On Saturday civil society organisations took part in talks of the working group created by the Ministry of Public Administration and Justice as part of the public administration anti-corruption programme.

The main theme of the meeting was preparation of the action plan containing Hungary’s commitments – including commitments to join one of the most important national forums in the field of anti-corruption: the Open Government Partnership. Public administration and public consultation on the action plan will begin after consultations with civil society organisations. Representatives of the following organisations took part in the Saturday meeting: the American Chamber of Commerce in Hungary, Corvinus University Budapest, the Budapest Institute, the Civil Cohesion Forum, the Council on Geopolitics Foundation, the Honfoglalás 2000 Association, the Joint Venture Association, the K-Monitor Watchdog Association, the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union and Transparency International Hungary.

The civil society representatives at the meeting were informed of the Government’s anti-corruption activities so far, and of further tasks and plans. In the interest of appropriate implementation of the public administration anti-corruption programme, the Government is striving to create a consultation mechanism which is clear and transparent to all concerned, including civil society organisations.

The Ministry aims for consultations with civil society organisations to be regular, in order to strengthen consensus between the Government and civil society organisations, and to create opportunities for members of civil society and decision-makers to meet directly.

With adoption of the public administration anti-corruption programme in April, the Government decided to prepare a green book as part of the programme; this is to focus on an ethical code in public administration, which will have an important role in the training of public administration staff. The aim of the programme is to strengthen the ability of government, public and state administration bodies to resist corruption, based on public servants’ knowledge and acceptance of ethical guidelines.

(Ministry of Public Administration and Justice)