Prishtina, 5th May 2013 – It’s been two years since FOL Movement is engaged in monitoring of public procurement. This commitment is as a result of our previous research, where we found out that corruption allegations and misuse of public funds are an issue at different stages in public procurement, including both levels, central and local.
We monitor public procurement procedures in institutions directly, by participating in the process, and indirectly, through institutions research and public procurement institutions research. During this two year period, FOL has published reports, analyses and different reactions regarding public procurement policies.

On 4th May 2013, FOL Movement has published its regular quarterly report, “Procurement Monitor January-March 2013”, which includes and interprets the decisions of Public Procurement Review Body, in order of public sensitization about the situation of the following procedures and legal provisions during the public procurement activities. As we know, Public Procurement Review Body is an independent review body which according to the Law on Public Procurement 04-L-042, is authorized to review the compliance of legal provisions during the procedure in question.
The report that has been published had the same purpose. In this report about the Municipality of Prishtina we have presented the data provided by PRB decisions taken during public procurement procedures. Law violations that Prishtina Municipality has committed in three different activities of public procurement are found in the PRB decision No. 377/12 dated 01.23.2013 for the tender “Supply and installation of cameras at traffic lights and in schools” then the decision No. 15/13 dated 20.02.2013 for the tender “Supply of industrial salt for winter season” and also in the decision No. 53/13 dated 03.28.2013 for the tender “Supply and installation of cameras at traffic lights and in schools”- re-evaluation.

To prove this, please click on the links regarding the decisions in question: (http://oshp.rks-gov.net/repository/docs/vendimet/2013/Instalimi-i-kamerave-ne-semafor-dhe-ne-shkolla.pdf http://oshp.rks-gov.net/repository/docs/vendimet/2013/Furnizim_me_kripe_industriale.pdf http://oshp.rks-gov.net/repository/docs/vendimet/2013/Montimi-i-kamerave-ne-semafor.pdf)
Prishtina Municipality through a public reaction, on Sunday has unjustly accused FOL Movement.
In our report, we did not defend any businesses, but we only referred to the PRB decisions. Therefore Municipal charges are absurd and show their unwillingness to be monitored and to be confronted with the facts provided by civil society for their actions with taxpayer money.
FOL Movement regularly monitors several ministries, and which are included in yesterday’s report, public companies (KEC and PTK) and municipalities. Thus, our monitoring does not involve only the Municipality of Prishtina, but also seven other institutions of different levels.

We consider that it is not the responsibility of the municipality to tell us when we should react. As a matter of fact, we have also reacted to the issue that they have raised in their response.
Through a reaction on 1st February 2013, FOL has requested formation of an Ad Hoc Committee for biometric passports scandal. For more information check the link: https://ëëë.facebook.com/notes/l%C3%ABvizja-fol/kuvendi-i-kosov%C3%ABs-t%C3%AB-krijoj%C3%AB-komision-ad-hoc-p%C3%ABr-hetim-parlamentar-n%C3%AB-mpb-dhe-in/10151421106389413).
Therefore, we consider that municipality’s response does not deal with the content, but with the interpretation of the reaction as they please.
We make it clear to Prishtina Municipality that our engagement is public, therefore we defend public interest. FOL’s staff consisted of 15 people is engaged to make responsible and conscientious the public officials who are not at all levels of government.
Our mission is and remains the support of Good Governance and Active Citizenry

Prishtina, May 4 – Today published its regular report “Procurement Monitor” for January-March 2013 period. This report shows law violations and irregularities of the ministries, public enterprises (KEC and PTK) and municipalities during public procurement procedures.

Kenan Tora from FOL Movement said that “Ministries, Public Enterprises (KEC and PTK) and Municipalities of the Republic of Kosovo in the first three months of this year have continued with law violations and irregularities in public procurement. In this three – month period, the above-mentioned institutions have committed violations in 20 different tenders. According to the Procurement Review Body, 17 of these 20 tenders were returned for re-evaluation, and 3 of them have been returned to re-tender.”
According to the findings of this report, ministries have violated provisions of public procurement in three different tenders, followed by KEC and PTK which have committed violations in 11 different tenders, and municipalities have committed violations in 6 tenders.

