As part of the Government’s anti-corruption programme, Hungary will join the Open Government Partnership, an initiative conceived in the spirit of international cooperation that now operates in more than fifty countries, and thereby makes a number of pledges to fight corruption and to implement a more transparent system of public administration. Minister of Public Administration and Justice Tibor Navracsics will forward the Government’s declaration of intent to the organisation in July.

The purpose of the international initiative launched in 2011 is to reinforce the commitment of the participating countries to the promotion of more transparent governmental operations. The Open Government Declaration was, in the first round, signed by eight countries in September 2011 (United States, United Kingdom, Norway, Brazil, Mexico, Indonesia, the Republic of South Africa and the Philippines), and another 47 states have joined the scheme since. At present, the OGP provides an approved inter-state framework for publicity and transparency on the international scene, and this is why it is important for Hungary to join.

International experiences confirm that a transparent system of public administration that is in full public view is accompanied by higher performance indicators which indirectly serve to promote the enhancement of the given country’s economic and social competitiveness and the faith of citizens in public administration.

Accession to the partnership forms part of the Government’s preventive anti-corruption programme which the Government approved in March this year; as a result, Hungary has a government-level strategy and action plan for the prevention of corruption in public administration for the first time since the change of regime. The purpose of the programme is to reinforce the “immunity” of the State against corruption so that public administration, state administration and government agencies are sufficiently equipped for the fight against corruption. The programme primarily aims to prevent corruption in public administration and partly in certain public services.

By declaring its intent to seek admission to the partnership, the Government also uses this opportunity to express its commitment to these goals and agrees to draft an open government action plan covering a period of two years by mid-October this year in which the Government identifies further voluntary undertakings to be implemented in addition to the anti-corruption measures adopted to date. These measures may include the extended availability of government information, the more active involvement of citizens in the decision-making process, the development of public administration and public services, the development and wider use of new technologies designed to serve openness and accountability and raising awareness of public service ethics.

Since its entry into office, the Government has implemented the most intensive series of measures of the past twenty years as organised corruption left unpunished in previous years and those who turned a blind eye to it play a major role in the development of the country’s economic and financial situation and the general depreciation of morals and trust.
Minister of Public Administration and Justice Tibor Navracsics signed a similar declaration for the promotion of the coordinated and effective cooperation of state agencies in Hungary in the fight against corruption with László Domokos, President of the State Audit Office, András Baka, President of the Supreme Court and Chief Prosecutor Péter Polt last November. In the first year of government, in September 2010, Hungary joined the International Anti-Corruption Academy (IACA) which came into being as an initiative of the UN, Interpol, the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) and the State of Austria.

Parliament created a law on the protection of the nation’s assets, and the new Penal Code to enter into force in July 2013 will introduce further firm rules for the protection of fairness in public life.

The Government has made the public procurement legislation substantially more stringent, thereby putting an end to the untenable practice under previous socialist governments, in the wake of which billions of forints were misappropriated due to the shortcomings and loopholes of the public procurement system. Thanks to the new public procurement law, Hungary has, uniquely in the European Union, disqualified off-shore businesses with an unclear proprietary background from public procurement proceedings. In consequence of this measure, incomes generated in Hungary cannot be channelled out to foreign tax havens in an uncontrolled manner. According to the new rules, for instance, a company that fails to fully disclose its proprietary structure cannot be awarded public procurements. The novel features introduced in the new public procurement law are, in a number of instances, parallel to the goals of the EU directives currently in the making. Consequently, Hungary created a progressive legal rule that is fully compatible with the laws of the EU and is exemplary also by international standards.

(kormany.hu)