The coalition of NGOs within the “Week against corruption” with the support of the US Embassy in Prishtina and the EU Office, held a roundtable discussion on the theme: “Integrity and financing of political parties”. This roundtable aimed to build political will for reforming of the political parties so that they become more transparent and accountable. At the opening of this roundtable the Executive Director of KDI, Ismet Kryeziu, said that political corruption in Kosovo continues to damage the integrity of political parties thus distorting the electoral representation. According to him, political parties are seen as agents of government who extort bribes, influence the judiciary and misuse public resources in detriment of public interest.

Whereas Arton Demhasaj from “Çohu” presented the report “Failed contemplation” which had for topic the issue of financing of political parties in Kosovo. According to Demhasaj, this research shows us a reality in which there is a “power of money” which is powerful and has great influence on the manner of exercise of political and institutional responsibilities of political parties.

“Business links with politics through the instrument of financing of the political parties have served as the basis for understanding the translation of these investments in public contracts obtained by businesses,” said Demhasaj.

Isuf Zejna from “D +”, who presented the report “How much does the democracy cost?”, said that the political parties have not published their financial reports even though it is a legal requirement. Moreover, he said that the amendment of the Law on Financing Political Parties is necessary, in order to seek more control and transparency for the election campaign funds.

Whereas, Visar Sutaj from KDI, who presented the report “The unmasking of political hypocrisy in Kosovo”, said that the reform should start from the leaders of the political parties, who should work hard to ensure that the parties which they lead will transform into institutions that are more open and accountable for the public and are not seen as agents that provide privileges to a narrow group of interests.

“Lack of integrity in political parties diminish citizens trust in the institutions that they control, including government and assembly. The latest findings of the Global Corruption Barometer (GCB) confirm this connection because they show that the representatives of the government and parliament are regarded as the most corrupt officials in the country,” said Sutaj.

Stephen Banks, representatives of the US Embassy in Pristina, said that, we believe that corruption is one of the most important problems Kosovo faces with, whereas is oriented towards euro-atlantic integration and participation in the international community. “This is a problem in public perception and one of the key topic from Brussels… As stated by the Deputy President Mr. Biden during his visit to Kosovo in August 'Corruption diverts economic resources away from citizens and discourages investments and business development. It weakens a country's ability to defend itself, leaving it powerless to manipulation from outside. Simply put, it puts at risk everything Kosovo has achieved, and

hopes to achieve in the future, “he added.

Faton Topalli, Chair of the Parliamentary Committee for Oversight of Public Finance, said that the Committee has always made in time the request to the Assembly for political finance audit issue. “The majority, through the Committee for Budget and Finance was supposed to allocate the necessary funds to ensure the financial audit of political parties. In the absence of political will but not in legal basis, this issue was not addressed. Finances of political parties go beyond declared amounts. There is an abuse of the institutions, state functions, finance of ruling party – used during election campaigns which represents misuse of public money,” said Topalli. Felix Rathje, representative of the EU Office in Kosovo during the roundtable said that the EU, in their Report for Kosovo has stressed the issue of non-auditing of finances of political parties and holding of these financial reports out of the eye of public.

According to him, the constant pressure of the NGO community to the Government and the EU has led to raise this issue as a priority in the European reform agenda. Also, he informed that the Head of the EU for Kosovo, Mrs. Apostolova met yesterday with the President of the Assembly Mr. Kadri Veseli and has taken his commitment on opening the finances of political parties.

Part of the discussion also were representatives of political parties in Kosovo and the representatives of various local and international organizations.

* Part of the Coalition of NGOs within the “Week Against Corruption” with motto #UnitedAgainstCorruption are: Kosovo Law Institute (KLI), Çohu, Democracy Plus (D +), Group for Legal and Political Studies (GLPS), GAP Institute and Kosovo Democratic Institute (KDI).