Considering the high level of misuse and corruption affairs, as well as the low level of transparency of public procurement procedures, Kenan Tora stated that “FOL Movement has recommended the amendment of the Law on Public Procurement, in order to prepare a proper legal basis for electronic procurement.” This, according to the representatives of this movement, “would have a direct effect on increasing transparency and accountability, and reduce the possibility of abuse and violations in this area.

Prishtina, April 21 – FOL Movement, within its anti-corruption activities, has drafted a new platform: Corruption Statistics in Kosovo. This was making possible thanks to the three-year work of FOL staff in monitoring corruption in Kosovo.
Armend Mazreku, a researcher at FOL Movement, said that “There will be a regular publication of statistics showing corruption beyond public perception within this new platform, allowing the general public and public institutions to read these data on their way in order to better understand and analyze their performance and give their contribution in the areas where improvement is needed.”

This platform includes comparative data of institutions, agencies, media and international reports regarding the level of corruption in Kosovo.

Armend Mazreku, during the presentation of the data of this platform, stressed that: “Based on the published data, Prosecutions in Kosovo in 2011 have filed 214 charges, while in 2012 they have filed 172 charges. Courts have solved 136 cases in 2011, while in 2012 they solved 180 cases. Police have arrested 97 people in 2011 and 56 in 2012. Kosovo’s government in 2011 has approved four anti – corruption decisions and four others 4 in 2012 as well. Anti – Corruption Agency in 2011 sent to the prosecution 39 cases, while in 2012 they sent 52 cases. Regarding the conflict of interest, the Agency has identified 54 cases in 2011 and 131 cases in 2012. Agency for the Administration of Confiscated Property in 2011 has administered seized assets worth about 73 thousand Euros, while in 2012 over 2.5 million Euros.”

Prishtina, April 8, 2013 – Declaration of assets by public officials has been and remains one of the most sensitive issues in the fight against corruption. Due to the fact that, since 2010, when the Law on Declaration, Origin and Control of Assets of Senior Public Officials was approved, figures that these officials have openly published over the years indicate their involvement in corrupt practices and lack of transparency toward citizens of Kosovo.

Last year, FOL Movement has developed a platform. In this platform are included 224 public officials and are calculated and compared their assets over the years. As in most of them, there is a big discrepancy, we asked the authorities, such as state prosecution, to initiate investigations regarding declarations of officials, but we did not see any serious investigation so far.
As already known, the deadline of declaration of assets by public officials was by the end of last month. According to the above mentioned law, the publication of declaration forms should be within two months on the website of Anti-Corruption Agency. However, the Agency published its annual report few days ago, which among others mentioned 9 public officials who have millions of dollars difference in the declaration of assets over a period of 4 years.

We know that the law allows a period of two months until the declaration forms are made public, but for the sake of transparency in public, the Agency should make public the names of these officials who became millionaires. Such a requirement would also allow the prosecution and investigation authorities (police and prosecution) have a basis for initiating investigations against these officials who have robbed public budget to get rich. This is actually responsibility of Agency; on the other hand it would facilitate the work of media, non-governmental organizations and society in general.
However, once the declaration forms will be made public by the Agency, FOL will incorporate them into its platform (http://www.levizjafol.org/al/deklarimet) and then everyone interested can observe the differences of annual declaration of senior public officials.

In 2009 FOL Movement had reinstated the Karl Popper Debate Program in Kosovo. This program has been one of the most attractive programs for the youth of Kosovo to develop their critical thinking, creativity and research skills on various social, political, economic and cultural domains.

Since then FOL has expanded the program to more than ten municipalities, has engaged and trained nearly 1,000 high school students, has organized local, regional and national tournaments, and has participated in various international competitions, where young people have shown extraordinary skills of debating culture. Due to its work and commitment, in 2010 FOL has become a member of the International Debate Education Association (www.idebate.org), whose mission consists on developing a global culture of debate.

Considering the progress of this program in many municipalities in Kosovo, seeing a great interest of Kosovo’s youth for inclusion in this program, and considering that FOL Movement has begun to work with the new strategy 2013-2015 (approved in December 2012), the Karl Popper Debate Program is being transformed into an independent organization.

This program has been consistently supported by the Kosovo Foundation for Open Society (KFOS), as well as some municipalities and central institutions of the Republic of Kosovo.

