FOL: The Anti-corruption National Council should not become a “copy” of other institutions

Pristina, February 15 ” Today, with the initiative of the President of the Republic is held the first meeting of the Anti-corruption National Council. We consider that the establishment of this Council should be the crucial step in enhancing the effectiveness of institutional activities in preventing and fighting corruption in Kosovo.

FOL considers that the Council must indeed engage in concrete actions, in no way be reduced to empty and rhetoric speeches of senior officials of the institutions fighting corruption.

FOL considers that the Council must take concrete actions in order to realize joint activities of the institutions in fight against corruption and not become one of the so far mechanisms showing no concrete results.

FOL believes that corruption continues to harm the processes of state building, democratization and good governance.

Regular reports of FOL Movement have highlighted the lack of coordination between institutions which are responsible to fight against corruption. Many times we have asked to establish a platform that enables a better exchange of information between these institutions.

Although FOL is not part of this Council, we will monitor continuously its work.

Meanwhile, other participants in this debate expressed some of their concerns about the rush drafting this strategy, ignoring the calls of civil society for implementation of empirical researches, for a more direct approach in identifying the sectors that are most affected by corruption, such as public procurement, privatization of public enterprises, political parties, and a more stable time limit of anti-corruption measures.