Transparency of Government Sessions and Meetings (MK0184)

Brief Description of the Commitment

The aim of the commitment is to improve transparency of government sessions and meetings, because citizens point to the existence of a high risk of corruption related to the integrity of the Government when making decisions, which would be reduced by increasing the transparency of government meetings and meetings of government representatives, i.e. The president of GRNM and the ministers. To this end, it is necessary to ensure mandatory management and announcement of a calendar of meetings of government representatives, i.e. the President of GRNM and ministers with information regarding the persons with whom the meetings are scheduled, i.e. held, and which will be available and updated at least seven days in advance, with the time and topic of the event. In addition, the calendar of meetings should be accompanied by notes, that is, a record of the meetings held, according to a previously established unified order of content. In terms of improving the transparency of the government sessions, it is necessary to publish a calendar (announcement of the sessions), that is, announcement of the government sessions’ agenda. In order to promote the transparency of the sessions, it is necessary to publish the agenda at least seven working days in advance prior to its holding. In addition to the fact that these activities will affect the promotion of the transparency of the Government, they will further contribute to increasing the trust of citizens towards the institutions, improve the integrity of the Government, as well as reduce and eradicate corruption, which is essential for increasing the protection of democracy, promoting equity and good governance. Finally, this approach with announcements of calendars of government representatives, followed by notes from the meetings, as well as announcement of daily agendas for government sessions in advance, will increase the work efficiency of both the government services and the Government, because it is expected that this will reduce the amount of information access requests.

Problem Definition

1. What problem does the commitment aim to address?

The commitment refers to the detected risk of corruption related to the integrity of the Government in making decisions, which would be reduced by increasing the transparency of government sessions and meetings. At the same time, citizens' trust in the institutions and their supervisory function as the main corrective to the work of the executive power would increase herein. For several years in a row, the Regional Openness Index (https://metamorphosis.org.mk/izdanija_arhiva/procenka-na-dobroto-vladeenje-vo-severna-makedonija-iregionot-preku-indeksot-na-otvorenost-sobranie-i-izvrshna-vlast-merenje-za-2021/) notes this problem that government sessions are not timely announced with accompanying agendas at least one day before holding the session, and also notes seven years in a row that the documents that are reviewed and discussed during the Government sessions should be published together with the agenda in accordance with international practices.

2. What are the causes of the problem?

A key reason for this problem is that the public does not have on-time and complete insight into the agenda (and documents) or information that is discussed and reviewed during government sessions, due to which the perception of citizens is that decisions are made in a non-transparent manner and for personal or political purposes. The last few years note delayed publication of the agendas and minutes of government meetings on the Government's website, while the documents or information reviewed or discussed at the meetings have not been made public until now.

Commitment Description

1. What has been done so far to solve the problem?

Agendas for the following government sessions are published on the e-Government portal, which is not available to the general public. Information about past meetings and government sessions is published on the calendar on the Government's website, but not about the upcoming ones. Additionally, the minutes of the sessions are published on the Government's website with delay.

2. What solution are you proposing?

The implementation of the commitment will introduce a procedure for maintaining and publishing a calendar on the GRNM’s website in the direction of greater transparency of the work of the Government and increase the trust of the citizens towards the institutions. The procedure will regulate the following procedures: 1) Announcement of the next meetings of the government representatives, the Prime Minister and the ministers, at least seven days in advance, with standardized information about the announcement; 2) Publication of information from the meetings according to a standardized format of minutes/notes within 5 working days after holding the meetings; and 3) Publication of the next government sessions with the schedule of the sessions seven working days in advance, the session agenda.

3. What results do we want to achieve by implementing this commitment?

By establishing and implementing the procedure for maintaining and publishing a calendar on the GRNM’s website, we aim to achieve greater transparency of the work of the Government and thereby increase the supervisory role of the civil sector and the trust of citizens towards the institutions.

Commitment Analysis

1. How will the commitment promote transparency?

Above all, stakeholders will have timely and full access to information regarding the meetings and sessions of government representatives, which will enable them to exercise their role as supervisors of the government's work in a timely and informed manner and to react according to the need.

2. How will the commitment help foster accountability?

The public provision of information related to government sessions and meetings, together with documents and minutes, will allow the public to react in a timely and informed manner and demand responsibility from government representatives if there is (non)adoption of disputable documents or information that goes against the interests of the citizens.

3. How will the commitment improve citizen participation in defining, implementing, and monitoring solutions?

The key objective of the commitment is to provide a procedure for continuous and timely informing of stakeholders regarding government sessions and meetings, through which the public will be able to react in a timely and informed manner and demand responsibility from government representatives if there is (non)adoption of disputable documents or information, that goes against the interests of the citizens. Thus, the citizens become more aware and informed on the Government’s work by understanding the order and the information that is processed during the government sessions and meetings.

Commitment planning (Milestones | Expected Outputs | Expected Completion Date)

1.1.1 Prepare a procedure for managing and publishing a calendar on the GRNM’s website that arranges the following components: - Announcement of next meetings of government representatives at least seven days in advance, with standardized information regarding the announcement; - Publication of information from meetings according to a standardized format of minutes/notes within 5 working days after holding the meetings; - Announcement of next government sessions with schedule of sessions seven working days in advance, along with the session agenda. | Prepare a procedure for managing and publishing a calendar on the GRNM’s website that arranges the following components: - Announcement of next meetings of government representatives at least seven days in advance, with standardized information regarding the announcement. - Publication of information from the meetings according to a standardized format of minutes/notes within 5 working days after holding the meetings. - Announcement of next government sessions with schedule of sessions seven working days in advance, along with session agenda. | December, 2024

1.1.2 Implement a procedure for maintaining and publishing a calendar on the GRNM’s website. | Implement a procedure for maintaining and publishing a calendar on the GRNM’s website. | January, 2026