FOL Movement will continue its unconditional support for the new Debate Center organization, and hopefully the partner organizations will do it as well.

Prishtina, March 3rd – Today FOL Movement held a press conference publishing annual report “Corruption Monitor 2012”, which represents all activities of responsible institutions for fighting and Preventing corruption for the period January-December 2012 .

Fidan Kalaja from FOL Movement said that “the fight against corruption is not only based on public promises without any support in practical actions but it has also taken another dimension considering anti-corruption fight and policies only as a criteria and pressure from international community disregarding the contextual circumstances and needs. He further added that “the progress in the fight against corruption remains one of the most important criteria of Kosovo integration in EU, the EU mission of rule of law in Kosovo, EULEX which is responsible also fighting corruption was not that effective fighting corruption and was criticized also by the European Court of Auditors “.

Whereas, Armend Mazreku researcher at FOL Movement, stressed that “this policy report shows the absolute lack of seriousness of public institutions to prevent and fight corruption.” He further stated that “the institutions responsible for fighting corruption have not taken sufficient measures needed to reduce the high level of corruption in public institutions.”
According to the findings of this report, the Government of Kosovo during 2012 has issued only five decisions against corruption: a) approval of the Strategy and Anti- Corruption Action Plan for 2013 to 2017, b ) establishment of an Executive Committee (which includes Anti -Corruption policies and judiciary ), c ) termination of two board members , one member of the Board of Directors of ” Hidrodrini” Sh.A. from Peja, and another member of the board of directors in Kosovo Energy Corporation (KEK), d) approval of the draft – law on Enhanced Competencies for confiscation of the property illegally obtained, f) approval of two concept papers: Drafting the draft-law on amending the law on Declaration and Origin of Assets of Senior Public Officials, as well as a draft law on amending the law on Prevention of conflict of Interest in of public functions.

Furthermore, according to this report, regular municipal courts in Kosovo transferred 197 cases from the previous years. These courts throughout 2012 have filed a total of 169 cases, while 366 are active cases. Regular municipal courts during 2012 have solved a total of 148 cases. Meanwhile, at the end of the reporting period, 218 cases have remained unsolved.
According to prosecution statistics related to anti-corruption, it results that they have transferred 802 cases from the previous years. During the same period of one year, 376 new cases have been filed. 140 proposal charges were filed and 132 charges. 770 cases have been solved and 990 cases remained unsolved. At the end of the reporting period there were265 unsolved criminal charges.
According to the statistics of the Department of Economic Crimes and Corruption Investigation (DECCI), which operates within Kosovo Police, it appears that during the year 2012 were conducted investigations against 157 people, 56 were arrested, 129 were sent to the prosecution with identified perpetrators, one case was sent to the prosecution with N / N and 19 cases were sent with Prosecutor’s report.

Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) in 2012, according to this report has been mainly focused on three activities in the fight against corruption: declaration of assets, as one of the main legal obligations to senior public officials, where according to ACA in 2012 91.71% of the officials declared their assets. They reviewed a number of cases of conflict of interest, and issued an analysis on the prosecution and adjudication of corruption cases in Kosovo.

Gjakova, February 23, 2013 – Today FOL Movement held in Gjakova a debate ” Annual performance of Municipality of Gjakova – Transparency and Accountability”. Panelist in this debate was Pal Lekaj, the Mayor of Gjakova. Other participants were representatives of political parties in the municipality, municipal councilors, chairman of the local communities, media and civil society representatives.

Petrit Zogaj, executive director of FOL Movement said that this debate is one of the debates that FOL is implementing, both at the central and local levels, that is in Gjakova and Podujeva. “The purpose of this debate is to discuss on the annual planning of the municipality of Gjakova in 2012, analyzing decision-making and transparency that should characterize any democratic government.”

In the meanwhile, the Mayor of Gjakova Pal Lekaj during the presentation of Gjakova municipality annual performance said that Gjakova is known as the most transparent municipality in Kosovo. Mayor’s Office, according to him, issued in 2012, 150 decisions for the benefit of the citizens whereas we have only 3 complaints. “During 2012 regarding the public procurement, the municipality of Gjakova had 87 tenders, there were only two complaints, one is retendered and one is approved,”.

