The openness and transparency of the Croatian government as well as how these values are being implemented through the Open Government Partnership were topics of the Open Croatia conference held today at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing. The conference was attended by President Ivo Josipović, Minister of Science, Education and Sports Željko Jovanović, Deputy Minister of Foreign and European Affairs and chairman of the government's OGP Council Joško Klisović, Deputy Finance Minister Boris Lalovac, and Assistant Minister of Administration Jagoda Botički.
“Our goal is to make government better and more open. The OGP is a tool with which we promote transparency and fight corruption, using new technologies,” said Klisović. Outlined were the principal results of the first year of the initiative’s implementation, which include combating corruption and introducing new procedures by which citizens participate in law making. Thanks to these, last year there was 160% more citizen participation in relation to 2012 and 675% in relation to 2011. Furthermore, an institution of information commissioner has been set up, public administration services are faster and more thorough, and budget is being made public. The OGP sets new criteria and new expectations in regard to an efficient and responsible government, with a new action plan that has just recently been drafted and is open to public debate. It foresees working on the transparency of election and referendum campaigns as well as youth policies, and emphasizes educating the youth about openness, transparency and inclusion as the fundamental values of a democratic society.
The initiative also prompts the publishing of public state owned data, which makes the society more transparent, even bringing economic gain.
Addresses on the implementation of the initiatives and future plans for the next two years were delivered by Deputy Head of the Prime Minister's Office Dalibor Dvorny, Ivana Jakir from the Ministry of Finance, Jelena Berković from GONG, Head of the Government Office for Cooperation with NGOs Igor Vidačak, Commissioner for Right to Information Access Anamarija Musa, Bojan Opačak from Racionalno Internacionalno and Tomislav Vračić from the Ministry of Administration.
The OGP is an international initiative which through cooperation between governments and civil society promotes reforms aimed at achieving a more open and more responsible government. It was launched by US President Barack Obama in 2011. Croatia is one of the 63 member states. In April 2012, its government adopted an action plan to implement reforms in fiscal transparency, information access, use of information technologies, and participation of citizens and civil society. Croatia's action plan was assessed as one of the five best plans and its implementation is above-average.