Citizens Budgets (RO0036)
Overview
At-a-Glance
Action Plan: Romania Action Plan 2016-2018
Action Plan Cycle: 2016
Status: Inactive
Institutions
Lead Institution: Ministry of Public Finance
Support Institution(s): Chancellery of the Prime-Minister (CPM) Ministry of Regional Development and Public Administration (MDRAP) Ministry for Public Consultations and Civic Dialogue (MCPDC); Funky Citizens Centre for Public Innovation
Policy Areas
Capacity Building, E-Government, Fiscal Openness, Legislation & Regulation, Public Participation, Publication of Budget/Fiscal Information, SubnationalIRM Review
IRM Report: Romania Mid-Term Report 2016-2018, Romania End-of-Term Report 2016-2018
Starred: No
Early Results: Did Not Change
Design i
Verifiable: Yes
Relevant to OGP Values: Access to Information , Civic Participation
Implementation i
Description
Status quo or problem addressed by the commitment Public budgets are drafted based on the economic and functional structure of public administration and are used as such in the accounting system of public institutions. The budget is presented to the public in this same format. Even when the draft budget is published in a timely manner for public debate, the format of the document is complicated, even for citizens with high education but not trained in this particular field. This issue is a major hindrance for relevant citizen engagement in budgetary allocation decisions. Main objective Initiate the use of Citizens Budgets as a compulsory mechanism of fiscal budgetary transparency in the adoption of public budgets. Brief description of commitment The commitment aims to promote Citizens’ Budgets – public budgets presented in a manner that is understandable to the public, in both central and local administration, to ensure fiscal and budgetary transparency. OPG challenge addressed by the commitment Effectively managing public resources; Improving public services Relevance The commitment is introducing an efficient tool to facilitate citizen engagement in one of the most important decision-making processes: the adoption of public budgets. Ambition The intended result is a major change in the public budgets adoption mechanism.
IRM End of Term Status Summary
7. Citizens Budgets
Commitment Text:The commitment aims to promote Citizens’ Budgets – public budgets presented in a manner that is understandable to the public, in both central and local administration, to ensure fiscal and budgetary transparency. The commitment is introducing an efficient tool to facilitate citizen engagement in one of the most important decision-making processes: the adoption of public budgets.
Main Objective:
Initiate the use of Citizens Budgets as a compulsory mechanism of fiscal budgetary transparency in the adoption of public budgets.
Milestones:
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- Draft a model for the Citizens Budget based on the 2016 national budget
- Gather citizens and civil society feedback on the proposed Citizens Budget model and develop a Guide for drafting Citizen Budgets
- Pilot Citizen Budgets in at least 15 municipalities (varied types)
- Drafting and presenting the Citizen Budget for the 2018 national budget
- Public awareness actions to promote the Citizen Budget
- Drafting and adoption of norms introducing Citizen Budgets for all public authorities
- Develop, start and implement a training / assistance program for public authorities regarding Citizen Budgets
Responsible Institution: Ministry of Public Finance (MFP)
Supporting Institution(s): Chancellery of the Prime-Minister (CPM), Secretariat General of the Government (SGG), Ministry of Regional Development and Public Administration (MDRAP), Ministry for Public Consultations and Civic Dialogue (MCPDC), Funky Citizens, Centre for Public Innovation
Start date: 2016 End date: June 2018
Editorial Note: The commitment text is abridged. The full text can be found in the OGP 2016–2018 national action plan.
Commitment Aim
This commitment started from a proposal of civil society and aimed to create more opportunities for citizens to participate in the budgeting process by providing plain-language budget information and publishing it alongside the official annual budget. [58] The commitment aimed to design a template narrative to explain national budgets and a guide for how to design narratives for public budgets. It also aimed to pilot the explanation of local budgets, raise public awareness on explained budgets, require public authorities to explain their budgets, and train and assist them to comply with this obligation.
STATUS
Midterm: Not Started
This commitment was not started. The MFP had to collaborate with civil society on this commitment, as it could not hire graphic designers or acquire graphic design software necessary for the editing of the Citizen Budgets brochure. [59] Therefore the MFP met in 2016 and 2017 with representatives of civil society to discuss the cocreation of the template narrative. According to the MFP representative, although the MFP put forward several drafts text and numbers for the template narrative, civil society did not graphically edit the brochure, as they promised during the 2016 meeting. [60]
End-of-term: Not Started
This commitment has not advanced beyond what was accomplished at the midterm assessment. [61]
Did it Open Government?