Lekaj said that the municipality which he governs also leads in terms of citizens’ participation in various projects, where their value amounts to 600 thousand Euros. A challenge for the mayor Lekaj is reconstruction of the Grand Bazaar. “The responsibility of the Grand Bazaar is a challenge for us. Yesterday, the Ministry of Culture approved a decision where within three months they will deal with this issue,” said Lekaj.
According to him, the municipality of Gjakova is the only municipality which has no corruption affair, the political staff as well as the administration.
Recommendations of the Auditor, Grand Bazaar, Economic Growth of Gjakova, the situation of communities in Gjakova, transparency of public money were just some of the concerns raised by the participants, who addressed to mayor Pal Lekaj.

Meanwhile, Shpetim Rudi from AKR said “From 10 recommendations that the Auditor General has given in 2010 for the Municipality of Gjakova, only one of them is respected” Mr. Rudi, further said that “in 2012, there were various violations in public procurement, providing single source tenders, signing contracts without funds committed, then the problems with construction permits and many other violations that characterize local governance in Gjakova. Debate continued concerning the Old Bazaar, then the persistent problems in infrastructure projects and unrealized projects in 2012.

Prishtina , 21st February – Today is the second anniversary of the government Thaçi 2 . Exactly two years ago , Kosovo’s citizens had hoped that the Kosovo government will be ” a government with clean hands.” Expectations of the citizens , but also international mechanisms , had come after a three -year period of bad governance of PDK and LDK, parties which showed that the only thing they couldn’t do was a democratic and transparent governance. Thus, with a bad governance for three years , creating major corruption scandals , and showing unwillingness to build a new state , the largest party of the coalition , PDK , two years ago tried to create illusions about a “government with clean hands ” , as it was called at that time. However , this period was very short and very quickly proved the opposite .

We, as FOL Movement, exactly two years ago had requested that the Assembly of Kosovo, respectively the Assembly members should have been very careful about what government they will vote. We had symbolically thrown “detergent and soap”, to give the message that they should elect a government with clean hands.
Because of numerous corruption affairs during these two years, Kosovo government has proven that it is a government of corruption and also a government with dirty hands.

All what we remember, during this two-year period, are numerous corruption scandals. Some of them are as follows:
• A Deputy Prime Minister is accused of corrupt practices, and is on trial;
• A Deputy Prime Minister is involved in a case of corruption with the privatization of Grand Hotel;
• Corruption cases of senior officials of Ministry of Health;
• A few months ago another scandal emerged and which went beyond Kosovo, publishing biometric passports. In this grave corruption affair, Natali Veliaj mentioned involvement of senior officials of the MIA, whereas Minister Rexhepi continued his work up to date as if nothing had happened.

Therefore, we as a FOL Movement organized such a performance, which in addition to its symbolic character has a character of revolt as well against the high level of political corruption of this government, which during this two year period has governed with dirty hands.

Prishtina, 16 February – FOL Movement today published the report “Procurement Monitor 2012″, which shows the legal irregularities and violations of Ministries, Municipalities and Public Enterprises committed during the procurement procedures in different tenders. Further, in this report, FOL Movement presented an analysis of the problems and challenges encountered during the direct monitoring of procurement procedures in various contracting authorities and a comparative trend of violations of the above-mentioned institutions in 2011 and 2012.
Petrit Zogaj at this conference said that ” on the eve of the fifth anniversary of the state of Kosovo, Kosovo’s institutions have shown poor reliability in the rule of law, specifically regarding corruption and organized crime “. According to him “if the violations and corruption affairs in public procurement committed by institutions are considered , it is obvious that the statements and anti – corruption strategies already are neither serious nor useful “.

Seeing that this sector is the most corrupted, we asked the Assembly to establish an ad – hoc committee for parliamentary investigations in many ministries regarding the implementation of public procurement procedures and especially in the Ministry of Internal Affairs . According to Petrit Zogaj this is imperative considering that “only the biometric passports scandal , not only endangered the process of visa liberalization , but it also exposed clearly the institutional irresponsibility of the Government and various ministers .” Misuses and corruption in public procurement affairs not only must be addressed by government institutions , but they also should be paid attention by the institutions of the justice system by putting a priority sector for investigation and prosecution of corruption affairs in this sector .

