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Presidential Elections in Ukraine: preserving the pro-EU course?

Author(s): Artem Remizov / Language(s): English

In less than two weeks, on March 31,2019, the Ukrainians will head to the polling stations to cast their vote for the country's next President. However, the winner would be announced only at the beginning of May since it is highly unlikely that any of the candidates would secure more than 50% of votes in the first round. The level of unpredictability of this year's elections in Ukraine is unprecedented. Out of 39 candidates included in a ballot, at least three seem to have the biggest chance to get into the second round and, consequently, win the presidential race.

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Ukraine before the second Round of the Presidential Elections

Author(s): Artem Remizov / Language(s): English

The voting day passed rather calmly, and observers have not reported major electoral fraud, stating that basic standards of free elections were safeguarded. Hopefully the same will apply to the second round on April 21. // The final result of the first round comes as no surprise since the polls had done a good job predicting the outcome, although the gap between the two leading candidates proved to be larger than it was expected. The convincing victor was the comedian and TV-producer Volodymyr Zelenskyi with 30.2% of votes against the incumbent president Petro Poroshenko, who secured only around 16%. Yet, Poroshenko stays in the game after eliminating one his major rivals, Yulia Tymoshenko (13.4%), who had directed her criticism mainly against Poroshenko while avoiding confronting Zelenskyi.

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Report on the Monitoring of Local Administration – The Municipality of Ivanjica

Author(s): Not Specified Author / Language(s): English

The Municipality of Ivanjica won a total of 92 points, out of a possible 262, with a final rating 2. The Municipal administration of the Municipality of Ivanjica achieved the best results in the areas of "Public financial management" and "Accountability". Within the area of "Public financial management", exceptional results were achieved in the field of „Public procurement procedures based on the principles of equal treatment, non-discrimination, proportionality and transparency“, and „Degree of compliance with the budget calendar and successful planning of income and expenses“, while in the field of „Transparency and accessability of the budgetary documents“ Municipal administration of the Municipality of Ivanjica achieved somewhat weaker results. Within the area of "Accountability", the Municipal Administration of the Municipality of Ivanjica stood out in the field of „Proactivity of the local administration in publishing information on the official website“. The website of the Municipality of Ivanjica is quite well structured. It contains a large number of documents, data and information. A large number of data and information are easily available, in a maximum of three clicks. The page content search function works great. On the website there are special sections for the areas of public procurement, electronic services, the budget of the Municipality, documents. The content of the website is accurate, timely and up-to-date. Somewhat weaker results were achieved in the areas of "Public services and human resources management" and "Service delivery". Within the area "Public services and human resources management", „Openness and transparency of recruitment into local administration“ was rated 2, while „Institutionalization of human resources management in local administration“ and „Effectiveness of measures for the promotion of integrity and prevention of corruption in the local administration“ was rated 1. In the area of "Service delivery", „Availability and quality of administrative services to citizens“ was rated 2. The worst results were achieved in the areas of "Strategic framework for public administration reform" and "Policy development and coordination". For the „Existence of a planning document for improving the work of local administration and involvement of civil society in the process of development and structures for monitoring and coordination“, within the areas of "Strategic framework for public administration reform" and "Policy development and coordination", 0 out of 26 possible points were scored. In the area of "Policy development and coordination", 2 out of 12 points were awarded for the „Transparency of the council's work and the preparation of drafts and proposals of decisions in local administration, while 3 out of a possible 18 points were awarded for „Inclusiveness and openness of policymaking in local administration“.

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Report on the Monitoring of Local Administration – The Municipality of Koceljeva

Author(s): Not Specified Author / Language(s): English

The municipal administration of Koceljeva responded in a timely manner to the requests for free access to information of public importance sent by the Ars Nova club, within the Pratim JA project. In the area of Policy development and coordination within the indicator Transparency of council`s work and the preparation of drafts and proposals for decisions in local administration and the indicator Inclusiveness and openness in policymaking in local administration, low scoring results were recorded during the research. In the field of Public services system and human resource management within the indicator Openness and transparency of recruitment into local administration, a low score was also recorded. The mentioned indicators have zero points in the final scoring. In the area of Public services and human resources management within the indicator Effective protection of senior civil servants` position from unwanted political interference, as well as in the area of Public financial management within the indicator the Degree of compliance with the budget calendar and successful planning of income and expenses, high scoring results were recorded. The mentioned indicators have 4 rating in the final scoring. The overall impression of mutual cooperation is positive. The municipal administration of Koceljeva, according to the results of the research, did not achieve a high result in the final scoring, the total monitoring score for all areas, on a scale of zero to five, is two. There is a lot of room for improvement and certain items need to be improved in order for the functioning of the municipal administration of Koceljeva to be productive, transparent, open, accountable and proactive.

