Workshop Enterprise environment, corruption, bureaucracy II. Bratislava, 30. 10. 2013. Conclusions.
04. 11. 2013, Viliam Vaškovič, English translation Vladimír Baláž
Mistrust to key democratic institutions, feelings of omnipresent cronyism and corruption, and decline in political culture has destructive impacts on operations by all parts of rule of law and start undermining cornerstones of democratic societies in the Czech and Slovak Republics.
Participants of the seminar deem it necessary that relevant political parties must change their attitudes towards mode of operations by political system. The parties must introduce changes in voting system and financing political parties, as to strengthen principles of democracy and transparency.
The political parties should present more detailed programmes for fighting corruption and cronyism and initiate professional discussion on these issues.
The non-profit bodies and entrepreneur organisation should offer their solutions more actively. They also should strengthen their mutual co-ordination and intensify communication with political parties.
Political cronyism and related forms of corruption deform market and business environments in the Czech and Slovak Republics. Pervasive corruption stems from interconnection between selected political and business interest groups. It is enabled by high tolerance of misconduct by those state administration bodies, which oversee law observance. This tolerance, in fact, transfers to emergence of ‘selective rule of law’.
Opinion that enforcing current laws is enough for combating corruption is wrong. Block of new legislation must be passed, and criminal justice bodies depoliticised, as to uncover and uproot corruption networks.
Interests of business are represented by several entrepreneurs’ associations. This is more or less understandable, as small, medium and large enterprises somewhat differ in their interests. Efforts aimed at decreasing tax burden and social security payments, removing minimal wage and liberalizing Labour Code also have not brought satisfactory results so far. There also was limited progress in decreasing administrative hassle and complexity of business environment. Politicians and political parties may be more willing to listen to entrepreneurs, if activities by entrepreneurs’ associations are better co-ordinated, and more professional and efficient.
The Liberal Society Foundation and entrepreneurs’ associations plan co-operating and participating on analysis on selected legislations, which favour one part of entrepreneurs’ community over another one. Such norms provide fertile ground for rent-seeking, discrimination and deformation of business and political environment. The Liberal Society Foundation also wants to conduct analysis of anti-corruption clauses in programmes of political parties in the Czech and Slovak Republics.