Kenan Torah presented the findings of the report stating that “the ministries of the Republic of Kosovo in 2012 have committed numerous legal violations in total 27 different tenders.” Among them the ministries with most offenses is Ministry of Infrastructure committing violations in six tenders, and then the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports with violations in 5 tenders, Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Rural Development in 4 tenders, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Ministry of Kosovo Security Force in two tenders.
On the other hand ministries with violations in only one tender are Ministry of Communities and Returns, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Trade and Industry, Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Public Administration, Ministry of Finances, Ministry of Environment and Spatial Planning. From 27 tenders, thirteen (13) returned to re-tender, twelve (12) are back for re-evaluation, and two procurement activities are entirely canceled.

Public enterprises in 2012 did not develop procurement procedures in accordance with legal provisions in twenty (20) different tenders. Kosovo Energy Corporation has violated twelve (12) tenders, while Post and Telecom of Kosovo has committed violations in eight (8) different procurement activities. 4 of them returned to re-tender, 15 have are back for re-evaluation, and one procurement activity is canceled completely.

Municipalities in 2012 failed to comply with provisions in a total of 27 procurement activities. Twelve (12) returned to re-tender, 14 for re-evaluation and one tender is canceled. Municipality of Gjilan has committed the most violations in 4 tenders. Then the Municipality of Ferizaj, Gjakova and Peja in 3 tenders. Meanwhile, with violations in two tenders are Municipality of Prizren, Mitrovica and Kamenica. And with violations in only one tender are the Municipality of Prishtina, Shterpce, Shtimje, Lipjan, Suhareka, Vitia, Novoberda and Kllokot.
From about 74 tenders where are identified irregularities and legal violations, in only 64 of them is provided the monetary value of these tenders. The approximate amount of money which has been potentially endangered by the misuse during realization of these procurement procedures has been around 15 million Euros.

Report on Law Violations of Ministries, Municipalities and Public Enterprises January – December 2012

 

Prishtina, January 25, 2013 – FOL Movement, within the preparations for implementing the research “Transparency Index” for 2012, has held a meeting with information officials of Kosovo municipalities. Participants in this meeting were officials of 15 municipalities of Kosovo: Vushtrri, Peja, Obiliq, Drenas, Graçanica, Istog, Suhareka, Kamenica, Gjilan, Klina, Skenderaj and Novoberde.
FOL Movement, has realized the research “Transparency Index”, for the third time, where this year will include also an assessment of transparency at the municipal level, unlike the previous years where part of this report were only central institutions and public enterprises .
FOL Movement since its establishment, as a part of its commitment has been promoting transparency and accountability of public institutions. Even in this year FOL will organize various activities dealing with transparency as a key point in the development of democracy in Kosovo.

Prishtina, 24 January 2013 – FOL Movement continued to monitor the procurement procedures in various public institutions this year as well. FOL has a written agreement with these institutions to implement such activities.

According to the memorandum of understanding that FOL Movement has with the Ministry of Justice, FOL has directly monitored the evaluation procedure of the tender ” Cleaning of the MJ facilities ” held on 15th January 2013. During the course of the evaluation procedure FOL observed that drafting of the specifications of tender dossier was incomplete and unprofessional. In the last page of the tender dossier, the chart was written only the price per square meter, without specifying whether it is the price per square meter for an hour, a day, a month or what period of time. Thus announcing the winner any competitive economic operators could have unpredictable consequences for Kosovo’s budget and the Ministry of Justice and can cause subjective and discriminatory actions against the bidding economic operators. Because of these reasons FOL Movement requested to cancel this tender.

The contracting authority which was the Ministry of Justice, on 21st January 2013, has announced the competitive economic operators that the tender has been canceled by the evaluation committee and the justification was exactly the reasons stated by FOL Movement.
FOL Movement requires again this year that the public procurement should be reformed and the access for improving this sector should be systematic by increasing the transparency, preventing and fighting misuse and corruption in this sector.

