamorforzis supported it both financially and expertly. Institutions have recognized the value of the Index," said Josifovska Danilovska.
As she said, the goal of the Strategy is to promote active transparency, fiscal transparency, access to information, digital capabilities of institutions so that some processes can be automated.
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