Increase transparency of political funding (RO0091)

Brief Description of the Commitment

The commitment aims to contribute to the transparency of the financing of political parties and electoral campaigns, also aiming to increase public confidence in the integrity of these processes, as well as to ensure a collaborative process of implementation of EU Regulation 2024/900 on transparency and targeting of a target audience in political advertising in Romania. The commitment has the following objectives: - Analyse difficulties and limitations in collecting information related to the financing of electoral parties and campaigns and propose amendments or practical solutions to improve related legislation. The priority themes are: o Transparency of the election campaign and publication of income and expenditure data, including their detailed source; o Improving transparency on expenditure from public grants, including through the publication of beneficiaries of funds; o Structured and efficient auditing of the source of funds that are declared in the campaign; o Publication of more detailed control reports or streamlining access to this information. - Consultation on the implementation of EU Regulation 2024/900, which will enter into force in October 2025, to identify the best measures for its application in the Romanian context.

Problem Definition

1. What problem does the commitment aim to address?

The commitment covers several themes, which are subsumed under the reduced transparency on different stages of the electoral process or the financing or the activity of political parties, as follows:
1. Increasing the transparency of political party financing by strengthening electoral legislation and identifying a mechanism to collect, report, centralize and publish details of expenditures made from the subsidy from the state budget, for example the list of contracts or lists with the providers of these services, in compliance with the GDPR.
2. Improving the quality and complexity of income and expenditure reports, both for the current activity of the party, as well as for the electoral period. Although the law provides models for income and expenditure reports, in practice, the documents differ from one party to another, with some reports being detailed and others presenting only general values.
3. With Regulation (EU) 2024/900 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 March 2024 on the transparency and targeting of political advertising8, which lays down detailed rules on political advertising applicable across all Member States of the European Union, fully applicable as of 10 October 2025, it is necessary to consult on the necessary legislative changes. From the moment of full entry into force, the Regulation will require the labelling of political advertising material, including messages disseminated on large platforms. It is important to note that the rules established by this Regulation do not only cover the period of the electoral campaign, but will apply permanently to any political advertising material, regardless of the time of its use. Specific procedures for the adoption of implementing acts under Articles 11(4), 12(7) and 13(6) of Regulation (EU) 2024/900 are currently ongoing at the level of the European Commission. Thus, by 10 July 2025, the European Commission should adopt detailed rules on the labelling and technical specifications of transparency notices accompanying political advertising material. Furthermore, Article 13(6) of the above-mentioned Regulation requires the European Commission to adopt, by 10 April 2026, detailed rules on the provision of a common data structure, standardised metadata facilitating the inclusion of political advertisements in the European Register of Online Political Advertisements referred to in Article 13 of the Regulation, standardised authentication and a common application programming interface in order to enable the aggregation of information published online under the Regulation so that it can be accessed through a single portal. In this context, it becomes imperative to develop subsequent national legislation, namely the development and harmonisation of the legislative framework in accordance with the uniform regulations and procedures to be established in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2024/900, in particular as regards the amendment of Law No 334/2006 on the financing of the activity of political parties and electoral campaigns, and, implicitly, of the Methodological Norms for its application, including in relation to the topic of marking and reporting political advertising.
4. Identifying/implementing legislative solutions that allow the weekly publication of income and expenditure data during electoral campaigns, on a mandatory basis, ensuring the transparency of the identity of donors or persons/entities that contributed to the electoral campaign above certain values. 5. As regards the control reports drawn up by the AEP, the extract to be published in the Official Gazette and on the institution’s website is a summary. Thus, legislative changes would be needed to facilitate the publication of full reports or broader summaries.

2. What are the causes of the problem?

The current situation is mainly due to a restrictive legislative framework, which limits the possibilities for increased transparency in political funding, as well as a lack of openness by some political and electoral actors who do not show initiative in publishing the relevant data. In the context of the lack of a real opportunity for reform in the last year and a half, marked by the holding of a significant number of elections, we believe that the next period provides an enabling framework to relaunch discussions on improving the transparency of political financing in view of future electoral cycles.