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Report on the Monitoring of Local Administration – The City of Niš

Author(s): Not Specified Author / Language(s): English

By conducting an analysis based on information of the work of the public administration in Niš, it was concluded that the public administration obtained solid results and achieved the most points in the area related to the Public services and human resourse management, especially in the part of the institutionalization of human resources management and effective protection of senior civil servants` position from unwanted political interference. Also, the area that monitors Public administration accountability, specifically Proactivity in publishing information on the official website and the area of Public Finances, in respect of the budget calendar and revenue planning, were also assigned high rating. What is necessary to do when it comes to the web-presentation of the city of Niš is to harmonize the content and technical standards with the Regulation on closer conditions for creating and maintaining the organ’s web presentation. The areas with the lowest ratings are: Policy development and coordination with regards to the transparency of the work of the city council and the preparation of drafts and decisions in public administration, then the area that monitors Public services and human resourse management, specifically the Openness and transparency of recruitment into local self-government. Given the fact that the city administration is not unified in the city of Niš, more precisely that there are several administrations, and that communication with all administrations was not uniform – the aggravating circumstance was the fact that the city of Niš did not sign a memorandum of cooperation on this research.

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Report on the Monitoring of Local Administration – The City of Valjevo

Author(s): Not Specified Author / Language(s): English

After the conducted research, the biggest impression is a closed and negative attitude of the City Administration of the city of Valjevo towards the research we are conducting. From December 2021 until June 2022, researchers sent a large number of requests to the City Administration for free access to information of public importance. The city administration responded to only one of the requests, several months late, and even that request was not fully answered. We are of the opinion that the overall rating would have been higher, as well as the individual ratings by area, if the City Administration had provided the information requested from it. In addition, we would get a more complete picture, which would result in a greater number of recommendations for improving the work of the City Administration. However, the information that the City Administration did not provide for us is also useful information, as well as a message addressed to the citizens. Because if the City of Valjevo does not fulfill its basic obligation prescribed by the Law on Free Access to Information of Public Importance, an obligation whose non-compliance leads even to financial sanctions, it is difficult to expect that it will act proactively, enable a greater degree of citizen participation in decision-making, and that the administration's work will be more transparent. The area of Public services and human resource management stands out as the worst-rated, while, on the other hand, the best-rated area is Accountability, which analyzes the proactivity of the local administration in publishing information on the official website of the City, although the City Administration could significantly improve the situation in this area as well.

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Report on the Monitoring of Local Administration – The Municipality of Vlasotince

Author(s): Not Specified Author / Language(s): English

The analysis of public administration in the municipality of Vlasotince, lead to the following conclusions: The public administration of Vlasotince achieved the most points in the area that monitors the Public services and Human resources management in the section on Institutionalization of Human resources management, in the area of Services delivery, specifically the Accessibility and quality of provision of administrative services to citizens and in the area of Public financial management, in the section that monitors the Degree of compliance with the budget calendar and the successful planning of income and expenses and the indicator that monitor that public procurement procedures are based on the principles of equal treatment, non-discrimination, proportionality and transparency. The fewest points were achieved in the areas of the Strategic framework for public administration reform, specifically due to the lack of improvement of public administration through strategic documents and non-inclusion of civil society in the process of drafting and structures for monitoring and coordination, in the area of Policy development and coordination, in the part that follows the Transparency of council`s work and preparation of drafts and proposals for decisions in local administration and Inclusiveness and openness in policymaking in local administration, as well as areas related to the Public services and human resource management in terms of the effectiveness of measures for the promotion of integrity and prevention of corruption in local administration. During the conduct of the research, a positive practice of the behavior of officials employed in the public administration of Vlasotince was observed, which should be highlighted. The way of communication with the research team, despite the insufficient number of employees, and the handling of Requests for access to information of public importance, both in terms of form and comprehensiveness of information, are certainly an example of good practice. Also, the new website, which contains a lot of publicly available data and services that facilitate citizens' daily access to information, are also positively evaluated elements. What is necessary to do when it comes to the content of the web-presentation of the municipality of Vlasotince, is to harmonize the content and technical standards with the Regulation on further conditions for the creation and maintenance of the web-presentation of the Authority.