FOL Movement at a the annual party, awarded for the fourth time the Citizens Award for Courage. This award was presented to Mr. Adem Meta. Mr. Adem Meta is a lawyer and a devoted activist for the last twenty years. Mr. Meta gave a valuable contribution during the period before the war where he was the secretary of the Council for Defense of Human Rights and Freedoms in Skenderaj and then as a journalist, since the establishment of the newspaper Koha Ditore, informing local and international opinion on the sensational developments of that time.
After the public appearance of the KLA in 1997, through the public information he has played an important role in popularizing and presenting KLA actions and presenting the harsh repression of the Serbian police against civilians. Despite the risks to his life, Adem has followed in the war zones and the entire territory of the municipality, local journalists and international media as well as numerous international delegations. Throughout the war, wherever Adem was, there was a credible source of information and he was very cooperative for all those who wanted to learn about the reality of that time.
After the war, Mr. Meta has continued to be very active in civil society (CDHRF, KAC-i). As a journalist he has consistently been critical of all the irregularities of the actual government after the war, and as a result he won several national and international recognition, but because of his professionalism, especially since 2008, he has also encountered lots of difficulties at work. They reached the peak during the elections in 2010 in Skenderaj, and is continuing even today, not only holding back doing his job freely as a journalist but also threatening and attacking in various forms. Not even his family was spared from threatening. Mr. Meta continues to be a trusted and valuable voice for fair and objective information of the citizens of the Municipality of Skenderaj and beyond.

Halil Matoshi, a publicist at the same time member of the Advisory Board of FOL Movement, said “FOL Movement by presenting the Citizens Award for Courage recognizes and supports the valuable contribution of Mr. Meta and who is a good example of professional journalism and courage, he further added that Mr.Meta should be a good example for journalism in Kosovo.
Petrit Zogaj, the executive director of FOL said ” FOL Movement is closing this year, likewise the other three years, on an event, which is trying to support, protect and thank individuals who, although encountered difficulties in performing their daily work, did not stop at any moment to inform the public, to open debates on certain issues and to protect their right causes. Mr. Meta is an example of a dedicated citizen, who does not compromise on principles, being willing to accept the risks that may come.

Winners of this award in the last three years were: Mr. Rufki Suma, an independent candidate who won the election for mayor Hani Elezit, Mrs Ajnishahe Shala-Halimi and Mr. Ejup Bajrami, while this year the award was presented to Adem Meta.

Pristina, 28 December 2012 – Movement FOL at a party organized for the end of the year, awarded for the fourth time with Civic Courage Award. This price was awarded to Mr. Adem Meta. Mr. Adem Meta, is a lawyer by profession and a tireless activist during the last twenty years. Mr. Meta gave a valuable contribution in pre-war period where he was secretary of the Council for the Protection of Human Rights and Freedoms in Skenderaj and then as a journalist, since the establishment of the newspaper Koha Ditore, informing local and international opinion with developments at that time.

As a journalist, he has consistently been critical of all current government’s irregularities. He has won several national and international recognitions, but because of his professionalism, especially since 2008, he has encountered difficulties at work. They were more extensive since the 2010 electoral campaign in Skenderaj, and continue even today, not only obstructing the free exercise of the work as a journalist but also threatening and attacking in various forms. Threats did not spare even his family. Mr. Meta continues to be a trusted and valued voice for fair and objective information to the citizens of the Municipality of Skenderaj and beyond.

Halil Matoshi, publicist at the same time member of the Advisory Board of Movement FOL, said, “Movement FOL by awarding the Civic Courage award recognizes and supports the valuable contribution of Mr. Meta, who is a good example of professional journalism and courage. He further added that Mr. Meta is a good example of journalism in Kosovo.
Whereas, Petrit Zogaj, executive director of FOL said: Movement FOL is closing this year, as well as three former years, with an event event, which tries to support, defend, and thank the individuals who, although have encountered difficulties in performing their daily work, are not stopped at any time to inform the public, open a debate on certain issues and protect their just causes. Mr. Meta, is an example of a devoted citizen, who does not compromise on principles, being willing to accept the risks that may come.
The awarded people of this award in the last three years were: Mr. Rufki Suma, an independent candidate who won the election for mayor in Hani I Elezit Municipality, Mrs. Ajnishahe Shala-Halimi and Mr.Ejup Bajrami, while this year the price is awarded to Mr. Adem Meta.

Pristina, December 28, 2012 – According to the Law on Freedom of Association in the Republic of Kosovo and the Statutes of the organization, on December 28, 2012, was held the meeting of the Members of the Assembly of Movement FOL, which is the main decision-making body in the organization. In the meeting was approved in principle the annual work report for 2012 and the audit report for 2011.
Also at this meeting, of Members of the Assembly of Movement FOL approved the executive summary of the Draft Strategy of Movement FOL for the years 2013-2015.

