It’s also an important sector: in terms of public expenditures it’s roughly equivalent to the health sector. Transparency International Slovakia released its transparency rankings of the country’s 100 largest local self-governments, which showed a positive trend (a nine point increase in average ranking since 2010) in great contrast to the worsening overall situation with regards to corruption in the country.
The Deputy Chief of Mission of the US Embassy stated that, as a friend to Slovakia, the United States is concerned about the deterioration of Slovakia’s ranking related to corruption on numerous indices assessed by different institutions such as the World Economic Forum, Forbes, World Bank, European Quality of Life, and Eurobarometer.
As an example, according to a recent survey by the German Marshall Fund, 85 percent of Slovaks thought that the country’s economic system directed most of the benefits to an elite few.
To address these issues, the Slovak Government has put together a good plan (pdf) under the Open Government Partnership including a web application that will show where the State is using European Union (EU) funds by region and district and a new e-petition initiative.
According to the Plenipotentiary for the Development of Civil Society, the updated plan also needs to address the judiciary system: Only 29 percent of Slovaks trust the court and justice system.
The good news with respect to local self-government is that new legislation requiring the publishing of invoices, contracts, and tender results is being implemented. Increasingly, e-auctions are being used for construction work, which is also resulting in significant cost savings.
According to Euro Stat, among EU countries Slovakia has the highest value of public procurement which is openly advertised, as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP). It is followed by Latvia and Estonia.
The web portal Odkaz pre Starostu is another good sign of local self-governments being open to citizen input for improving their performance.
As an apolitical forum for citizens to raise very practical issues, it allows local self-governments to be more responsive. The online system encourages more youth to be active and it also relies on citizens who are outside more often and attentive to problems such as cyclists or mothers with children.
Some Slovak municipalities are taking other steps such as publishing video of their municipal council meetings. To address concerns about nepotism, some municipalities have even started to publish all information related to the hiring of new staff.
Is it hard to achieve these good results? That was the question posed to the mayors of municipalities scoring the highest in Transparency International’s ranking. The mayor of Šaľa said it takes political effort, but it doesn’t cost money to implement these reforms.
The small town of Smižany was the municipality that had increased its scoring the most since the previous ranking in 2010 and the mayor acknowledged the work of the municipal staff in making information on invoices and contracts open to the public and easy to access.
In closing, a former activist and current council member of the city of Prešov remarked that increasing transparency only creates a basis for democracy. Active citizens and active media who make use of open information are needed. (See: Q&A with Miro Ščibrany, cyber activist and transparency advocate)
In his city, journalists used to just publish who said what, but are now starting to investigate and probe the issues.
The head of Alliance for Fair Play thinks that Slovak Government is still far away from welcoming input of active citizens to improve their performance, but hopes that gradually they will change their mindset towards civil society.
According to the European Quality of Life in Europe, trust in local (municipal) authorities is higher than trust in (national) parliament, government, or the legal system across EU countries.
In your country, what is level of trust of citizens in local self-government, and how does that compare to other institutions?
Capture of local governments by local elites is a reality.
Do you know of examples of how increased transparency has pushed elected leaders from serving their personal interest to serving the public interest?
Is there potential for e-auctions, online public procurement to increase transparency in your country?