DOCSLIB.ORG

Greco Eval III Rep 2010 3E FINAL Serbia PF PUBLIC

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Greco Eval III Rep 2010 3E FINAL Serbia PF PUBLIC DIRECTORATE GENERAL OF HUMAN RIGHTS AND LEGAL AFFAIRS DIRECTORATE OF MONITORING Strasbourg, 1 October 2010 Public Greco Eval III Rep (2010) 3E Theme II Third Evaluation Round Evaluation Report on the Republic of Serbia Transparency of Party Funding (Theme II) Adopted by GRECO at its 48 th Plenary Meeting (Strasbourg, 27 September – 1 October 2010) Secrétariat du GRECO GRECO Secretariat www.coe.int/greco Conseil de l’Europe Council of Europe F-67075 Strasbourg Cedex +33 3 88 41 20 00 Fax +33 3 88 41 39 55 I. INTRODUCTION 1. The State Union of Serbia and Montenegro joined GRECO on 1 April 2003. Following the referendum organised in Montenegro on 21 May 2006 and the declaration of independence adopted by the National Assembly of Montenegro on 3 June 2006 and in accordance with Article 60 of the Constitutional Charter of the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro, the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro ceased to exist. Subsequently, the Republic of Serbia became the successor state to Serbia and Montenegro. GRECO adopted the Joint First and Second Round Evaluation Report on the Republic of Serbia (Greco Eval I-II Rep (2005) 1E) at its 29 th Plenary Meeting (19-23 June 2006). The afore-mentioned Evaluation Report, as well as its corresponding Compliance Reports, are available on GRECO’s homepage ( http://www.coe.int/greco ). 2. GRECO’s current 3 rd Evaluation Round (launched on 1 January 2007) deals with the following themes: - Theme I – Incriminations: Articles 1a and 1b, 2-12, 15-17, 19 paragraph 1 of the Criminal Law Convention on Corruption, Articles 1-6 of its Additional Protocol (ETS 191) and Guiding Principle 2 (criminalisation of corruption). - Theme II – Transparency of party funding: Articles 8, 11, 12, 13b, 14 and 16 of Recommendation Rec(2003)4 on Common Rules against Corruption in the Funding of Political Parties and Electoral Campaigns, and - more generally - Guiding Principle 15 (financing of political parties and election campaigns). 3. The GRECO evaluation team for Theme II (hereafter referred to as the “GET”), which carried out an on-site visit to Serbia from 28 to 30 April 2010, was composed of Mr Christian Fredrik HORST, Deputy Director General, Ministry of Government, Administration and Reform (Norway), Mr Jurij TOPLAK, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Law Maribor (Slovenia) and the scientific expert, Mr Yves Marie DOUBLET, Deputy Director, National Assembly, Legal Department, Unit of Legal Studies (France). The GET was supported by Ms Laura SANZ-LEVIA from GRECO’s Secretariat. Prior to the visit the GET experts were provided with a comprehensive reply to the Evaluation questionnaire (document Greco Eval III (2010) 5E, Theme II), as well as copies of relevant legislation. 4. The GET met with officials from the Republic Election Commission and the Finance Committee, Ministry of Finance, Ministry for Public Administration and Local Self-Government, State Audit Institution, Anti-Corruption Agency and Misdemeanour Court. In addition, the GET met with members of political parties represented in Parliament. Finally, the GET met with Transparency International, the Centre for Free Elections and Democracy (CESID), academia and the media. 5. The present report on Theme II of GRECO’s 3rd Evaluation Round on Transparency of Party Funding was prepared on the basis of the replies to the questionnaire and the information provided during the on-site visit. The main objective of the report is to evaluate the effectiveness of measures adopted by the Serbian authorities in order to comply with the requirements deriving from the provisions indicated in paragraph 2. The report contains a description of the situation, followed by a critical analysis. The conclusions include a list of recommendations adopted by GRECO and addressed to the Republic of Serbia in order to improve its level of compliance with the provisions under consideration. 