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Pristina, 21 December 2012 – Movement FOL publish the report “Accountability Test”, this report, aims show the overall level of implementation of the Law on Access to Public Documents in eight different municipalities of the Republic of Kosovo: Mitrovica, Prizren, Prizren, Gjakova, Kamenica, Podujeva, Gjilan and Peja.
This report is a product of the campaign and survey that Movement FOL had conducted during September in the above-mentioned municipalities.

The findings of this report reveal the main problems the concerned municipalities faced during the implementation of legal provisions, which relate to citizens’ access to public documents.

Among the major problems presented in the aforementioned municipalities are:
– Lack of knowledge of citizens about the existence of the Law on Access to Public Documents.
– Small number of requests from citizens for access to local authorities and / or
– Lack of interest of officials to inform citizens about their rights they have on access to public documents.

Based on a comparative analysis of the data, Podujeva turns out to be at best in terms of implementation of the Law on Access to Public Documents, while Peja was recorded (obviously) as the municipality with the lowest level of implementation of legal provisions dealing with citizens’ access to public documents or official.

The entire report: http://levizjafol.org/images/uploads/files/Raporti_Testi_i_Pergjegjshmerise-1.pdf
Results of the survey:
http://levizjafol.org/images/uploads/files/Rezulatetet_e_hulumtimit_%281%29.pdf

Pristina, 19 December 2012 – Advisory Board of Movement FOL held on Wednesday, the last meeting for this year. Movement FOL leaders notified the members of the Board with activities and developments that FOL has accomplished during the year and also plans of the next year.
At this meeting, among the topics that were discussed was the organization of the annual award ceremony for Civic Courage. After a discussion of the terms and conditions of the award, the Board decided about the person who will receive the award this year.
Board agreed that the next meeting, which will be in mid-February next year in which occasion will evaluate the performance of Movement FOL during the year and approve a new strategy for the years 2013-2015.

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Prishtina, 14 December 2012 – Movement FOL as part of its efforts to identify problems in the area of public procurement held the consecutive meeting of the Informal Working Group.

Participants in this meeting were procurement institutions, various contracting authorities and representatives of civil society.
Movement FOL informed the participants with reports and analysis published this year, such as: Analysis of Procurement Law in the Context of Transparency, Analysis of Abuses with Public Authority in the Area of Public Procurement, and three Procurement Monitor reports. Later, the participants discussed about the possibility of Kosovo’s membership in Open Government Partnership, which is an organization that promotes transparency and accountability. In the document “The Way Toward OGP” Movement FOL has prepared a draft proposal for an action national plan in Kosovo, and which is an essential condition in the way of membership in OGP.
After this discussion, Movement FOL through an analysis presented three main issues of concern in the area of public procurement. These issues include:

At the meeting were: the Public Procurement Regulatory Commission, Ministry of Local Government, Ministry of Public Administration, the State Prosecution, Kosovo Democratic Institute, Kosovo Correctional Service and Ministry of Justice.

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Pristina, 8-9 December – Movement FOL has organized for the seventh (7) time the Debate Tournament “Karl Popper” ‘Prishtina Open’, which was held on 8-9 December in “Xhevdet Doda” High School.
In this tournament participated 100 high school students from seven (7) municipalities of Kosovo: Prishtina, Prizren, Peja, Malisheva, Mitrovica Gjakova, Podujeva.

This tournament was more likely preparation for the next national tournament that is going to be held in February, where the winners will represent Kosovo in international debate competition, which this year will be held in Ireland.

In the semi-finals were qualified four teams that have collected the most points based on the decisions of judges. Semi-finalists of this debate were NEMO and iHithat from Pristina, ATA 3 from Ferizaj and Babylon from Mitrovica. NEMO and iHithat managed to be qualified to the finals and the winner was NEMO team from Prishtina.

Judges in this tournament were former debaters who previously participated in the debate “Karl Popper”. The team of judges who judged the finals of this tournament, announced the winner of this tournament Nemo from Pristina.

Four resolutions of the debate in this tournament were topics about the minors; two of these resolutions were limited preparation whereas about two other resolutions, the debaters had the opportunity to prepare in advance.

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