PROGRESS MADE IN TRANSPARENCY

30. May 2017.

Belgrade-Transparency Serbia said that the survey on 15 cities and municipalities in Serbia showed that there was some progress made in terms of transparency of the municipal administrations, but that it was necessary to further improve it. According to the index of transparency of the local self-governments, the best rating was given to the city of Pancevo (67), followed by Raska (62), Vranje (62), Leskovac (61), Kraljevo (57), Paracin (56), Novi Sad (48), Nis ( 48), Tutin (47), Bujanovac (47), Kragujevac (43), Novi Pazar (39), Belgrade (34), Jagodina (26) and Presevo (11).

Zlatko Minic, an associate of Transparency Serbia, said at a press- conference that that year's survey, which was conducted on a sample of 15 local self-governments, showed that several cities and municipalities had made progress compared to the survey conducted in 2015, which covered 145 cities and municipalities, while Presevo justifiably regressed due to changes in its local self-government. Mr. Minic said that there was a huge space and the need to improve transparency, as the cities that were best- rated in this year's survey, achieved set standards only in two-thirds of the criteria.

Mr. Minic said that we should insist on the availability of data in assemblies, councils, public enterprises and institutions. Broken down by categories, as he said, the best rates were given for the transparency of data on public procurements, while the worst situation was at public enterprises and institutions.

"Many public companies do not have websites and do not publish what is required by law. Public companies and institutions have been neuralgic for years and they require a high level of transparency," said Mr. Minic. He also said that cities and towns did not exceed their legal requirements, while those requirements were often violated or were only formally met.

While outlining the recommendations to improve the transparency of cities and municipalities, Nenad Nenadic, Program Director of Transparency Serbia, said that everyone should work on a more systematic presentation of information on their websites, on creating a separate page on the websites dedicated to the activities of the assemblies and councils, as well as on creating special pages entitled the "budget".

“Transparency Serbia recommended regular organizing of public discussions on the budget with the participation of citizens, not just the budget users, as well as the opening of a special website dedicated to public procurements," Mr. Nenadic said.

Among the recommendations of Transparency Serbia are those that information on public tenders should be systematized with the results of the competitions, that cost information should be prominently highlighted, that the recordings of parliamentary sessions should be posted on the websites, that fixed terms for meetings of mayors with the citizens should be determined, that data on real estate should be made public, that surveys on satisfaction of the citizens with the municipal services should be conducted and that press conferences should be held on a regular basis.

Source: “Beta” news agency, B92 and Coordination Body