Commitment Description

1. What has been done so far to solve the problem?

For the purpose to increase transparency regarding the financing of political parties and electoral campaigns, as well as to facilitate the access of interested persons to data in .xls, .doc formats, which are editable and easily understood by citizens, the specialized department of the Permanent Electoral Authority publishes information, in this format, on the website http://www.finantarepartide.ro, on the public or private financing of political parties, both for their current activity and for the financing of electoral campaigns.
During electoral campaigns, on the website http://www.finantarepartide.ro are publish weekly in .xls, .doc formats, which are editable and easy to understand by citizens, the centralized statements of all electoral contributions, as well as the amount of electoral expenses incurred, for each destination allowed by Law 334/2006, republished, as subsequently amended and supplemented, reported by political parties, political alliances, organizations of Romanian citizens belonging to national minorities and independent candidates.
Although Law No 334/2006, republished, as subsequently amended and supplemented, and the Implementing Rules for Law No 334/2006, approved by Government Decision No 10/2016, do not regulate the obligation to report the situation of expenditure incurred by purpose, in accordance with Article 25 of that law, the Permanent Electoral Authority shall publish the above-mentioned monthly situation from 2021 on the website http://www.finantarepartide.ro.
Detailed reports on income and expenditure submitted and registered with the AEP by political parties and electoral competitors have been published, both for the activity of the previous year and after each election, in the Official Gazette of Romania, Part I, and on the website http://www.finantarepartide.ro. The Syntheses of Control Reports were also published, in the Official Gazette of Romania, Part I, and on the website http://www.finantarepartide.ro, for all the control reports drawn up following the missions carried out by the specialised department and the county directorates of the AEP, in order to verify the current activity of the political parties and the checks carried out as a result of the electoral campaigns.
By way of example, in 2021, 205 reports or other categories of contributions were published in accessible formats and 25 detailed reports on electoral revenues and expenditure specific to the financing of the electoral campaign for the partial local elections, 63 reports on revenues and expenditure and 76 reports on the use of amounts from subsidies granted from the state budget, 131 summary control reports specific to the current financing of the activity of political parties, as well as 1558 summary control reports specific to the financing of electoral campaigns (1463 reports specific to the 2020 local elections, 70 reports specific to the 2020 parliamentary elections, 25 reports specific to the 2021 partial local elections). In 2022, 216 reports were published in accessible formats, 201 reports were published in 2023, and 1184 reports were published in 2024. For the presidential elections in 2025, Decision No 9/2025 of the Permanent Electoral Authority on the manner of promoting, distributing, publishing or editing political advertising material used in the electoral campaign for the elections to the President of Romania in 2025 was adopted, during the drafting of this decision, consultations were held, including with representatives of non-governmental organisations with relevant activity in the electoral field.

2. What solution are you proposing?

- Conduct extensive consultations with all stakeholders with a view to identifying the most appropriate solutions for increasing transparency and applying the new regulations on political advertising; - Making legislative proposals to amend the legislation in order to increase the transparency of political funding and electoral campaign; - Review the ways in which data is collected and published to identify ways to improve. This direction is all the more relevant as open data legislation has entered into force.

3. What results do we want to achieve by implementing this commitment?

Increasing the transparency of political funding and, in general, increasing trust in the electoral process. We also aim to ensure that the public has better access to information, that experts and any interested party can contribute to the formulation of the legislative framework, and that civic organisations or media monitoring political funding have better and timely access to data.
As a result of the implementation of this commitment, the following aspects would be improved:
- Regulate predictable mechanisms for publishing information on the incomes and expenses of electoral competitors during the electoral campaign; - Increasing the number of datasets and the quality of information published in .xls, .doc formats, which are editable and understandable to citizens, on the financing of political parties (including subsidies) and electoral campaigns; - Increased transparency and public understanding of procedures related to the marking and reporting of political advertising, following the entry into force of EU Regulation 2024/900; Streamlining the mechanisms for verifying the source of funds that are declared in the electoral campaign.

Commitment Analysis

1. How will the commitment promote transparency?

The publication of important data, such as on campaign funding or grants, is primarily intended to inform citizens. We believe that extending the published data in a timely manner can help inform the public more effectively, as well as increase trust in state institutions.

2. How will the commitment help foster accountability?

The publication of real-time data on the electoral campaign will increase the responsibility of participants in electoral competitions and early action can be taken if irregularities are identified.

3. How will the commitment improve citizen participation in defining, implementing, and monitoring solutions?

Establishing rules on the application of the new regulations on political advertising in a collaborative format can contribute to a better understanding of the topic. The publication of more detailed data on grants and the election campaign can contribute to the wider facility of monitoring this expenditure.

Milestones | Expected Outputs | Expected Completion Date

Identification of measures that can be taken to implement the new framework generated by EU Regulation 2024/900 | Regular consultations with stakeholders to discuss the context of the implementation of the Regulation, the Romanian institutional framework and the practical effects of its implementation | October 2025

Formulate proposals for legislative amendments, EPA rulings or procedures to improve current practices where there is no need for legislative changes | Formulate and submit for approval legislative proposals governing the transparency aspects of campaign and political funding. | June 2026

Analysis of the current situation and identification of public solutions/policies to solve the proposed themes in case of commitment | Regular thematic meetings with stakeholders – at least one meeting per proposed topic and follow-up meetings will be organised whenever needed | June 2027