The research, with the support of the USAID Civic Engagement Project and National Endowment for Democracy, was conducted by the Metamorphosis Foundation in cooperation with partners from the regional network of the Accountability, Technology and Institutional Openness Network in the South East Europe region (ACTION SEE). The assessment refers to the state of good governance of the parliaments and the executive branches of the central governments of four countries from the Western Balkans – North Macedonia, Serbia, Montenegro, and Bosnia and Herzegovina. This year Croatia and Slovenia were also included in the monitoring of the parliaments, and the openness of the parliaments in the ex-Yugoslav states could be noted.
As the Metamorphosis Foundation stated, the assessment is a result of a comprehensive empirical research based on the Openness Index, whose goal is to determine the extent to which the principles of good governance are respected in the region. The regional perspective serves as a reference for how the countries in the region make progress towards improving good governance and the rule of law that leads them to their strategic goal – EU membership.
-According to the research, the Government of North Macedonia is the most open, which meets 83,43 percent of the set openness criteria, followed by the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina with 58,42 percent. The Government of the Republic of Serbia meets 47,67 percent of the criteria, and the Government of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, 50,18 percent. Republika Srpska is in last place having met 38,53 of the openness criteria. As the first country in the region that published and is implementing a Transparency Strategy, North Macedonia set an example of how an institution should systematically approach and direct its efforts to proactive transparency and openness towards its citizens. The best results were achieved by the ministries in North Macedonia with 62 percent, followed by the ministries of Montenegro with 57,9 percent, the ministries in Serbia with 48,7 percent and the ministries in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which meet 30,6 percent of the openness criteria, the assessment states.
The Parliament of the Republic of North Macedonia, is stated, meets 68,15 percent of the openness indicators and is ranked third in the region (with the Parliament of Montenegro in first place with 77,89 percent, followed by the Parliament of Slovenia with 72,31 percent fulfilment of the openness indicators). As a body that is directly elected by the citizens and that answers to the citizens, the Parliament, is noted, should put more effort in ensuring full transparency, that is, openness.
The paper is enriched by practical recommendations on how the executive government and the Parliament in North Macedonia can improve their respect for the principles of good governance in the future. The recommendations will be delivered to the senior civil servants in all monitored institutions, through meetings, as well as to the general public through social media and public events. The research is repeated every year and enables a comparison of the extent to which these recommendations will be acted upon.
This assessment is available in Macedonian, Albanian, and English on the web – site of Metamorphosis. The research is conducted as part of the activities of Metamorphosis within the framework of the USAID Civic Engagement Project.
Translation: N. Cvetkovska