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Report on the Monitoring of Local Administration – The City of Vršac

Author(s): Not Specified Author / Language(s): English

The city of Vršac won a total of 52 points, so on a six-point scale (0–5) the overall situation is rated 1. The basic finding is the complete absence of any communication between the city administration and our researchers. The city administration did not respond to the invitation to sign the agreement, nor to any of the four requests for access to information of public importance, which we sent by e-mail to the address of the head of the administration. Since the city administration did not submit any documents, practically the only source of data and documents was the official website. For half of the indicators (for 6 out of 12), the city administration did not receive any points, namely for four indicators within three areas (Strategic framework for public administration reform, Policy development and coordination and Service delivery), and in the area of Public services and human resource management for two of the four indicators. A somewhat better result was achieved in the area of Accountability – Proactivity of the local administration in publishing information on the official website. A relatively good result was achieved only in the area of Public financial management. During the research, we got the impression that the situation is certainly better, but due to the lack of will to communicate with the researchers, we cannot argue that impression.

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Report on the Monitoring of Local Administration – The City Municipality of Zvezdara

Author(s): Not Specified Author / Language(s): English

The monitoring and evaluation of the functioning of the Administration of the City Municipality of Zvezdara, carried out during 2022, showed that the situation in all six analyzed areas of public administration in this city municipality of the City of Belgrade was assessed with a total rating of 3, on a six-point scale 0–5. The analysis, on the one hand, showed that this municipality best rated in two areas – Accountability and Service delivery. In the first area, the proactivity of the local administration in publishing information on the official website was rated the best, while in the second area, the availability and quality of administrative services delivery to citizens was rated the best. On the other hand, the monitoring showed that in the City Municipality of Zvezdara, the worst situation is in those areas of public administration that relate to the Strategic framework public administration reform and Policy development and coordination. Specifically, within the first mentioned area, the existence of a planning document for improving the work of local administration and the involvement of civil society in the process of development and structure for monitoring and coordination was rated the worst, while the transparency of the Council's work was rated the worst within the second area.

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Alternatywa dla wschodnich Niemiec Saksonia i Brandenburgia przed wyborami landowymi

Author(s): Kamil Frymark / Language(s): Polish

Wybory do parlamentów krajowych we wschodnich landach Saksonii i Brandenburgii (1 września) oraz Turyngii (27 października) są najważniejszym testem wyborczym dla niemieckich partii w 2019 r. Sukces Alternatywy dla Niemiec (AfD) w wyborach do Parlamentu Europejskiego na wschodzie kraju oraz szansa na zwycięstwo w nadchodzących wyborach landowych są najpoważniejszym politycznym wyzwaniem dla dotychczas silnej tam CDU. Stawia on partię przed dylematem wyboru strategii wobec AfD: tolerowania i stopniowego rozwoju współpracy lub zwiększenia presji na dalszą izolację. W obu przypadkach bardzo prawdopodobne są napięcia pomiędzy landowymi strukturami chadecji na wschodzie, które przychylniej patrzą na tę współpracę, a federalnymi władzami partii, które są jej przeciwne. Także w przypadku AfD sukcesy wyborcze na wschodzie będą prowadziły do pytania o kierunek rozwoju partii oraz jej spójny przekaz na poziomie federalnym. Dla wielu członków AfD z zachodnich landów radykalizacja postaw liderów ugrupowania w Brandenburgii i Turyngii jest nieakceptowalna. Spotyka się ona jednak z pozytywnym odbiorem wśród elektoratu rozczarowanego polityką pozostałych partii oraz konsekwencjami przemian z 1989 r. i następstwami kryzysu migracyjnego, co prowadzi do niespotykanych w zachodnich Niemczech sukcesów ugrupowania. Widoczna we wschodnich landach rosnąca polaryzacja społeczeństwa wzmacnia partię Zielonych, która dotychczas nie odgrywała znaczącej roli na wschodzie Niemiec. Dla wielu wyborców Zieloni są obecnie jedyną alternatywą dla AfD. Rozdrobnienie sceny politycznej oraz bardzo dobre wyniki AfD skomplikują budowanie koalicji we wszystkich trzech landach. Głównym kryterium tworzenia nowych rządów będzie niedopuszczenie AfD do władzy. Doprowadzi to do sytuacji, gdy rząd będzie składał się z trzech lub czterech partii zdecydowanie różniących się programowo. Będzie to wzmagało napięcia wewnątrz koalicji. W dłuższej perspektywie wzmocni to AfD, która nasili przekaz o jedynej alternatywie dla wszystkich pozostałych partii.

