CSOs as a subject of open governance. The case of România Mihai Lisețchi, Secretary of State Ministry for Public Consultation and Civil Dialogue, Romania Conference of INGOs: ”Civil society, money and political activities: only a matter for politicians?” Council of Europe, Strasbourg, 6-7 June 2016

Ministry for Public Consultation and Civil Dialogue Established in November 2015 A premiere for the governmental structure in Romania (probably) the highest level governmental agency of this kind in the continental Europe Key topics of interest for our minister: open governance, transparency, public consultation, relation of the state with civil society organizations (CSOs)/public policy on CSOs

Principles of open governance concept: Transparency Public consultation Accountability Open Governance Partnership: An intergovernmental agreement Romania is a member since 2011 . Open governance – priority of the present government

Open governance concept

CSOs as public policies actors Our priority: strengthening the involvement of CSOs as public policies actors in all the stages of the policy cycle Aims: CSOs as partners of the ministers in the public policy process Adapt public decisions to public expectations Building public ownership over public decisions Increase the legitimacy of the public decisions Strengthen the effectiveness of the public decisions .

Decisional transparency Increase the level of transparency in the public management Monitoring the implementation of the FOIA legal provisions Strengthening the effectiveness of the FOIA legal framework .

New instruments developed by our minister E-Consultation – weekly newsletter concerning draft legislation under public consultation; Public consultation guide – legal provisions and good practice recommendations;

Memorandum on access to public interest information Subjects of the Memorandum: Standardization of the information of public interest display on the websites of the public institutions Agenda of the leaders of the institutions; Bugetary reporting of the public procurement contracts > 5000 €; Organizational flowchart of the institutions (including the names of the leaders and vacancies); Level of salaries of the leaders

Consultative bodies of public institutions 2. Development of permanent consultative bodies of different public institutions involving organized civil society representatives, citizens and experts: Consultative council of the Prime Minister on Association and Foundations consultative structures of the public administration involving CSO representatives (guide) .

Public administration representatives 3. Strengthen the role of the public administration representatives in charge with the relation with CSOs Publicly promote the list of public servants in charge with the relation with CSOs Elaborate a job description for public servants in charge with the relation with CSOs .

4. Develop qualitative statistical data on CSOs Public data on CSOs 4. Develop qualitative statistical data on CSOs Designing a complementary approach of the public institutions which generate statistical or administrative data on CSOs National Statistics Institute Ministry of Justice Ministry of Finance Increase the public access to statistical data on CSOs .

Legal aspects concerning CSOs activities 5. Ease the legal registration process for CSOs Starting up patrimony Legal registration procedure 6. Improve the regulations on public utility status of CSOs Conclusion: through specific public policies measures, the minister is promoting an institutional framework aiming to stimulate an active involvement of CSOs as public policy actors .

More information on our activities: Thank you! Mihai Lisețchi mihai.lisetchi@gov.ro More information on our activities: www.dialogcivic.gov.ro https://www.facebook.com/mcpdc