6. The report on Theme I – Incriminations, is set out in Greco Eval III Rep (2010) 3E, Theme I. 2 II. TRANSPARENCY OF PARTY FUNDING - GENERAL PART Legal framework 7. Political parties are governed by the Law on Political Parties (2009) and several specific laws such as the Law on the Financing of Political Parties (2003, as amended in 2008), which includes provisions on funding sources (including during electoral campaigns), transparency, supervision and sanctions. In addition, the Law on the Election of the President of the Republic of Serbia (2007), the Law on the Election of Representatives to the National Assembly (2000, as amended) and the Law on Local Elections (2007) contain rules on technical aspects of election processes; these laws are supplemented by the Republic Electoral Commission (REC) regulations and decisions. Furthermore, the Constitution (2006) contains several provisions guaranteeing political rights and freedoms, including the freedom of opinion and expression, the right to vote and to be elected, the freedom of assembly and association, and the right to participate in the conduct of public affairs (Article 46 and Articles 52-55 of the Constitution). Definition of political parties 8. The free establishment of political parties is guaranteed by Article 5 of the Constitution. Political parties as such are defined by Article 2 of the Law on Political Parties as “organisations of freely and voluntarily associated citizens set up for the purpose of achieving political goals through democratic shaping of the political will of citizens and through their participation in elections.” This definition is complemented by Article 3 of the Law on Political Parties on minority parties, whose activity is specially aimed at representing the interests of a national minority, as well as protecting and strengthening the rights of its members in line with the Constitution, laws and international standards, as regulated by the party’s foundation act, programme and statute. 9. Political parties are territorial organisations which acquire legal personality upon registration in the Register of Political Parties. Founding and registration of political parties 10. The founding and registration of political parties are regulated by the Law on Political Parties. A political party can be established by at least 10,000 support signatures of Serbian citizens who are at least 18 years of age and capable of work; the statutory requirement in the case of a national minority party is of 1,000 signatures. The application is submitted by the authorised representative of the political party within 30 days of its founding assembly. The mandatory documents which have to be submitted with the application include: the minutes from the party’s founding assembly, its founding act, a standard verification form on the setting-up of a political party duly filled in, statements of the party’s founders verifying the authenticity of the signatures collected, two copies of the party programme and statute, a document verifying the election of the party’s authorised representative and a proof of his/her residence. 11. The Register of Political Parties is kept by the Ministry for Public Administration and Local Self-Government. Upon submission of the application and the required documents (which have previous been certified/verified by the responsible courts and municipal authorities), the Ministry has 30 days to issue a decision for the entry of the political party into the Register. If the Ministry fails to respond within 30 days or if the application is not rejected, it is deemed that the entry has been made one day after the expiration of the 30-day period set by law. A political party becomes operational on the day of entry into the Register. 3 12. Given the significant changes in the registration procedure introduced by the Law on Political Parties in 2009, political parties were given six months to fulfil the new statutory requirements. A political party failing to align its statute and other governing acts with the provisions of the Law on Political Parties and which did not submit the application for entry into the Register by 23 January 2010 was to be automatically deleted from the Register and, consequently, lose its legal person status. A total of 73 political parties (42 of them are national minorities’ parties) are registered in Serbia. The information contained in the Register is public. Participation in elections 13. Serbia is a parliamentary republic with a multi-party system. The Head of State is the President, who is elected by direct suffrage for a term of five years. The 250 members of the National Assembly are elected for a four-year term through a system of proportional representation of candidate lists running in a single nationwide constituency. Mandates are allocated to candidate lists that surpassed a 5% threshold of the votes cast according to the D’Hondt method (the 5% threshold does not apply to parties and coalitions rooted in national minorities). 14. Every citizen of Serbia who has attained 18 years of age and is capable of work has the right to vote as well as the right to be elected . Suffrage is universal and equal for all; elections must be free and direct and voting is carried out by secret ballot in person (Article 52, Constitution). 