In Romania, new initiative puts knowledge at the public’s fingertips

Much has been said and done about anti-corruption in Romania over the last 20 years. Politicians included the anti-corruption theme in their platforms and speeches, new state bodies have been created to fight corruption, and new legislation (such as the law on free access to public information and the law on transparency in public administration decision-making) has been passed to increase transparency and limit the space for corrupt practices. Despite these efforts, in Transparency International’s index of corruption perceptions for 2010, Romania ranked 69th out of 178 countries and obtained a modest score of 3.7 on a scale from 10 (very clean) to 0 (highly corrupted).

Local and international organizations pointed out what needs to be done and many of them (including CIPE) supported initiatives to address the issues. In its turn, the media has constantly exposed cases of public officials involved in corrupted practices.  So it is fair to say that a lot of time, energy, and money have been spent fighting corruption in Romania, yet there is still have a long way to go in fighting corruption and establishing transparency, accountability and good governance as fundamental values.

One way to tackle corruption is by mobilizing at the grassroots level: companies, civil society groups and ordinary citizens who experience multiple facets of corruption in their daily life. People at the grassroots level need practical information (in the form of “how to”) and guidance in tackling corruption and improving transparency and accountability.

Such practical information and guidance is newly gathered on a new website called www.romaniacurata.ro (which translates as “Clean Romania”). The website is part of a new anti-corruption effort launched in November 2010 at the initiative of a group of civil society organizations, The Alliance for a Clean Romania, which defines itself as a civic movement open to individuals and organizations, NGOs, companies, trade unions and public institutions that promote the principles of good governance and their practical implementation. The following are some of the ideas that underlie the Alliance’s activity:

  • The government is serving citizens and not the other way around
  • A nation presupposes a community of people equal before the law
  • In order for the country to thrive, it is of utmost importance that the state ensure abidance by the laws and contracts in force and it should be the first one to abide by the laws and contracts in force
  • Public goods and services are distributed universally and indiscriminately, without favoring political parties or interest groups
  • The governance process must be transparent in all its stages, from passage to implementation

At present the Alliance comprises fourteen members who represent the NGO sector, unions, students, professional associations, journalist associations, individuals and partner institutions committed to a common goal: to build participation in order to increase the impact of anticorruption.

The Alliance’s website contains a section titled “Ask for advice from an anti-corruption expert,” where citizens receive counseling from lawyers and experts in anticorruption matters on how to deal with situations that involve lack of transparency of public institutions and/or potential for corruption. The website also contains a section dedicated to legal ways to refer matters to public authorities. The section contains information and step-by-step guidance on how to draft a petition, a request for public information and a complaint. In addition, the public has access to templates of the three documents, so all one has to do is download and fill in the documents and submit them to the public office in question. These are very useful practical information and tools for the general public, which is sometimes not aware of its rights or lacks the practical information on how to refer matters to public authorities.

While political will to fight corruption is important, it is the actions of well-informed and mobilized citizens and groups that help shape the sound institutions and practices of the democratic society for which we all strive.

Published Date: January 26, 2011