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STARTING FROM SCRATCH IN KOSOVO: The Honeymoon Is Over (ICG Balkans Report N° 83)

Author(s): Author Not Specified / Language(s): English

In this paper, the International Crisis Group (ICG) examines the performance of the international community in five key areas: security, the provision of basic services, civil registration and documentation, elections, and justice and the rule of law. The paper recommends ways to improve that performance, including: more robust enforcement by NATO’s Kosovo Force of its protection mandate and the accelerated deployment of adequately trained international and local police; the acceleration as well of donor follow-through, the provision of basic services, civil registration, the creation of identity documents, voters’ lists, and applicable criminal and civil legal codes; and a reexamination by the aid community of how best to achieve its desirable goals and outcomes in Kosovo.

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RULE OF LAW IN PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION: Confusion and Discrimination in a Post-Communist Bureaucracy (ICG Balkans Report N° 84)

Author(s): Author Not Specified / Language(s): English

The unsatisfactory functioning of municipal and cantonal administrations has a negative effect on both the legal system and the rule of law, and drastically affects the administration's main role -– the implementation of laws and regulations. Many laws go partially or entirely un-enforced. This report makes specific recommendations to strengthen the functioning of public administration. By and large these build on already-existing civil service procedures on the books, both in Republika Srpska and the Federation. These include: enforcing existing civil service laws, enforcing existing hiring procedures, increasing the degree of governmental "userfriendliness," increasing public access to records and documents, de-linking the public administration financing from political party control, and strengthening the municipal oversight system under existing JSAP authorisation.

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ALBANIA: STATE OF THE NATION (ICG Balkans Report N° 87)

Author(s): Author Not Specified / Language(s): English

In an effort to consolidate the gains made during the last year – namely the ‘liberation’ of Kosovo from Belgrade’s rule – Albanians from both sides of the Kosovo border are endeavouring to weaken the structural division between Albania and Kosovo. The improvement of transportation and communication links is aimed at providing Kosovo with access to an Adriatic sea port, whilst helping to alleviate the chronic unemployment in Albania’s northern districts by re-establishing traditional trading links between towns on both sides of the border. Such moves, however, are being interpreted by some of Albania’s neighbours as the first steps in the process of creating a Greater Albania. This is strenuously denied by both Albanian and Kosovo Albanian leaders who, despite acknowledging their nation’s desire at some point in the future to see a unification of all Albanians into one state, recognise that for the foreseeable future the Albanians of Albania have different and far more pressing issues to address from those in the former Yugoslavia, and vice versa.

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MONTENEGRO: In the Shadow of the Volcano (ICG Balkans Report N° 89)

Author(s): Author Not Specified / Language(s): English

Montenegro has been a crisis-in-waiting for two years now, with Belgrade opposing efforts by a reform-minded government under President Milo Djukanovic to distance itself ever further from its federal partner Serbia. Federal President Slobodan Milosevic has steadily escalated the pressure against Djukanovic, probing the extent of NATO support for Montenegro and pushing the Montenegrins toward a misstep that might undermine their international backing. Djukanovic is under some domestic pressure to move faster towards holding a referendum, but all his foreign contacts are advising him to go carefully and not provoke Belgrade into a response, and for the moment he is being patient. For its part, the Belgrade regime seems content for now to play a cat-and-mouse game with the Montenegrin government and population, keeping them nervous and not knowing what to expect. Montenegro’s dualcurrency system—with both Deutschmarks and dinars as legal tender—appears to have stabilised the economy at the cost of unwelcome if temporary inflation, but Serbia has intensified its trade and financial blockade.

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BOSNIA'S MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS 2000: Winners and Losers (ICG Balkans Report N° 91)

Author(s): Author Not Specified / Language(s): English

The international community can draw a degree of comfort from the results of Bosnia’s 8 April 2000 municipal elections. Overall, the voting was free of violence and more free and fair than any previous election held in Bosnia. Nationalism may not be on the run yet—witness the strength of indicted Bosnian Serb war criminal Radovan Karadzic’s Serbian Democratic Party (SDS)—but moderate leaders are making inroads and increasing numbers of voters seem to be paying attention to their messages. In Bosniak areas support shifted from the ruling Party of Democratic Action (SDA) to Haris Silajdzic's Party for Bosnia and Herzegovina (SBiH) and Zlatko Lagumdzija's moderate Social Democratic Party (SDP). As a result, Silajdzic positioned himself as king-maker in numerous Bosniak majority municipalities, and as heir apparent to the ageing Alija Izetbegovic among the Bosniak electorate.