Access to information: Did not change
Civic participation: Did not change
As the commitment was not started, it cannot have opened government. However, a civil society representative argues progress was booked on the principles behind citizen budgets. For instance, the MFP created Trasparenta-Bugetara.gov.ro—a national platform aimed at monitoring financial and legal statements of public entities in Romania—and added an educational video that explains how to work your way through the open budget data effectively. [62] Additionally, in 2018 the MFP started publishing in bulk and automatically updating a set of performance indicators and contact details for all taxpaying operators in Romania. These performance indicators and contact data are extracted from the annual financial statements the economic operators disclose. [63] Nevertheless, the data identifiers (i.e. the column headers of the .csv files) are missing, making the interpretation of the data very difficult. [64]
Though the portal Trasparenta-Bugetara.gov.ro is not user-friendly, it provides large and good quality datasets [65] that some NGOs have used to build monitoring applications on—e.g. OpenBudget.ro. According to the MFP representative, the MFP was unable to create synergies with a similar private sector initiative http://www.OpenBudget.ro, which explains national budgets through graphics and charts.
Carried forward?
This commitment will be continued in the 2018–2020 national action plan as Commitment 3: “Citizens Budgets.”
[58] Bogdan Grunevici, Ministry of Public Finances, interview by IRM researcher on 14 November 2018. According to the interview with Grunevici, the commitment was proposed by Mr. Codru Vrabie, from Funky Citizens.
[59] Government Emergency Ordinance 26/2012 on certain measures to reduce public expenditure and enhance financial discipline and on modifying and complementing certain normative acts, is available [in Romanian] at https://goo.gl/ngTEtz. Article 3 does not allow the MFP to dedicate resources to acquire goods for protocol or representation purposes
[60] Bogdan Grunevici, Ministry of Public Finances, interview by IRM researcher on 14 November 2018.
[61] “National Action Plan 2016–2018: Self-assessment report”, Open Government Partnership, 2018, page 33, available [in Romanian] at https://bit.ly/2vv2yw7.
[62] Elena Calistru, Funky Citizens, interview by IRM researcher on 13 November 2018.
[63] Bogdan Grunevici, Ministry of Public Finances, interview by IRM researcher on 14 November 2018.
[64] Economic operators identifiers, clustered by county are available at https://bit.ly/2WgYb75.
[65] Bogdan Grunevici, Ministry of Public Finances, interview by IRM researcher on 14 November 2018.
Commitments
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Streamline processes of consulting and involving citizens in innovative policy-making
RO0066, 2020, Capacity Building
-
Increase youth involvement in decision-making processes
RO0067, 2020, E-Government
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Extend open government initiatives to the local level
RO0068, 2020, Capacity Building
-
Improving access to social services for vulnerable citizens
RO0069, 2020, Capacity Building
-
Create centralized public database for non-reimbursable financing
RO0070, 2020, E-Government
-
Analyze and increase availability of data on public allocations and procurements
RO0071, 2020, Anti-Corruption
-
Publish information about projects financed by Romania in the Republic of Moldova
RO0072, 2020, Aid
-
Promote rights of citizens belonging to national minorities
RO0073, 2020, Access to Justice
-
Assess and draft recommendations to improve health services
RO0074, 2020, Access to Information
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Analyze data and train health professionals in reducing patient risk
RO0075, 2020, Capacity Building
-
Eliminate unnecessary bureaucratic procedures at central government level
RO0076, 2020, E-Government
-
Increase amount of open data
RO0077, 2020, Access to Information
-
Standardize Public Consultation Practices
RO0048, 2018, E-Government
-
Open Local Government
RO0049, 2018, Capacity Building
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Citizen Budgets
RO0050, 2018, Capacity Building
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Youth Participation
RO0051, 2018, Capacity Building
-
Register of Civil Society Proposals
RO0052, 2018, E-Government
-
Access to Information – Local
RO0053, 2018, Capacity Building
-
Online Business Sector Information
RO0054, 2018, Capacity Building
-
Digital Consular Services
RO0055, 2018, Capacity Building
-
Transparency in the Funding of Political Parties
RO0056, 2018, Access to Information
-
National Investment Fund Transparency
RO0057, 2018, Access to Information
-
Civil Servant Training
RO0058, 2018, Capacity Building
-
Raise Awareness About Corruption
RO0059, 2018, Capacity Building
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Transparency of Seized Assets
RO0060, 2018, Access to Information
-
Access to Social Services
RO0061, 2018, E-Government
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Open Access to Research
RO0062, 2018, Access to Information
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Open Education
RO0063, 2018, Access to Information
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Evaluate Open Data
RO0064, 2018, Access to Information
-
Open Data
RO0065, 2018, Access to Information
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Improving the Legal Framework and Practices Regarding Access to Public Interest Information
RO0030, 2016, Access to Information
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Centralized Publishing of Public Interest Information on the Single Gateway Transparenta.Gov.Ro
RO0031, 2016, Capacity Building
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Promoting Open Parliament Principles
RO0032, 2016, Capacity Building
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Improved Management of the Applications Submitted for Granting Citizenship
RO0033, 2016, Capacity Building
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Standardization of Transparency Practices in the Decision-Making Procedures
RO0034, 2016, Capacity Building
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Centralised Publication of Legislative Projects on the Single Gateway Consultare.Gov.Ro
RO0035, 2016, Capacity Building
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Citizens Budgets
RO0036, 2016, Capacity Building
