Vasilije Čarapić, president of the Evropa Sad Movement (PES), said that he expects the Draft Law on the Financing of Political Entities and Election Campaigns to be completed in the next two days, and that he expects it to be adopted by the end of the year.
At the MANS panel "From promises to concrete results in electoral reform", which is held as part of the anti-corruption conference, he said that the team of the Committee for Comprehensive Electoral Reform is technically harmonizing the final draft of that law, which they received from a foreign expert.
"On Friday, we have a session of the Committee for Comprehensive Electoral Reform, where we will present the draft and put it up for public discussion. Since a large number of entities that participated in the drafting of this draft are already familiar with its content, we believe that the public discussion can be completed at two events that would be organized in a relatively short period of time, most likely one next week. Maybe even both will be next week," said Čarapić.
He said that the plan is for the Committee to adopt the bill after the public debate.
"I don't know if there will be any amendments at this moment, but everyone is involved in the drafting process, so maybe there won't be any amendments," said Čarapić.
He said that after the proposal is adopted, the law is sent to the European Commission and to the parliamentary procedure.
"Our plan is to adopt the law on the day when we receive the opinion of the European Commission that it is harmonized or after we align the law with the opinion of the EC, that is, the suggestions they give," pointed out Čarapić.
He pointed out that party recruitment is a form of corruption, and that the Law on the Financing of Political Entities and Election Campaigns made it possible, "through precisely inserted loopholes in the law", to carry out this form of corruption.
"As one of the biggest steps forward of this law, I would point out the total ban on employment in the public sector, both in local governments and in state-owned enterprises while the campaign lasts, not only at the level of contracts, but also at the level of work contracts, casual jobs and the like" , said Carapić.
He pointed out that the new bill solved another problem, which relates to the position of political entities, especially non-parliamentary parties, when it comes to competing in elections:
"Because the Law on the Financing of Political Entities and Election Campaigns, as it is, gives an absolute advantage to parties in power, as well as to parliamentary parties. We aimed to make it easier for non-parliamentary parties that are new to compete," said Čarapić.
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