15. In order to register a candidate list, a party, a coalition or a group of citizens has to submit to the Republic Electoral Commission (REC) a set of documents including a list of at least 10,000 support signatures of registered voters. 16. Elections are conducted by a two-tier administration consisting of the REC and the polling boards. Party representation in Parliament 17. In the parliamentary elections held on 11 May 2008, seats were obtained by the following parties 1: Name of party Acronym Number of seats SERBIAN RADICAL PARTY SRS 77 DEMOCRATIC PARTY DS 64 G17 PLUS G17 21 DEMOCRATIC PARTY OF SERBIA DSS 21 LIBERAL DEMOCRATIC PARTY LDP 11 SOCIALIST PARTY OF SERBIA SPS 11 NEW SERBIA NS 9 LEAGUE OF SOCIAL-DEMOCRATS OF VOJVODINA LSV 5 PARTY OF UNITED PENSIONERS OF SERBIA PUPS 5 SERBIAN RENEWAL MOVEMENT SPO 4 ALLIANCE OF VOJVODINA HUNGARIANS SVM 4 SANDZAK DEMOCRATIC PARTY SDP 4 1 Several months after the constitution of the National Assembly, a new party, i.e.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Free Speech in the 21St Century
    SPONSORS FREE SPEECH IN THE 21ST CENTURY JULY 3-4 / VIRTUAL CONFERENCE THE OVERVIEW Free speech is one of the essential democratic rights, and one of the most controversial. Whether it is Donald Trump’s Twitter account, Larry Flynt’s pornographic magazine, protests, the financing of an election campaign, or hate speech directed at migrants or minorities, free speech incidents attract intense attention and regularly provoke debate. The limits to our freedom of expression are changing. The forthcoming Free Speech in the 21st Century global conference will feature unique exploration into crucial freedom of speech is- sues. It will gather together the biggest names in constitutional law to debate the future of the human right that is so important to democratic society. You are invited to attend and participate. Mark Tushnet of Harvard, Jacob Rowbottom of Oxford, and David Erdos of Cambridge, among others, will evaluate how the matter of free speech is currently understood, and its future. András Sajó, a member of Facebook’s Oversight Board and a former European Court of Human Rights vice-president, will elaborate on the changing limits of freedom of expression. Jurij To- plak of Alma Mater Europaea and a Visiting Professor at Fordham Law will moderate the event. The conference is organized by Alma Mater Europaea international university and the IACL, the leading global association of constitutional scholars. It will be the inaugural meeting of the IACL’s Freedom of Speech research group. There is no registration fee. You are welcome to register here (http://iaclfreespeech.almamater.eu) and to ask your questions or participate in discussions at one of the most exciting freedom of expression events.
    [Show full text]
  • Anti-Corruption
    SIXTH FRAMEWORK PROGRAMME OF THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION RESEARCH PROJECT: CRIME AND CULTURE Crime as a Cultural Problem. The Relevance of Perceptions of Corruption to Crime Prevention. A Comparative Cultural Study in the EU-Accession States Bulgaria and Romania, the EU-Candidate States Turkey and Croatia and the EU-States Germany, Greece and United Kingdom Daniel Smilov Rashko Dorosiev Anti-Corruption: Uses and Abuses Findings from the Content Analysis of Interviews with Politicians, Representatives of Judiciary, Police, Media, Civil Society and Businessman in Bulgaria Discussion Paper Series No 22 2008 2 Dr. Daniel Smilov Programme Director, Political and Legal Research Daniel Smilov is a comparative constitutional lawyer and political scientist. He is Programme Director at the Centre for Liberal Strategies, Sofia, Recurrent Visiting Professor of Compara- tive Constitutional Law at the Central European University, Budapest, and Assistant Professor of Political Theory at the Political Science Department, University of Sofia. He holds doctorates from the University of Oxford (DPhil, 2003) and the Central European University, Budapest (SJD, 1999, summa cum laude). In 2002-2003 he was Research Fellow at the Centre for Policy Studies, at the Central European University. In 2003-2004 he was a Jean Monnet Fellow at the European University Institute, Florence. He has also been a Visiting Scholar at the Boalt Hall School of Law, University of California, Berkeley in 1995. Dr. Smilov is co-author (with Martin Tisne) of From the Ground Up: Assessing the Record of Anticorruption Assistance in Southeast Europe, Central European University Press, 2004, and co-editor (with Denis Galligan) of Administrative Law in Central and Eastern Europe, CEU Press, 1999.
