Romania Design Report 2018-2020
- Action Plan: Romania Action Plan 2018-2020
- Dates Under Review: 2018-2020
- Report Publication Year: 2020
Romania’s fourth action planAction plans are at the core of a government’s participation in OGP. They are the product of a co-creation process in which government and civil society jointly develop commitments to open governmen... covers a wide range of topics, including some areas where the country has seen a decline in recent years. Notable commitments include standardizing public consultations, improving transparencyAccording to OGP’s Articles of Governance, transparency occurs when “government-held information (including on activities and decisions) is open, comprehensive, timely, freely available to the pub... More of national investment funds, and simplifying monitoring of the management of seized assets. Moving forward, Romania could consider increasing transparency of large public spending, improving the effectiveness and independence of the judiciaryWhile a majority of open government reforms occur within the executive branch, OGP members are increasingly taking on commitments to increase the openness of the judicial branch. Technical specificati..., and publishing information on all concluded government contracts in open format.
| Table 1. At a glance Participating since: 2011 Action plan under review: 4 Report type: Design Number of commitments: 18 Action plan development Action plan design Action plan implementation *DIOG: Did it Open Government? |
The Open Government PartnershipThe Open Government Partnership (OGP) is a multi-stakeholder initiative focused on improving government transparency, ensuring opportunities for citizen participation in public matters, and strengthen... More (OGP) is a global partnership that brings together government reformers and civil society leaders to create action plans that make governments more inclusive, responsive, and accountable. The Independent Reporting Mechanism (IRM)The Independent Reporting Mechanism (IRM) is OGP’s accountability arm and the main means of tracking progress in participating countries. The IRM provides independent, evidence-based, and objective ... monitors all action plans to ensure governments follow through on commitments. Romania joined OGP in 2011. Since then, Romania has implemented three action plans. This report evaluates the design of Romania’s fourth action plan.
General overview of action plan
In recent years, Romania has made significant progress in areas of open dataBy opening up data and making it sharable and reusable, governments can enable informed debate, better decision making, and the development of innovative new services. Technical specifications: Polici..., publishing asset declarations of public officials, and budget transparency. Despite having comprehensive anticorruption legislationCreating and passing legislation is one of the most effective ways of ensuring open government reforms have long-lasting effects on government practices. Technical specifications: Act of creating or r..., corruption remains a problem in the country due to weak enforcement. The fourth action plan continues to pursue many of the initiatives from previous plans.
The General Secretariat of the Government (SGG) led the development of Romania fourth action plan. Civil society submitted proposals for the action plan during online consultations, though no in-person consultations were held. The OGP coordination team ensured that civil society shaped seven of the final 18 commitments in the fourth action plan.
The commitments in Romania’s fourth action plan cover a variety of policy areas that aim to strengthen public participationGiving citizens opportunities to provide input into government decision-making leads to more effective governance, improved public service delivery, and more equitable outcomes. Technical specificatio... and government transparency, extend social services, and promote open data.
Table 2. Noteworthy commitments
| CommitmentOGP commitments are promises for reform co-created by governments and civil society and submitted as part of an action plan. Commitments typically include a description of the problem, concrete action... description | Moving forward | Status at the end of implementation cycle. |
| 1. Standardization of practices on public consultation processes
Expand the e-consultare.gov.ro platform to standardize decisional transparency in public administration. |
To ensure effective implementation of this commitment, the SGG could take steps to ensure the e-consultare.gov.ro platform’s institutional memory and provide sufficient budget for the platform’s development. SGG could also consult civil society and public administrations on the implementation norms for law on decisional transparency in public administration. | Note: this will be assessed at the end of action plan cycle. |
| 10. Improve transparency in allocations and acquisitions from national investment funds
Identify and open more databases related to national investment funds and organize a public consultation on the National Program for Local Development. |
The potential impact of this commitment will depend on which datasets the Ministry of Regional Development and Public Administration (MDRAP) publishes. Moving forward, MDRAP could utilize the public consultations to better understand what information citizens would like to have opened. | Note: this will be assessed at the end of action plan cycle. |
| 13. Improve transparency in the management of seized assets
Create the national system to record and manage information on seized assets. |
This new system envisioned under this commitment could allow for real-time monitoring of granular-level information on the government’s management of seized assets. Moving forward, the National Agency for the Management of Seized Assets needs to ensure implementation of the original version of the system. | Note: this will be assessed at the end of action plan cycle. |
| 16. Open EducationAccountability within the public education system is key to improving outcomes and attainment, and accountability is nearly impossible without transparent policies and opportunities for participation ...
Increase the transparency of the education system and create the Virtual School Library portal for open educational resources. |
This commitment could potentially improve the creation of auxiliary educational materials that supplement schoolbooks and help reduce school dropout rates. Moving forward, the Ministry of National Education could standardize the uploading procedures for open educational resources to the Virtual School Library portal and reward schoolteachers that actively contribute their own open educational resources. | Note: this will be assessed at the end of action plan cycle |
Recommendations
The IRM recommendations aim to inform the development of the next action plan and guide implementation of the current action plan.
Table 3. Five KEY IRM Recommendations
| Strengthen the institutional framework in which the OGP process takes place. |
| Set up online participation and deliberation mechanisms to engage with decision makers and facilitate accountability of public officials on specific open government topics. |
| Increase transparency of large public spending and implement participatory budgeting initiatives. |
| Conduct an evidence-based evaluation of the JusticeTo address barriers that prevent citizens from having their justice needs met, OGP participating governments are working to expand transparency, accountability, and inclusion into all systems of justi... Laws reform and propose policies to improve the independence and the effectiveness of the Judiciary. |
| Publish information on all concluded government contracts as open data in OCDS format. |
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