Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Gordan Jandroković participated as Prime Minister Kosor’s envoy in round table “Open Government Partnership”

The round table was co-organized by the Office of the Croatian President, Government Office for Cooperation with NGOs and US Embassy to Croatia

The round table was co-organized by the Office of the Croatian President, Government Office for Cooperation with NGOs and US Embassy to Croatia.

In his presentation, Minister Jandroković congratulated the US on the praiseworthy initiative by President Obama, who had begun his mandate precisely by signing the Memorandum on Transparency and Open Government in an attempt to bring the citizens closer to institutions and usher a new era of open and responsible government. He said that the margins of the coming 66th session of the General Assembly in New York would see the launch of the equivalent initiative on the international level as well, entitled the Open Government Partnership. He expressed belief that it would grow into an important multilateral initiative with great potential for contributing to the positive changes worldwide and confirmed Croatia’s willingness to be an active participant.

Minister Jandroković pointed out that the Open Government Partnership aimed at achieving progress in the same areas that have been the focus of the Croatian Government’s efforts, namely those that are part of the adaptations stemming from the EU accession process. In that regard, he said that transparency, openness and responsibility of the public authority bodies, combating corruption, involving and empowering citizens and the civil society, as well as using new technologies to improve the quality of services offered by the public administration, were areas of direct interest for the quality of life of the Croatian citizens.

He also pointed out the significant progress made in those areas during the past few years. Strategic framework for combating corruption and strengthening the openness and transparency of the public authority bodies has been defined, and among the series of measures implemented he singled out those pertaining to the building and solidification of legal framework, as well as the strengthening of integrity, institutional capacities and transparency.

In regard to the right of access to information, a leap forward was made by adding amendments to the Constitution that guarantee the access to information as a constitutional right. The amendments to the Information Access Act further limited the number of exceptions when a public body can deny access to information. In the area of public procurement, transparency was ensured in all stages of the process by the Public Procurement Act.

Also, Croatia has significantly strengthened the legal framework of financing political parties as well, by passing the new Act on Financing Political Activities and Election Campaigns that set up a unified framework for transparent financing of parties, as well as an independent system of monitoring and sanctioning in case of violations. The transparency of public authorities’ regulations draw-up is also ensured through the Codex on Consulting with the Public in Passing Laws, Other Regulations and Acts. Furthermore, on the level of the central state administration bodies and Government offices, 24 coordinators have been appointed to monitor and coordinate the consulting procedures within their jurisdiction.

Minister Jandroković also pointed out that in the past 10 years a lot had been done to create a stimulating environment for the development of civil society. He noted that civil society organizations’ projects had recently been launched, financed through the IPA 2008 program and co-financed by the Croatian Government. Also, two weeks ago, new tenders were invited for the IPA 2010, which also aims at strengthening the non-governmental sector in monitoring the responsibility and openness of the public authority bodies. All this points to a willingness to establish partnership relations with NGOs in fortifying the openness and transparency of state administration, in order for it to meet the needs of the citizens in the best way possible, said Minister Jandroković.

Conclusively, he emphasized that the participation in the Open Government Partnership was yet another proof of Croatia’s readiness to progress even further and adopt new, more advanced standards of participative democracy. He also expressed belief that this initiative would offer the possibility of transferring the knowledge and experience to other countries in the region as well, and that Croatia would once again prove itself the regional leader of the Open Government Partnership.

Press releases