JOINT STATEMENT

Political integrity: a call for anti-corruption regional strategy

Skopje, 27-28 February 2025 – Kosova Democratic Institute – TI Kosova and Transparency International Secretariat in collaboration with TI Bosnia and Herzegovina, TI Macedonia, Transparency Serbia and TI Türkiye organized a regional meeting with members of Regional Community of Practice (RCP) in Skopje, on 27-28 February 2025. The meeting discussed a wide range of topics connected to political integrity, including asset declaration disclosure practices, the transformative potential of political finance data, and the necessity to protect public contracting from undue influence. It facilitated regional exchanges between Transparency International and representatives of oversight agencies, investigative media and other civil society organizations with complementary capacities and needs.

The participants in the regional meeting set the following priorities for future initiatives in the region:

• Strong legal frameworks for improved data quality on asset declarations, political finance and public contracting.
• Better resourcing of government agencies to strengthen their internal capacities to enforce the rules regarding data disclosure by public officials, political parties and businesses receiving contracts by public institutions.
• Promotion of open data quality and interoperability in the three areas: assets and declarations of public officials, political finance and public contracting.
• Use of Integrity Watch (IW) digital platforms to promote open data and work with decision-makers towards strengthening political integrity in the region. IW platforms will be launched soon.

Regional Community of Practice (RCP) is a unique non-formal regional cooperation platform for discussion of critical issues hindering political integrity in Western Balkans region and Türkiye, and a joint search for innovative strategies to promote transparency in public institutions and the use of open data for prevention of public sector corruption. It brings together representatives of public institutions, civil society organizations, investigative media and academia community from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Serbia and Türkiye in a joint effort to promote good practice in the field of political integrity at the regional level through peer-to-peer exchanges.

RCP is established as part of the EU-funded project “Integrity Watch in the Western Balkans and Turkey: civil society combating corruption with political integrity data” implemented by Transparency International accredited chapters in the five countries. Transparency International is committed to pursuing joint efforts to implement the agreed priorities to influence good practices and enhance political integrity in the region in consultation with the Regional Community of Practice.

This activity is funded by the European Union. Its content is the sole responsibility of Kosova Democratic Institute (KDI) and its partners and does not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union.