    [Show full text]
  • Perceptions of Corruption in Bulgaria a Content Analysis of Inte Rviews with Politicians, Representatives of Judiciary, Police, Media, Ci Vil Society and Economy
    •o -o • -o Z ---,,-..-tI$ITY Of KOrtSTNQ •w -• w o < o z o o Cr1_ .. C.ltu ..t P",bw," ,loo l.toY,n,o 01 I'on:optlon, of C.''''ptlO" to Cri ... P.... ntlon. A C.rnp""l1w C.I",.. I Study In the t U·Ace_lon SW•• ,.[!!Ori•• nd 1.I.. nt., ,he I U~.ndldl" St .... T.rkoy .nd C", ..b .nd th. IU·Sh,.. 'onn.lIY, ' ..o<o.nd UnUM Ktngdo", DanieLSmilov, Rashko Do rosiev Perceptions of Corruption in Bulgaria A Content Analysis of Inte rviews with Politicians, Representatives of Judiciary, Police, Media, Ci vil Society and Economy al!lll F.. ust .......m. 01 tile E.ro~ c-atnlon • s,.ctft< Ta" ,.,' I'Th Protect SIXTH FRAMEWORK PROGRAMME OF THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION RESEARCH PROJECT: CRIME AND CULTURE Crime as a Cultural Problem. The Relevance of Perceptions of Corruption to Crime Prevention. A Comparative Cultural Study in the EU-Accession States Bulgaria and Romania, the EU-Candidate States Turkey and Croatia and the EU-States Germany, Greece and United Kingdom Daniel Smilov Rashko Dorosiev Perceptions of Corruption in Bulgaria A Content Analysis of Interviews with Politicians, Representatives of the Judiciary, Police, Media, Civil Society and Economy Discussion Paper Series No 16 2008 2 Dr. Daniel Smilov Programme Director, Political and Legal Research Daniel Smilov is a comparative constitutional lawyer and political scientist. He is Programme Director at the Centre for Liberal Strategies, Sofia, Recurrent Visiting Professor of Compara- tive Constitutional Law at the Central European University, Budapest, and Assistant Professor of Political Theory at the Political Science Department, University of Sofia.
    [Show full text]
  • Transparency of Slovenian Local Government Elections in 2014
    STUDY REPORT TRANSPARENCY OF SLOVENIAN LOCAL GOVERNMENT ELECTIONS IN 2014 December 2015 1 Study Report on the Transparency of Slovenian Local Government Elections in 2014 Published by: Transparency International Slovenia – Društvo Integriteta Created by: Živa Gobbo, project manager Sebastijan Peterka, project assistant Zala Turšič, volunteer Project coordinator: Instytut Spraw Publicznych, Poland Project partners: Inštitút pre verejné otázky, Slovakia Instytut Spraw Publicznych, Poland Quality assessment and assurance Dr Jurij Toplak ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This study is the result of a joint effort by a number of individuals and the Transparency International Slovenia team and their commitment to promoting integrity and accountability in election campaigns and political funding in Slovenia. We would like to extend our gratitude to our colleagues and other experts, including Dr Jurij Toplak, Renata Zatler, Jorg Kristijan Petrovič and others at the Court of Audit of Slovenia; Matija Remec at the Internal Affairs Inspectorate; Tadej Beočanin, Mayor of Ajdovščina; the State Election Commission for the points of clarification and information, Barbara Verdnik for the resources and information; and the municipalities involved. We would also like to thank Pressclipping, d.o.o., and its CEO Tatjana Novak for providing media monitoring services free of charge. Above all, we wish to thank all the volunteers who made field monitoring and the findings of the study possible. THANK YOU 2 Contents 1 Introduction ....................................................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Downloads of Previous Issue Since Publication (2Nd of June 2014 – 15Th of December 2014): 1,742
    VOLUME 8, NUMBER 1, JANUARY 2015 FAILURE OF NETWORK INDUSTRY LIBERALISATION IN EASTERN EUROPE: THE CASE OF ELECTRICITY LIBERALISATION IN UKRAINE Katharina ILLIUSHCHENIA ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… A COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVE ON THE BALKAN CONSTITUTIONS AND THE SPACE PROVIDED FOR THE CITIZENS Teuta VODO and Eleni STATHOPOULOU ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………... FALLING BETWEEN TWO STOOLS – THE CASE OF THE LITHUANIAN CIVIL SERVANT REFORM OF 2013 Lars JOHANNSEN, Karin HILMER PEDERSEN and Saulius PIVORAS ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………... THE BACKWARD EAST? EXPLAINING DIFFERENCES IN SUPPORT FOR RADICAL RIGHT PARTIES IN WESTERN AND EASTERN EUROPE Alina POLYAKOVA ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………... INCOME INEQUALITY AND GOVERNMENT REDISTRIBUTION: A CROSS-NATIONAL STUDY Vincent A. MAHLER, Kimberly LOONTJER and Sara PARANG ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………... BOOK REVIEW: DEMOCRACY AND SOCIAL PEACE IN DIVIDED SOCIETIES: EXPLORING CONSOCIATIONAL PARTIES Henrik JACOBSEN ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………... JOURNAL OF COMPARATIVE POLITICS 2 EDITORIAL TEAM General Editor General Editor Miro Haček Peter Csányi ................................................................. ................................................................ University of Ljubljana Alexander Dubč ek University Trenčin Faculty of social sciences, CAAPPI Department of Political Science Kardeljeva ploščad 5 Študentská 2 1000 Ljub ljana , S lovenia 911 50 Trenčin, Slovakia [email protected] [email protected]
