Transparency International Hungary

Hungary is part of the Central European Post-Communist block and as a consequence it was impregnated by such ideologies and mentality that led corruption spread, especially in the public, but also in the private sphere. The communist imprint was weaker than in other Eastern-European countries like Bulgaria or Romania, due to its more moderate leaders such as János Kádár. Nevertheless, this state of facts was not enough to have a smooth transition towards liberal democracy. Actually here comes into play the big importance and responsibility civil societies have in helping to transform the country into a true democracy.

In May 2006, the Hungarian Chapter of Transparency International (TI Hungary) was founded by a handful of enthusiastic, young people committed to the fight against corruption. The NGO has achieved much throughout the years and had a steady growth with small but sure steps.

TI Hungary is steered by managing director Noémi Alexa, who is an independent consultant focusing on public administration systems and the distribution and use of EU funds. Noémi has occupied this position since the establishment of the NGO. She is supported by six other people working for TI Hungary. The strategic and operational functions are fulfilled by a group of four trustees.

Besides the general activities TI deals with (e.g. the publication of the Corruption Perception Index), the Hungarian chapter broadened its scope by putting recommendations and policies on the tables of decision-makers and politicians in order to bring a change into the Hungarian political culture. Inasmuch as the biggest problems can be observed in public decision-making process, allocation of public funds and the accessibility of information of public interest to everyone, the mission of TI Hungary is defined by fighting corruption, promoting transparency and accountability in these issues.

According to the above mentioned observations, the activities of TI Hungary focus on these problems and try to solve them. TI Hungary is involved in the following projects:

National Integrity System: As other TI chapters did already, the Hungarian chapter follows their suit and takes steps in order to implement the program that would remedy numerous shortcomings of the Hungarian legal process, by scrutinizing and identifying existing shortcomings and problems with laws and regulations and proposing ways to remedy them. What makes the methodology notable is that besides the theoretical point of view it puts emphasis on practical research.

Integrity Pact: The Integrity Pact is an instrument that could improve the otherwise unfair and corrupt public procurement system. The IP is a civil law contract between the bidder and the renderer. This otherwise voluntary agreement provides that in the course of the public procurement procedure, the parties will refrain from all forms of corruption and will publish all relevant information. The role and independency of the monitor is crucial here, because he acts as the supervisor of the whole process and report any misconduct that breaches the terms of the agreement between the bidder and the renderer.

Protection of whistleblowers: The delicate piece of this process is the fact that in Hungarian society everyone who tells on his or her colleague is looked at as a denunciator. The aim of this project is to protect all those who reveal wrongdoings or raise their voice within an organization against the unfair and corrupt activities they observe. Furthermore, the protection of the whistleblower’s identity as well as his or her safety is also a fundamental element of the project.

Transparency mechanisms in the business sector – ‘Compliance’: Since it is not only the public but also the private sector that needs some guidance on the rocky road towards democracy that is paved with many corruption opportunities, in 2009 the Hungarian TI set up the ‘Corporate Supporters Forum’ through which it tries to involve those corporations that would like to manage their business in an ethical and transparent way, becoming the raw models to other companies in the business life.

December 9 – Anti-corruption Day: In 2003, the UN General Assembly designated  December 9 as International Anti-Corruption Day. This decision was taken in order to raise awareness of corruption and of the role of the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) in combating and preventing it. Since the change of mentality is essential in establishing a true democracy void of corruption, the future generation has to be educated accordingly. It is never too early to scatter the seeds of a more corruption-free society. Thus, TI Hungary decided to celebrate this day by raising awareness among the younger generation for the issues TI fights for.

Reform of campaign financing: Many important politicians want to be reelected again and again, and for this they are also willing to spend and accept large sums of money. TI Hungary is eager to propose to political parties through a new legislation on political campaign financing the use of an “open itemized campaign account” where the public could follow the flow of money, income and expenses, received by official political bodies.

An example of a project: www.kepmutatas.hu

The website www.kepmutatas.hu is an initiative by TI Hungary to bring more transparency and accountability to party and campaign financing in Hungary. The word “képmutatás” means “hypocrisy” in Hungarian and, indeed, the current state of party and campaign financing in Hungary and the position of all parliamentary parties on the issue today is nothing but hypocritical. While parties profess their desire to clean up the current system and eliminate the corrupt practices surrounding it, they continue to spend as much as ten times the legal limit on their campaigns, abuse state and municipal resources for their campaigns, raise funds through illegal channels and spend money in ways that are incompatible with the word as well as the spirit of the law. Currently the legal limit of campaign expenditure is 386 million HUF (approximately 82’000 CHF), which is far too low, given the typical costs. TI Hungary seeks to document the actual amount of money spent by parties on their campaigns by analyzing and estimating their likely expenses. It also incorporates the analysis and policy recommendations developed by the The Eötvös Károly Institute, and the lessons learned from its own earlier attempts to exert pressure on parliamentary parties to arrive at a consensus on campaign finance reform.

The parties are not transparent whatsoever, and it becomes impossible to learn about the sources of their financial support or about the actual expenses. Citizens have every right to know all of this, since those parties function on their money: They have legislative competence, they rule the country. It is highly problematic that we are unable to know the actual amount of money behind their work. Our project has no means to map out the actual system of financial support of our parties, or to monitor the expenses. Our aim is to shift the attention of the public to the faulty system and to put pressure on the parties to force them to change the current law related to expenses on political campaigns. TI Hungary together with Freedom House Europe and The Eötvös Károly Institute has prepared a proposal of an adjustment in law, which was sadly not approved by the Parliament in February. We hope that this topic will stay on the agenda and that it will eventually lead to a change of law. Fortunately, in times of political campaigns, the press was really interested in our campaign. We have received both positive, as well as negative feedback, but overall we have achieved our goal to raise awareness and engage people in the topic. Hopefully, parties also feel the public pressure and will accept a proposal of changes in campaign finance law shortly.
As we believe in the famous words of our renowned poet, lawyer and politician, Imre Madách: “O Man, strive on, have faith; and trust!”, we are convinced that we can be the initiators of change towards the good in this country.

More information: www.transparency.hu/en