SOFIA: The Policy Forum “Anti-corruption, Democratic Resilience and Economic Security”

SOFIA, 9 November 2023 – The Regional Anti-Corruption Initiative Secretariat represented by Ms. Desislava Gotskova, Head of Secretariat and Mr. Nikola Naumovski, Senior Anti-corruption Adviser, participated in the International Policy Forum “Anti-corruption, Democratic Resilience and Economic Security”, organized by the Center for the Study of Democracy Bulgaria.

The Forum started with opening remarks of Mr. Ognian Shentov, Chairman of the Center for the Study of Democracy, and Mr. Siri Beate Barry, Ambassador of Norway to Romania, Bulgaria and Moldova, who underlined the necessity for putting existing policy engagements into practice, while the keynote speakers Mr. Nikolay Denkov, Prime Minister of the Republic of Bulgaria and Ms. Laura Kövesi, European Chief Prosecutor both acknowledged the challenges facing EU initiatives aimed at combating corruption and state capture. They highlighted that the solution should be sought not only in fair and effective justice but also through awareness and cultural change.

Mr. Denkov emphasized that the fight against corruption is not only a fight to save public money but a fight to preserve democracy. In his words, the importance of the fight against corruption has acquired new and more global dimensions.

“When it comes to corruption, it was already hard enough to make citizens understand how it influences their lives. In reality, corruption has been and continues to be tolerated to a large extent. Everywhere. There is no clean country,” said Ms. Laura Kövesi.

The Forum comprised presentations and panel discussions covering the key principles and requirements over the agenda topics: Building Democratic Resilience through Anti-Corruption Policy and Action; Anti-Corruption Policy Implementation; New Instruments for Engagement and Impact; Countering Strategic Corruption and Advancing Economic Security in Europe and Strengthening Public-Private Partnerships against Corruption.

The panellists underlined that the lack of strong political leaders, capacity and procedures are hampering the effort to stop illicit financial flows, as well as the process of freezing and seizing assets belonging to actors sanctioned for corruption, illegal enrichment, money laundering, and organized crime. They recommended the systematic and continuous use of corruption risk assessment tools to identify and prevent the most prevalent and damaging corruption and conflict of interest schemes at institutional, sector and local levels. It is also necessary to harmonize the definitions of all corruption offenses, increase sanctions on natural and legal persons, develop e-Governance, and provide better investigative tools. In conclusion, the participants encouraged lawmakers and law enforcement to work jointly with the civil society, academia, business and media.

Ms. Desislava Gotskova, Head of RAI Secretariat, chaired a panel “Strengthening Public-Private Partnerships against Corruption” with prominent speakers: Boyko Todorov, Senior Associate Fellow, Center for the Study of Democracy, Bulgaria, Ferenc Bíró, President, Hungarian Integrity Authority, Aleksandra Vojinović, Secretary of the Council, Agency for Prevention of Corruption, Montenegro and Daniel Belingher, Head of Service for Implementing Structural Funds, Studies and Strategies, National Integrity Agency, Romania.

RAI is continuing to support the efforts and anticorruption reforms in West Balkans countries,  Moldova and Ukraine to speed up the EU accession process by providing and unique platform for knowledge and practice sharing between the countries in Southeast Europe.