Press release

Transparency International Romania expresses deep concern regarding the recently adopted Government Decision through which the requirement that other documents should be annexed with the donation form by the persons making donations to political parties is removed, as resulting from the release issued by the Government yesterday 1st April 2008.

Transparency International Romania considers that such decision is risking the capacity of the control mechanisms to identify the situations where legal provisions regarding the capacity of the persons to make donations to political parties are infringed, thus encouraging the financing of the electoral actions directed towards acquiring personal benefits.

Such decision, adopted before the elections, favours un-transparent decisions and the infringement of the legal provisions, thus increasing the vulnerability to corruption of the future elected persons.

Transparency International Romania would also like to draw attention to the fact that the effects of the new regulations shall bear consequences in which the accomplishment of the commitments undertaken to the European Union is concerned, such as the creation of an efficient mechanism of assets control and the implementing of the EU acquis regarding the monitoring of the politically vulnerable persons.

The removal of the annexes shall lead to the impossibility to verify the situations where some categories of persons deemed by the law as incapable to donate to the political parties, such as those indebted to the state, do in fact donate. As a consequence, the appearance of not knowing the situation of the donor would be created, by any of the parties involved in the elections campaign and the premises for granting private benefits, such as subsequently cancelling the debts, shall be inherently developed.

Given the above, Transparency International Romania requests that the Romanian Government identifies viable solutions in order to avoid such risks.

Contact person:
Victor Alistar – Executive Director, TI Romania
(victor@transparency.org.ro).

Press release

Transparency International requests the rejection of any regulation legalising bribery in the health care system.

TI Romania requests the rejection of any regulation legalising bribery in the health care system, as proposed by the representatives of the Physicians College, since corruption in the entire public system could thus be legalised on the basis of this precedent.

TI Romania expresses concern with regard to the dangerous precedent the legalising of the bribery for physicians would create, therefore conditioning the life as against to the material resources available to each patient. The physicians working in the public health care system cannot legally receive other benefits from their patients in addition to the salary provided by the health care institutions; the citizens are required by the law to pay the health insurance, therefore they already pay for the medical services they are entitled to. It is exactly the same thing as in the case of the public servants who would receive presents for the services they provide, although the citizens already pay taxes to the state budget. The situation is also similar to the case where citizens would provide presents to the magistrates as “thanks and gratitude”. We could also believe politicians could legally receive “forms of gratitude” for their decisions.

On the other hand, Transparency International would like to draw attention to the fact that Romania is part of the Council of Europe Civil Law Convention on Corruption and Council of Europe Criminal Law Convention on Corruption, both endorsed as of 2002, and these conventions explicitly forbid the signing countries any form of legalising bribery or undue advantages. Such an initiative would be against the commitments made by Romania and would open the way to the annulment of the legal provisions prohibiting public servants or state employees to receive cash or assets in exchange for the accomplishment of their legal obligations. We would like to draw attention to the fact that such regulations would imply Romania being called in front of the European Court of Justice for the infringement of the EU acquis

Any of the beneficiaries of health services contributes, from their income, to the social health insurance fund, therefore the services they benefit from are already paid for. Enforcing a new legal tax is equal to the increase of previous. Accepting corruption as a form of compensation of the income is immoral. The state can transparently increase the contribution to the insurance fund and the salaries, but is bound to fight the corruption within the system in order to guarantee the right of the patients to the services they have already paid for.

According to the universally accepted definition, corruption is the abuse of the entrusted power in order to obtain private benefits. This approach would bring about the belief that the legalisation of bribery for doctors can be translated in other words by “I will take care of you if you provide; if not, you can wait”, because we do not have hospital beds, proper equipment, etc. The protection of the environment employees are also underpaid, but they do not receive extra-money for doing their jobs, as their attributions are not vital for the citizen. The salary dilemma ought to be clarified between employee and employer, without a trip through the pocket of the public service beneficiary.

As long as such a “tax” is legalised, the legal provisions would lead to social exclusion for those categories of population who cannot pay the “protection tax for health”..

We have regretfully noticed the analogy between the tax for the doctors and the tip paid at the restaurant, and we would like to protest against such correspondence, as doctors are not waiters, and hospitals or clinics – restaurants.

Such an approach can bring serious public image prejudice to a social-professional category that is extremely important to the society and who ought to have the benefit of public respect and appreciation instead of the general disapproval. Those who advance such proposals are fore and foremost called to protect the professional and material interests of the physicians in their relationship with the state and the society, and not against them.

In the light of the above considerations, TI Romania requests the Bucharest authorities to firmly reject this initiative to legalise corruption.

Contact person:
Victor Alistar – Executive Director, TI Romania
(victor@transparency.org.ro).