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Improve Youth Consultation and Public Participation
RO0037, 2016, Capacity Building
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Subnational Open Government
RO0038, 2016, Capacity Building
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Promoting Transparency in the Decision-Making Process By Setting Up a Transparency Register (RUTI)
RO0039, 2016, Anti-Corruption
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Access to Performance Indicators Monitored in the Implementation of the National Anticorruption Strategy (SNA)
RO0040, 2016, Access to Information
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Improve Transparency in the Management of Seized Assets
RO0041, 2016, Access to Information
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Annual Mandatory Training of Civil Servants on Integrity Matters
RO0042, 2016, Anti-Corruption
-
Improving Access to Cultural Heritage
RO0043, 2016, Capacity Building
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Open Data and Transparency in Education
RO0044, 2016, Access to Information
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Virtual School Library and Open Educational Resources
RO0045, 2016, Capacity Building
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Open Contracting
RO0046, 2016, Anti-Corruption
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Increasing the Quality and Quantity of Published Open Data
RO0047, 2016, Access to Information
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Publishing the Public Interest Information on a Single Government Portal: Transparenta.Gov.Ro
RO0019, 2014, Access to Information
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Making an Inventory of the Datasets Produced by the Ministries and Subordinate Agencies
RO0020, 2014, Access to Information
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Ensuring the Free Online Access to National Legislation
RO0021, 2014, E-Government
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Amending Law 109/2007 on the Re-Use of Public Sector Information
RO0022, 2014, Access to Information
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Opening Data Collected from the National Health System
RO0023, 2014, Access to Information
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Opening Data Collected from the Monitoring of Preventive Measures as Part of the National Anticorruption Strategy 2012-2015
RO0024, 2014, Access to Information
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Open Contracting
RO0025, 2014, Anti-Corruption
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Opening up Data Resulted from Publicly-Funded Research Projects
RO0026, 2014, E-Government
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Increasing the Quality and Quantity of Published Open Data
RO0027, 2014, Access to Information
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Human Resource Training in the Field of Open Data
RO0028, 2014, Access to Information
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Disseminating Information on the OGP Principles and Promoting the Open Data Concept in an Accessible Manner
RO0029, 2014, Public Participation
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Designating a Person Responsible for Publishing Open Data in Each Public Institution
RO0001, 2012, Access to Information
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Identifying Regulatory Needs, Logistical and Technical Solutions
RO0002, 2012, Access to Information
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Making an Inventory of Available (High-Value) Data-Sets
RO0003, 2012, Access to Information
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Priority Publishing on the Web Pages of Public Institutions of Specific Data-Sets
RO0004, 2012, Access to Information
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Initiating Pilot-Projects, in Partnerships
RO0005, 2012, Access to Information
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Organizing Public Debates on the Utility of Open Data, in Partnerships
RO0006, 2012, Access to Information
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Uniform, Machine-Readable Publishing Format for Open Data
RO0007, 2012, Access to Information
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Procedures for Publication of Data-Sets Based on Civil Society Recommendations
RO0008, 2012, Access to Information
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Procedures for Citizen Complaints Pertaining to Open Data
RO0009, 2012, Access to Information
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Consultation Mechanism Between Suppliers and Beneficiaries of Open Data
RO0010, 2012, Access to Information
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Creating a Rating System for the Assessment of High-Value Data-Sets
RO0011, 2012, Access to Information
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Routinely Publishing Specific Data-Sets on Web Pages of Public Institutions
RO0012, 2012, Access to Information
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Integrating Open Data from Public Institutions in a Single National Platform
RO0013, 2012, Access to Information
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Inventories of Data, in Order to Facilitate Public Access
RO0014, 2012, Access to Information
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Institute a Monitoring Mechanism of Compliance for Open Data
RO0015, 2012, Access to Information
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Stimulating the Market for Innovative Use of Open Data
RO0016, 2012, Access to Information
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Routinely Publishing Data-Sets on the National Platform, 25% High-Value
RO0017, 2012, Access to Information
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The Public Procurement Electronic System (SEAP). the Electronic Allocation System for Transports (SAET)/B.1 C) Expanding the On-Line Submission of Fiscal Forms. Ensuring the Free On-Line Access to National Legislation. Developing Electronic Tools to Manage Subpoenas and Facilitate Access Toinformation Regarding Legal Proceedings. Developing Electronic Tools to Manage the Procedures Related to Obtaining the Romanian Citizenship. Developing Electronic Tools to Manage the Procedures Related to the Creation of Non-Profit Legal Persons. the Integrated System for Electronic Access to Justice (SIIAEJ)
RO0018, 2012, Access to Justice