New Monitoring Report launched by CPII: “Transparency of Decision Making & Public Participation in Korca Municipal Council”

“Transparency of Local Decision-Making and Public Participation in Korça Municipal Council” is another publication made public by CPII recently. Subject to  monitoring and assessment in the framework of this research is the activity and functioning of Korça Municipal Council in two aspects, which are clearly defined by the law: guaranteeing public participation in the decision-making process and the practical implementation of the decision-making process, which consists of discussion, voting and announcement of the decisions.  This Monitoring was conducted with the important support provided by the Open Society Foundation (SOROS), with its headquarters in TIRANA.

The period covered by this monitoring starts on January 2011 and ends on April, 2012 (16 months). The reason for exceeding with four months the calendar year has to do with the delayed approval of the Fiscal Package and the Budget for 2012, expected to pass on January instead of Aprill 2012. They represent the two most important decisions of a municipal council, therefor, monitoring their decision making process was of crucial importance.

The novelty of this monitoring is that for the first time it combines a double assessment of the public’s right to participate in the local decision-making and the obligation of the Municipal Council to conduct the decision-making process pursuant to the relevant provisions of the law 8652 “On the Organization and Functioning of the Local Government”, amended.  In order to conduct this double assessment, the Center for Public Information Issues (CPII) developed a specific methodological tool, called PROACTIVE, which represents one of the most important approaches in the frame of this initiative. PROACTIVE (modified acronym for: Protocol for Assessing Transparency in Decision-Making of the City Council through Active Civic Participation“ is sui-generis, which means that is “tailor-made” for the relevant legislation in force in the Republic of Albania, concretely the Law 8652 “On the Organization and Functioning of the Local Government”, amended.

In the focus of this monitoring is exclusively the activity of the Municipal Council of Korça, which exercises the functions of the collegian decision making body at local level. The administration of the Municipality as a centralized monocratic body, headed by the Mayor, is not subject to monitoring. This differentiated approach represents also another novelty, if we bear in mind that no attention has been paid so far to the division and separation of the decision-making and executive powers at local level, in the context of evaluating and assessing the transparency by the civil society operators or even international organizations working in Albania.

In the frame of this Report,  CPII has calculated also the level of compliance with the articles 33, 34 and 35 of the law 8652 by Korça Municipal Council itself. These articles set the modalities of the discussion (including the one with the public), voting process, announcement and entry into force of the decisions of the Municipal Council. Functioning of the Council in compliance with these legal provisions is a judicial and factual condition to guarantee a lawful and transparent decision-making process, through ensuring public participation and effective access to the local legislation ( Announcement Notification of the decisions enacted by the Municipal Council).

This evaluation is also conducted for the first time in Albania. The method developed and employed by the CPII could serve as a model for other actors, too, who have an interested in the objective assessment of the implementation of specific laws or provisions at local government level. Korça Municipal Council is specifically targeted by this monitoring findings, without excluding though the municipality administration. Donors (governmental or non-governmental), who cooperate with the local government and community, are another specific target, too. Another intended target is the local media in Korça. This report will become available also to all Korça citizens, so that they star to evaluate from a different prospective the performance of their elected representatives in the Municipal Council.

The Report  ­is made ­public when less than a year remains from the deadline of the implementation of the Crosscutting Strategy in the Public Administration (CSPA), ‘09-’13. Part of the government vision stated in this important document is “an administration based on transparent decision-making processes, which is involved and accountable to the public”. The findings of this report provide an additional opportunity for the Central Government to evaluate how the objectives set out in the framework of the CSPA have been met, especially with regard to “transparent decision-making processes”.

This report is published at a time when the Albanian Government has joined also global initiatives that aim at increasing the transparency in the decision-making process, such as the Open Government Partnership, joined by Albania on August 2, 2011.

In this sense, the assessment of the level of this access is a direct indicator to evaluate the compliance with  the commitments already taken by the Albanian state not only towards itself, but also at international level.