    [Show full text]
  • Equal Voting Weight of All: Finally “One Person, One Vote” from Hawaii to Maine?
    TOPLAK_FINAL EQUAL VOTING WEIGHT OF ALL: FINALLY “ONE PERSON, ONE VOTE” FROM HAWAII TO MAINE? ∗ Jurij Toplak The “one person, one vote” rule requires districts within states to have precisely equal populations. Nevertheless, the populations of districts differ from state to state, varying from under 500,000 to over 900,000 people. The cause lies in the so-called method of apportionment. Throughout history, Congress has employed several different methods, but all have failed to allocate to states their exact and fair share of representation. This Article challenges this systemic distortion of the “one person, one vote” principle by inviting readers to consider a weighted-voting model that distributes the states’ power in the House of Representatives exactly “according to their Numbers.” The application of this model would result in an exact mathematical equality of each vote’s weight regardless of the voter’s state of residence. The Article also suggests why the courts may even find the model to be a constitutional imperative. TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION............................................................................................................. 124 I. TWO CENTURIES OF APPORTIONMENT DISPUTE: FROM HAMILTON VERSUS JEFFERSON TO WEBSTER VERSUS HILL........................................ 127 A. Jefferson Versus Hamilton..................................................................... 129 B. Alabama Paradox: Defects of Hamilton’s Method ............................ 131 C. Webster Versus Hill ...............................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Reform of Democracy and the Rule of Law in Slovenia
    Reform of Democracy and the Rule of Law in Slovenia Jernej Letnar Černič, Matej Avbelj, Marko Novak, Dejan Valentinčič New University Faculty of Government and European Studies Jernej Letnar Černič, Matej Avbelj, Marko Novak, Dejan Valentinčič Reform of Democracy and the Rule of Law in Slovenia Title of the original publication Jernej Letnar Černič, Matej Avbelj, Marko Novak, Dejan Valentinčič, Reforma demokratične in pravne države v Sloveniji, Kranj: Nova univerza, Fakulteta za državne in evropske študije, cop. 2018. Editor Jernej Letnar Černič Original title (Slovenian) Reforma demokratične in pravne države v Sloveniji Translated by Aleš Lampe Design Tiskarna Januš Publisher New university Faculty of Government and European Studies Žanova 3 4000 Kranj Slovenia 2019 First edition © Jernej Letnar Černič et al., 2019 Kataložni zapis o publikaciji (CIP) pripravili v Narodni in univerzitetni knjižnici v Ljubljani COBISS.SI-ID=299668224 ISBN 978-961-6901-12-3 (pdf) This publication was co-financed by the Slovenian Research Agency (research project J5­7359). 2 Table of contents 1 Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 4 2 Slovenia as a democracy governed by the rule of law ................................................... 6 3 Reform of the Slovenian legislative branch .................................................................. 11 4 Reform of the Slovenian executive branch ..................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Research Topics of the Central European Comparative Law Doctoral Programme
