Law on Financing Political Activities (RS0002)
Overview
At-a-Glance
Action Plan: Serbia First Action Plan 2014-2015
Action Plan Cycle: 2014
Status:
Institutions
Lead Institution: Ministry of finance
Support Institution(s): Ministry in charge of justice Anti-corruption Agency State Audit Institution Civil Society Organizations
Policy Areas
Anti-Corruption and Integrity, Elections, Legislation, Political IntegrityIRM Review
IRM Report: Serbia End-of-Term Report 2014-2016, Serbia Progress Report 2014-2016
Early Results: Did Not Change
Design i
Verifiable: Yes
Relevant to OGP Values: Yes
Ambition (see definition): High
Implementation i
Description
The Law on Financing Political Activities of the Republic of Serbia has significantly improved legal framework in this area. However, in practice, it turned out that some legal solutions have imperfections, especially with regard to the obligations of persons in relation to political subjects, the use of public funds, and the obligation of bodies responsible for the control of financing the political subjects, because they were not prescribed by law as compulsory subjects to audit by State Audit Institution. In order to overcome these issues, the Ministry of Finance is preparing the Draft Law on Amendments to the Law on Financing Political Activities.
IRM End of Term Status Summary
Commitment 2. Law on Financing Political Activities
Commitment Text:
1. Amending the Law on Financing Political Activities in order to clearly define and delineate the responsibilities of Anti-corruption Agency, State Audit Institution, and other bodies involved in the control of political activities, and to precisely determine the mechanisms for transparency in financing the political subjects.
a. Submitting the Draft Law to the Government for consideration and formulation of the Bill
Responsible Institution(s): Ministry of Finance
Supporting Institution(s): Ministry of Justice; Anticorruption Agency; State Audit Institution; CSOs
Start Date: Not specified End Date: Quarter I 2015
Commitment aim:
In Serbia, political financing is one of the key issues for the fight against corruption, given that public funds are the biggest funding source for financing political campaigns. This commitment aimed at closing loopholes in the legal framework in the context of financing political activities with the goal of making this process more transparent. It also aimed to make political subjects more accountable by precisely defining their obligations in the context of spending public funds.
Status: Complete at mid-term
The commitment was implemented within the first year of the action plan cycle in accordance with the set timeline. For more details, see the Serbia IRM Progress Report 2014-2015. The Ministry of Justice submitted a draft amended law, but it has yet to be adopted. The deadline for its adoption, according to the government’s self-assessment report, was Quarter III of 2016.[Note 6: Self-Assessment on the Implementation of the Serbian Open Government Partnership Action Plan for 2014-2015 (Report), [Serbian] http://bit.ly/2gyghOh] Additionally, CSOs and the Anticorruption Agency disagreed about some of the provisions in the draft amendments. Most notably, organizations disagreed with the proposal to use of public funds for purchasing property.[Note 7: “CSO Held Consultative Meeting on Open Government in Serbia,” European Policy Centre, 21 September 2015, http://bit.ly/2eU95eb]
Did it open government?
Access to information: Did not change
Public accountability: Did not change
Public funds in Serbia make up 48 percent of political campaign finances,[Note 8: “Report on the Financing of Political Activities During the Election Campaigns in the First Half of 2014,” Anticorruption Agency, October 2014, “Novac I Izbori [Summary of the Report],” Vreme, 11 November 2014, [Serbian] http://bit.ly/1K76IsO ] and the level of transparency about how political subjects use these funds is relatively low in practice.[Note 9: “Serbia,” Money, Politics and Transparency, https://data.moneypoliticstransparency.org/countries/RS/ ] However, by envisaging only the submission of a draft law to the government, this commitment has not changed government openness given that the law has not been adopted. Hence, as of June 2016, it had no impact on government openness either in terms of access to information or public accountability.
Additionally, Serbia already has a comprehensive regulatory framework regarding political financing. The challenges arise mostly in practice. According to the “Money, Politics and Transparency” indices, Serbia ranks much better on its regulatory framework than practice in the context of political financing.[Note 10: “Serbia,” Money, Policies and Transparency, https://data.moneypoliticstransparency.org/countries/RS/ ] The letter of the law and the results in practice will not be addressed until the final implementation of the law. Therefore, although this commitment was completed in the first year of the action plan cycle, its potential effects on government openness in terms of the management of public funds and public spending will be visible only in the long term, if the law is adopted and its stipulations implemented.
Carried forward?
The commitment was completed, and no commitments regarding the financing of political activities were included in the 2016-2018 action plan adopted in November 2016.