1. Lolita Čigāne Chairperson, European Affairs Committee, Parliament of Latvia The Role of Public Funding in Rooting Out Big Donations

2. The Effectiveness of Public Funding

3. 1.Dependence private funding reduced. 2.Reduced risk of lobby interests. 3.Disparity of financial resources of parties lowered. 4.Ability to focus on development of new political strategies higher. 5.Ability to invest in analytical and research work is higher. 6.“Public funding removes the risk of parties selling favours and declares to the world that the great political parties are not up for sale.” (Neville Wran, Prime Minister of Australia, 1981)

4. LV – latecomer to the State Funding world Public funding for political parties in accordance to parliament election results (since 2012). Regulation of private funding - ban of the donations from anonymous persons, public authorities, foreign companies and legal persons; donation limit. Regulation of campaign expenditures– cap on campaign expenditure; banned usage of administrative resources; political advertising ban on TV (a month before the elections); public funding for pre-election debates and broadcasts. Disclosure of party financing – information about donations is provided timely and accessibly by monitoring institution (Corruption Prevention and Combating Bureau). The Key Components of Political Finance Regulation in Latvia :

5. Public Funding in Latvia I State budget funding in accordance to the last parliamentary elections for each political party: - >2% votes - 0.71 EUR/annum for each received vote. 6 PP currently receiev funding on a quarterly basis: Harmony – 149 019,77 EUR per year (37 254,94 EUR per quarter) Unity – 141 669,85 EUR (35 417,46 EUR) Union of Greens and Farmers – 126 529 EUR (31 632,27 EUR) National Alliance – 107 612,57 EUR (26 903,14 EUR) For Latvia from the Heart – 44 389,91 EUR (11 097,47 EUR) Latvian Association of Regions – 43 176,52 EUR (10 794,13 EUR).

6. Public Funding in Latvia II

8. Corruption Preventing and Combating Bureau (KNAB) Leading specialised anti-corruption authority

9. 1.Independent public administration institution under the supervision of the Cabinet of Ministers. 2.Fights corruption in Latvia through prevention, investigation and education. 3.Monitors the compliance of political parties with party financing regulations. 4.Monitors the compliance of political parties with party financing regulations. 5.Ensures information exchange between political parties and Bureau through regularly organized meetings, discussions and seminars. 6.Important aspect of Bureau’s work is checking the conformity of donations.

10. Private vs. Public Income Balance between public and private funding for political parties not reasonable; by increasing the amount of public funding, private funding becomes less significant. Certain amount of public funding for office of administrative needs, equally contributed to each political party – possible instrument to ensure equal competition. Before elections: voter signatures instead of bail money. Co-operation with KNAB – less bureaucracy, more investigation. Not only responsibility of the political party, but also responsibility of a candidate.

11. Lolita Čigāne Chairperson European Affairs Committee Parliament of Latvia lolita.cigane@saeima.lv 2016 Thank you!