The monitoring of the parliamentary activity developed in the constituencies Alba, Arad, Bihor, Braşov, Brăila, Cluj, Covasna, Dâmboviţa, Iaşi, Prahova, Satu Mare and Timiş took place between Ooctober and December 2006, by means of the local Citizens Advice Bureaus network. The indicators used were the following: locally, the quality of the way in which the parliamentary offices operate, the number of petitions received/solved, the frequency of communicating with the local authorities, the frequency of organizing local events, and centrally, the level of vote turnout, the number of questions and interpellations sent to the Government of Romania, the number of political statements and initiated legislation aiming at the resolution of locally relevant problems. This information was corroborated with the degree of parliamentary exposure in the central and local print media.
The main conclusions of the monitoring
report are as follows:
• The relationship between the Parliamentarian and the citizen is characterized by many deficiencies in the vast majority of the constituencies being monitored:
- 80% from the parliamentarians do not grant enough attention to the activities developed locally and do not make sufficient use of the experience accumulated in their constituencies at the level of activities developed centrally
- the information level of the citizens at to the activities developed by their elected representatives and the frequency of their contacts with the latter are very low
- the level of transparency as regards the activities developed locally by the Parliamentarians and their local offices is unsatisfactory – more than 15 % declined to take part into the project or did not supply the requested information
• the primary legal and institutional instruments that should be available to the citizens and to the civil society – to enable the knowledge, the monitoring and the evaluation of the Parliamentarians’ activity at constituency level – are missing.
The examination of the activity conducted by Parliamentarians in their constituencies has revealed the following:
• there are serious deficiencies in the organization and operation of at least 60% from the parliamentary offices as regards the signs indicating the location, the posting and especially the observance of the office working hours (by the office staff and by the elected representatives themselves)
• there is a clear-cut lack of transparency as regards the way in which the public money allocated to each Parliamentarian for the payment of the rent, public utilities and salaries of the staff employed by the constituency office is being spent. Such problems are being worsened by the following aspects: the location of most Parliamentary offices on the premises of political parties and the establishment of an impressive number of offices by certain Parliamentarians (up to 10); in such cases the justification of the way in which public money is being spent tends to be the most deficient.
The examination of the activity conducted by Parliamentarians in Parliament has reflected the following:
• the vast majority of the senators and deputies attach a considerably larger attention to this particular side of their activity
• nevertheless, the frequency of their actions dedicated to the submission or resolution of certain locally relevant matters, through plenary session interventions or through legislative work, is very low - 3 initiated legislation, 15 political statements and 62 questions and interpellations.
In this given context, IPP highlights the need for the following:
• a higher level of transparency as regards the activities conducted by the local Parliamentary offices
• the amendment and completion of the pieces of legislation regulating the work of Parliamentarians, by the inclusion of detailed information about the types of activities developed in their constituencies and about the organization and operation of the local Parliamentary offices, as well as adequate measures that need to be taken, in those places where the local offices are not active (such as, the reduction of the lump sum, or the representation allowance). To this effect, regulating the highest number of parliamentary offices and locations for their set up is highly needed in order to prevent all irregularities related to the lump sum spending
• the institutionalization, at the level of the General Secretariates of the two Houses (Chambers) of Parliament, of certain practices meant to monitor the expenditures made from the Chamber (House) of Deputies/Senate budgets and to match them to the activities reported by the local Parliamentary offices, to the effect of having a more responsible management of public funds.
The project which included this study, MPs – working hard or hardly working? Tracking absenteeism and public expenditure for a more transparent and accountable Parliament, is being coordinated by the Institute for Public Policies (IPP), in partnership with the National Association of Citizens Advice Bureaus (NACAB) and the Press Monitoring Agency (PMA) and financed by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), through the "Program for the Consolidation of the Romanian Civil Society".
For further information, please contact : Irina Ionescu, Program Coordinator, tel: +40 212.31.26, +40 722.597.683, e-mail:
irina@ipp.ro.
Parlamentul în afara Parlamentului:
Activitatea parlamentarilor în Bucureşti şi în circumscripţii
Vineri, 13 aprilie 2007, IPP a lansat raportul Parlamentul în afara Parlamentului: Activitatea parlamentarilor în Bucureşti şi în circumscripţii. Raportul prezintă date privind activitatea parlamentarilor la nivel local în 12 circumscripţii, analizate în comparaţie cu performanţele aleşilor la nivel central, în Parlament, evaluând modul în care activitatea desfăşurată de parlamentari în circumscripţie se reflectă în acţiunile întreprinse de aceştia la nivel central. În plus, este oferită o imagine a gradului de transparenţă de care au dat dovadă aleşii pe parcursul monitorizării.
Monitorizarea activităţii parlamentarilor din circumscripţiile Alba, Arad, Bihor, Braşov, Brăila, Cluj, Covasna, Dâmboviţa, Iaşi, Prahova, Satu Mare şi Timiş, a fost realizată în perioada octombrie - decembrie 2006, prin intermediul reţelei de BCC locale. Indicatorii utilizaţi au fost:
- în plan local, calitatea funcţionării birourilor parlamentare, numărul de solicitări primite / rezolvate, frecvenţa comunicării cu autorităţile locale, frecvenţa organizării de evenimente
- în plan central, gradul de prezenţă la vot, numărul de întrebări şi interpelări adresate Guvernului, de declaraţii politice şi de iniţiative legislative care au vizat rezolvarea unor probleme cu relevanţă locală. Aceste informaţii au fost coroborate cu gradul de expunere al parlamentarilor în presa scrisă locală şi centrală.
Pentru a consulta raportul:
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Munca parlamentarilor din cele 12 circumscripţii electorale monitorizate a fost prezentată şi în 12 rapoarte locale de monitorizare, rapoarte ce au fost lansate simultan, vineri, 2 martie 2007, de către cele 12 BCC implicate în proiect: BCC Alba Iulia; BCC Arad; BCC Braşov; BCC Brăila; BCC Cluj Napoca; BCC Iaşi; BCC Oradea; BCC Ploieşti; BCC Satu Mare; BCC Sfântu Gheorghe; BCC Targovişte; BCC Timişoara.
Pentru a vedea cum muncesc parlamentarii din:
Alba,
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Arad,
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Bihor,
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Braşov,
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Brăila,
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Cluj,
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Covasna,
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Dâmboviţa,
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Iaşi,
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Prahova,
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Satu Mare,
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Timiş,
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Proiectul în cadrul căruia a fost realizată cercetarea, Parlamentarii - lucrând din greu sau abia muncind? Monitorizarea absenţelor şi a cheltuielilor parlamentarilor în vederea unui Parlament mai transparent şi mai responsabil, este coordonat de Institutul pentru Politici Publice (IPP), în parteneriat cu Asociaţia Naţională a Birourilor de Consiliere pentru Cetăţeni (ANBCC) şi Agenţia de Monitorizare a Presei (AMP) şi finanţat de Agenţia SUA pentru Dezvoltare Internaţională (USAID), prin intermediul "Programului de consolidare a societăţii civile din România".
Pentru informaţii suplimentare vă rugăm contactaţi: Irina Ionescu, Coordonator programe, tel: +40 722.597.683, +40 212.31.26 sau e-mail:
irina@ipp.ro
Sfintii Voievozi str., no. 55, sector 1