    Research topics of the Central European Comparative Law doctoral programme. Title of the research topic Name and short information of the supervisor Impact of Council of Europe and EU law on national family legislations – example of Prof. dr. sc. Aleksandra Korać Graovac the Republic of Croatia Actual workplace(s) and position: Full professor and Chair of family law, Faculty of Law, Zagreb University Academic degree: graduation year: 1988 - Faculty of Law, Zagreb University Postgraduate studies: Master of law (MM.L.): 1992 - Faculty of Law, Zagreb University Doctor of law (Ph.D.): 1996 - Faculty of Law, Zagreb University Qualification: Full professor of Family law, Faculty of Law, Zagreb University Main education areas and research areas: family law, European family law, human rights, family procedural law, medically assisted procreation, rights of the child; Other important information: Full member of Croatian Academy of Legal Sciences, scientific counselor of Constitutional court of the Republic of Croatia, a member of ISFL, a member of Committee of experts for family law CoE. Email: [email protected] Police Interrogation of Suspects of Crime in Human Rights and Comparative Law Dr. Benjamin Flander Perspectives Actual workplace(s) and position: University of Maribor, Faculty of Criminal Justice and Security, Head of Department of Law Academic degree: Doctor of Law (PhD) (issued by the Faculty of Law of the University of Ljubljana, Slovenia) Qualification: Associate Professor of Law (appointed by the University of Maribor)
    [Show full text]
  • IMPACT of IMMIGRATION on EUROPE and ITS APPROACH TOWARDS the MIGRATION (EUROPEAN UNION STATES Vs VISEGRAD GROUP COUNTRIES) Peter CSANYI
    VOLUME 13, NUMBER 2, JULY 2020 IMPACT OF IMMIGRATION ON EUROPE AND ITS APPROACH TOWARDS THE MIGRATION (EUROPEAN UNION STATES vs VISEGRAD GROUP COUNTRIES) Peter CSANYI FIRST AS TRAGEDY, THEN AS FARCE: A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF RIGHT-WING POPULISM IN HUNGARY AND POLAND Jakub SZABÓ EUROPEAN CONTEXT OF REGIONAL GERMAN POLICY IN CENTRAL ASIA Bakhytgul B. KASSENOVA, Raushan S. YELMURZAYEVA, Rabiga K. BAIMBETOVA, Zhaslan Y. NURBAYEV and Gulnara E. IBRAGIMOVA ADMINISTRATIVE BURDENS FROM THE SERVICE USERS' PERSPECTIVE Ruzhdi HALILI FINANCIAL AUTONOMY OF THE SLOVENIAN LOCAL GOVERNMENT Miro HAČEK ANCHORING POLITICAL CHANGE: ADAPTIVE GOVERNMENT IN THE CLASSICAL WORLD Olivier HEKSTER JOURNAL OF COMPARATIVE POLITICS 2 EDITORIAL TEAM Editor-in-Chief General Editor Miro Haček Peter Csányi ................................................................. ................................................................ University of Ljubljana University of Economics in Bratislava Faculty of social sciences, CAAPPI Faculty of International Relations Kardeljeva ploščad 5 Dolnozemská 1, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia 852 35 Bratislava 5, Slovakia [email protected] [email protected] General Editor General Editor Jurij Toplak Simona Kukovič .................................................................. .................................................................. Alma Mater Europa ea University of Ljubljana European Center Maribor (AMEU-ECM) Faculty of social sciences, CAAPPI Gosposka ulica 1 Kardeljeva ploščad 5 2000 Maribor, Slovenia 1000 Ljubljana,
    [Show full text]
  • Abstract Energy and Institutional Quality Are Two Factors That Determine Economic Output, but These Two
    Preprints (www.preprints.org) | NOT PEER-REVIEWED | Posted: 29 December 2020 doi:10.20944/preprints202012.0713.v1 The moderating effects of institutional qualities and energy use on the economic output Abdulrasheed Zakari* 1Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing China 2Alma Mater Europaea Maribor, Slovenia [email protected] / [email protected] Jurij Toplak 1University of Maribor, Slovenia 2Alma Mater Europaea ECM, Maribor, Slovenia [email protected] Corresponding Author* Abstract Energy and institutional quality are two factors that determine economic output, but these two factors are often neglected in the search for economic output. Therefore, this study examines the relative importance of energy use and its interaction with institutional quality for economic output. We employ a robust econometric estimation technique on a panel sample of 21 African countries between 2002-2019. Our results show that energy use is significant and negatively related to economic output while moderating terms of institutional quality are significantly associated with economic output, but the direction of the association depends on the specific quality. We find the moderating term control of corruption and government effectiveness to be negative and significantly associated with economic output, whilst political stability, regulatory quality, rule of laws, voice, and accountability positively impact. Our results imply that improved economic output is possible when there are specific institutional strategies. Page 1 of 34 © 2020 by the author(s). Distributed under a Creative Commons CC BY license. Preprints (www.preprints.org) | NOT PEER-REVIEWED | Posted: 29 December 2020 doi:10.20944/preprints202012.0713.v1 Keywords; Economic output; Energy use; Institutional quality; cultural diversity; FMOLS 1.
