31 October, SELDI acknowledges the role of United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC) as a cornerstone in global anti-corruption efforts, offering a roadmap to combat corruption while promoting sustainable development, rule of law, and equitable governance.
With the objective to tackle systemic corruption, strengthen governance and create a foundation for sustainable development and EU integration in the Western Balkans, SELDI has mobilized collaborative regional efforts and engaged in advocacy with national and regional policy makers by providing evidence-based policy recommendations for stronger anticorruption frameworks, in line with the UNCAC provisions. Drawing on our recently published Report on “Breaking the Anticorruption Deadlock in the Western Balkans”, we recommend the following key actions in the fight against corruption in the region:
Promote Accountability and Transparency with focus on addressing state capture as a systemic issue rather than on isolated corruption cases, and through ensuring that anticorruption strategies include measurable impact indicators and address risk of foreign influence;
Integrate anticorruption safeguards in EU assistance programs by making anti-state capture safeguards a core component of EU assistance, and ensuring that reforms address entrenched corruption networks;
Enhance the political dimension of anticorruption efforts by shifting from a predominantly technical approach to one that empowers reformist political and civil society groups, and by providing a direct political backing to reformers and engage with civil society, independent media and academia;
Restructure EU conditionality and assistance models with transitioning from traditional aid models to an investment-based approach that evaluates and mitigates risks of resource capture and conditioning assistance with performance-based milestones and benchmarks, linking financial support directly to demonstrable progress in governance reforms;
Reinforce public and civil society engagement through mobilizing public support for anti-corruption reforms by sustaining public trust and participation in governance processes and use of public-private coalitions to reinforce democratic and transparent governance;
Strengthen the monitoring of implementation with the introduction of robust mechanisms to track the implementation of anticorruption strategies, ensuring commitments translate into actionable outcomes, and by enhancing the parliamentary oversight to prevent abuse of expedited legislation processes like EU-flagged laws;
Prioritize anticorruption in enlargement policies by elevating anticorruption benchmarks as decisive criteria in the EU accession assessment and by addressing the risks of compromising rigorous anticorruption standards for geopolitical objectives;
SELDI reiterates its overall commitment to its dedication towards cultivating a culture of transparency, integrity and rule of law in South East Europe and promotion of regional cooperation and multi-stakeholder engagement in the fight against corruption. Through aligning its efforts with the UNCAC objectives SELDI contributes to the global fight against corruption, supporting initiatives that foster sustainable development and positively impact all communities.