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MONTENEGRO’S SOCIALIST PEOPLE’S PARTY: A loyal Opposition? (ICG Balkans Report N° 92)

Author(s): Author Not Specified / Language(s): English

The assertion of the primacy of Serbian rights over all other peoples by Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic has driven nearly every nationality of the former Yugoslavia toward the Republic’s exits. Even Montenegro, once Serbia’s closest political and military ally, has not been immune from the turmoil that Slobodan Milosevic has created and has opted to distance itself from Belgrade’s controlling influence. The resulting political tensions have reshaped Montenegro’s political landscape. The Socialist People’s Party (SNP), which enjoys the support of about one-third of the Montenegrin public, was formed as the result of a split within Montenegro’s ruling party, the Party of Democratic Socialists (DPS). The SNP is a party increasingly on the defensive, caught between the initiatives of Montenegrin President Djukanovic to define pro -Western, democratising and reformist policies; and the intimidation tactics of federal President Milosevic who seeks to bring Montenegro to heel and thus salvage the Federation.

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SERBIA'S EMBATTLED OPPOSITION (ICG Balkans Report, N° 94)

Author(s): Author Not Specified / Language(s): English

The recent crackdown by the Belgrade regime on Serbia's independent media and political activists suggests that Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic is more vulnerable than it would appear. Since the Kosovo war ended, Milosevic has proven unable to expand his support base and must struggle with diminishing resources to keep restive constituencies intact. Despite its recognised weakness, the Serbian opposition is capable under certain conditions of removing Milosevic from power and offering better governance. The message of numerous public opinion polls over the past eight months is that there is an anti-Milosevic majority in Serbia, but that the opposition must work together in coalitions to exploit it.

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ELECTIONS IN KOSOVO: Moving toward Democracy? (ICG Balkans Report N0 97)

Author(s): Author Not Specified / Language(s): English

In the fall of 2000, for the first time in their history, the people of Kosovo are being promised the opportunity to participate in democratic, internationally supervised local elections. The elections offer the people of Kosovo the opportunity to demonstrate their commitment to democracy. They also present the international mission1 in Kosovo with a test of its resolve to overcome the political and practical problems associated with holding elections in a territory still suffering from the physical and the political scars of war.

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SERBIA: The Milosevic Regime on the Eve of the September Elections (ICG Balkans Report N° 99)

Author(s): Author Not Specified / Language(s): English

The regime in Serbia has recovered its footing after the 1999 war with NATO and remains as hard-line as ever. Learning and gaining experience over the years has enabled the regime to “improve” its performance and become more efficient. Most analysts in Serbia agree that Milosevic will be able to stay in power indefinitely. The process of internal consolidation after a lost war and loss of Kosovo has been mostly successful. The Serbian state security apparatus is pervasive. Its only task remains to secure the rule of federal President Slobodan Milosevic; the enemy is whatever threatens that rule. Information collected is used selectively to intimidate, blackmail or inflict political damage on opponents. The police are estimated now to be 80-100,000 strong; their consolidation was completed in June. New laws have given the police new power and the Law on Terrorism is expected to further enhance their authority and legal power.

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KOSOVO REPORT CARD (ICG Balkans Report N° 100)

Author(s): Author Not Specified / Language(s): English

Impatience among Kosovo's majority Albanian population is growing with the international mission's slowness in putting in place some of the basic structures of normal life - 15 months after the end of the war the judicial system is still getting started and Pristina suffers prolonged daily power outages. The UN police, although nearing its level of authorised deployments, has yet to deal effectively with the climate of lawlessness and disrespect for public authority. Albanians have seized with both hands the opportunities for creating a flourishing small business economy - thanks in part to the UN Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) chief Bernard Kouchner's decision to introduce the DM as the Kosovo's currency - but the international community has yet to begin the process of privatisation and market reform that is critically necessary to restart the Kosovo economy and to channel investment into legitimate economic activity and away from the quasi-legal grey economy.

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