Another Lost Year

In late 2007, when efforts to introduce a new constitution were underway, the prevailing opinion among experts was that the constitution would provide a better legal framework for combating corruption. A year down the line, many think that the country is still at square one, since the laws that have been passed are incomplete.

Danilo Sukovic, a member of the government Anti-Corruption Council, says that 2007 has brought little progress in taking on corruption.

"First of all, implementation of the Action Plan for implementing the National Strategy for Combating Corruption and secondly, existing anti-corruption laws are either not being enforced or they are incomplete."

"There are anti-corruption laws that are deficient and unfinished," says Sukovic, giving as an example the Law on Political Party Financing because not a single party divulged its sources of funding in the wake of the latest general election.

Another area fraught with problems is the issue of public contracts because the passage of new procurement legislation hinges on the State Auditing Institution. However, the auditing body, an essential part of supervising public spending in democracies, has yet to be formed.

Sukovic points out that the State Auditing Institution has to become operational before any real discussion of combating corruption.

Then there is the fact that officials have completely flaunted the Law on Access to Information of Public Significance in connection with the highly-controversial Horgos-Pozega highway contract.

"The entire public demanded the publication of the concession contract, but all the cabinet did was to respond with a host of contradictory statements and decisions: yes, no, we can, we can't. Transparency is completely lacking and all that attests to a deficiency in progress in fighting corruption."

The Spirit of the Law

Commenting on the anti-corruption provisions of the new constitution, Sukovic says that "what matters is not what is in the rule books, but what happens in reality."

"The constitution is just lots of words on paper until it is put into force. We have laws that aren't being enforced. The Law on Liquidation and Bankruptcy isn't that bad, but it isn't being implemented properly. We always seem to believe that if something is included in a law, the problem is solved. What matters is whether implementation is actually happening."

Sukovic believes Serbia will have a hard time introducing all 25 measures urged by GRECO, the Council of Europe's corruption watchdog, before the year's end, thereby securing a positive report.

"There isn't much time until the end of the year and there are a lot of measures, which means it will be hard to put them all into place," says Sukovic, adding that failure to comply will hurt the country's European integration efforts because corruption is something that the EU is not willing to ignore.

He adds that although the issues of Kosovo and closing a Stabilization and Association Agreement with the EU are very pressing at the moment, corruption will be on the agenda as soon as the SAA is signed. Further integration will not be possible until the matter of corruption is dealt with, says Sukovic.

"That is perfectly clear and other countries have seen that lost time has to be made up in some way."

Serbia has until Dec. 31 to submit its report on compliance with the binding recommendations of GRECO. If that report is a negative one, GRECO can conclude that Serbia has not done what was expected of it and add that further supervision is needed.

In some cases non-compliance can result in diplomatic exchanges, such as the Council of Europe cautioning a country's ambassador that the state he represents has not meet its obligations. In Serbia's case, that could be particularly problematic because the country is currently chair of the Parliament Assembly of the CE.

PM Pledges Action

When his cabinet took office four months ago, Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica promised that the authorities will take on corruption directly. He listed combating organized crime and all forms of corruption as the fifth key policy of his cabinet, "so that every Serbian citizen can say that his standards of living have improved substantially."

"We have all seen how much understanding and patience the people have had for the real, massive difficulties that our country has been experiencing. However, one thing that no individual understands or should understand is the prevalence of corruption in all segments of society. We are aware that seeing money wrenched from the hands of the poorest among us through corruption is an injustice that stings our people more than anything else," Kostunica said at the time.

"That is why the Serbian cabinet has to adopt an even stronger and more systematic campaign in response to any form of crime and corruption," said Kostunica, adding that the National Strategy on Corruption and the Action Plan for Fighting Corruption would form the foundation of government policy in that regard.

Kostunica also observed that successfully fighting "this social ill" requires the efficient implementation of anti-corruption legislation and preventive action to eliminate its causes. He also acknowledged the role of raising public awareness and educating people about corruption to get them to support anti-corruption initiatives, adding that an independent judiciary and fighting organized crime, as well as corruption, are essential to the rule of law in a democratic country.

In May, the prime minister announced the passage of numerous corruption laws and additional regulation of the roles of the ombudsman, State Auditing Institution, cabinet, public administration, National Bank of Serbia, and many other important institutions, a move necessitated by the new constitution. Sasa Jankovic was elected ombudsman in June, but does not even have an office yet. In August Jankovic submitted a document to Parliament outlining his staff requirements and future activities, but it was not added to the agenda. Judging from what officials have been saying about the agenda, it appears unlikely that MPs will debate the document in the months to come despite the importance of Jankovic's role in society.

Sukovic stresses that the Anti-Corruption Council debated corruption- fighting priorities at a June meeting. Its conclusions were forwarded to Kostunica, Deputy Prime Minister Bozidar Djelic, and Justice Minister Dusan Petrovic.

"Unlike the previous cabinet, which entirely ignored the Anti- Corruption Council, we are now in touch with the deputy prime minister and justice minister. They appear to be interested in the Council's activities and want the Council to assist the cabinet in enforcing anti-corruption laws," he says.

Backtracking

Right after taking office in May, the cabinet withdrew an estimated 60 bills that had been up for debate, including a bill dealing with a proposed anti-corruption agency. The agenda was supposed to be an independent body whose job would have included the duties of the Anti- Corruption Council and the Committee on the Prevention of Conflicts of Interest.

Justice Ministry sources say that they are determined to get a new version of the bill into Parliament before the year is out. The bill has been delegated to a working group due to be set up by the end of September.

It will consist of representatives of the Justice Ministry, Anti- Corruption Council, Committee on the Prevention of Conflicts of Interest, non-government organizations, and experts. The basic idea is the same: an independent agency. According to our Justice Ministry sources, the group needs to determine whether the future agency's powers should be expanded to include sanctioning corruption in addition to preventive action and education. Its still unconfirmed punitive authority would extend to corruption investigations.

The same working group is supposed to review the action plan on implementing the National Strategy for Combating Corruption, which remains ineffective despite being endorsed by the cabinet last fall. Most of its measures were slated for implementation during 2007, but absolutely nothing has been done. The ministries have also failed to send in action plans detailing the strategy for combating corruption in their ranks.

Of the leading parties, only G17 Plus has called for a parliamentary debate on corruption and emphasized the need for adequate legislation. G17 Plus has also called for public debate of legislation that would allow the state to confiscate assets derived through corruption and organized crime. However, the other parties in Parliament have been disinclined to discuss the matter.

Not even Kostunica's singling out fighting corruption as a priority goal and President Boris Tadic's pledge that all the necessary legislation would be passed by the end of the year have helped make fighting corruption a priority among legislators.

In effect, Serbia has gone nowhere. The most basic condition -- the presence of political will to face and fight corruption -- has yet to materialize.