    [Show full text]
  • The Impact of European Democracy Promotion on Party Financing in The
    The Impact of European Democracy Promotion on Party Financing in the East European Neighborhood Natalia Timuş Maastricht University [email protected] The Legal Regulation of Political Parties Working Paper 6 August 2010 Timuş: The Impact of European Democracy Promotion on Party Financing © The author(s), 2010 This working paper series is supported by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC research grant RES-061-25-0080) and the European Research Council (ERC starting grant 205660). To cite this paper : Timuş, Natalia (2010). ‘The Impact of European Democracy Promotion on Party Financing in the East European Neighborhood’, Working Paper Series on the Legal Regulation of Political Parties, No. 6. To link to this paper : http://www.partylaw.leidenuniv.nl/uploads/wp0610.pdf This paper may be used for research, teaching and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematic reproduction, re-distribution, re-selling, loan or sub-licensing, systematic supply or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. ISSN: 2211-1034 2 The Legal Regulation of Political Parties, working paper 06/10 The Impact of European Democracy Promotion on Party Financing in the East European Neighborhood NATALIA TIMU Ş1 Abstract The paper investigates how the cooperation of European institutions (EU, CoE, and OSCE) in democracy promotion affects the success of European conditionality on party financing in East European neighboring countries. It examines the two major European level factors, the determinacy of requirements and the rewards, based on the case study of Ukraine, Moldova, and Georgia and a cross-case comparative analysis before and during Action Plans’ period. The paper shows that there exists a European level influence on party financing changes in line with the European standards set by the Venice Commission.
    [Show full text]
  • Open Candidate Lists As an Opportunity to Personalize the Will of the Voters in the Republic of Macedonia
    SEEU Review Volume 8, No. 1, 2011 Open Candidate Lists as an Opportunity to Personalize the Will of the Voters in the Republic of Macedonia Doc. Dr. Jeton SHASIVARI Assistant-Professor of Constitutional and Administrative Law And Vice Dean of the Law Faculty-SEEU-Tetova Email: [email protected] DOI: 10.2478/v10306-012-0001-x Abstract This article introduces and presents a concrete and comparative analysis of electoral system of the Republic of Macedonia and the need of incorporation of the open candidate lists in parliamentary and local elections. In this direction, the article notes that the atmosphere in our country is positive, regardless of the fact that open lists would be a challenge for the domination of the leaders of political parties in the nomination process so far, and the evident political party rule of the state in our society as a pathological phenomenon of our political system, because this type of voting lists implies respected professionals, or in other words, individuals who will develop professional team, intellectual and logistic infrastructure for efficient and democratic functioning of the Parliament of the Republic of Macedonia and municipal councils. In this article, the author points out that open candidate lists would contribute to a greater satisfaction of voters, because they offer greater choice and create a closer relationship between citizens and their representatives. In real life, open candidate lists will contribute to greater 8 SEEU Review Volume 8, No. 1, 2011 accountability of MP’s to voters, as well as better understanding of the needs of voters and their interests and will improve the adequate representation of municipalities and City of Skopje on the legislative power, strengthening the geographical link between voters and MP’s.
    [Show full text]