TI-Romania: Future governments must change the operating system, instead of limited improvements

In light of the resignation of Prime Minister, Victor Ponta, Transparency International Romania urge the political class to cater for change to be substantial, not only formal, and for the mandate of the new Government of Romania to respond to the legitimate expectations of the Romanians who protested.

The programme of the future government is indisputably tied to the legitimacy of the moment in which it takes over the country’s administration, regardless of the governing coalition that will be formed this afternoon.

Transparency International Romania considers that the programme of the future government must focus on the following key aspects:

  • Efficient prevention of corruption – petty corruption, which suffocates citizens, and kills, as well as grand corruption, which depletes public resources and degrades the quality of life.
  • Urgent correction of major dysfunctionalities affecting the public administration, by increasing transparency and credibility of administrative procedures and processes, in all public sectors.
  • Increasing transparency of administrative procedures and ensuring predictability of public policy decisions.
  • Standardizing the criteria for public service administration, by imposing unitary, clear, transparent and unequivocal standards for the functioning of the local public administration.
  • Adopting measures for integrating public vigilance in the activities of public authorities and institutions.
  • Withholding from populating the public administration with persons named based on political sympathies.
  • Extend and strengthen mechanisms for whistleblower protection as a preventive antidote to cases such as the accident in Colective club and to corruption in the management of public funds.

The new model for governing and administration must set clear criteria for working responsibilities for each civil servant involved, as well as quantifiable performance criteria for the personnel within public authorities and institutions.

To respond to the legitimate pressure and expectations of Romanian society, the role and goal of the future governing coalition and implicitly of the new government must be to bring sustainable change to the operating system, not only limited improvements.

Press contact(s):

Iulia Coșpănaru 
Deputy Director
Transparency International Romania
T: 0731.332.902
E:office@transparency.org.ro