A Recepient of the “Golden Key” Award
Started Searching Information on EU funds spending

The NGO sector is again faster than the government in defending the public interest

Stela Kovacheva

The NGOs Center in Razgrad filed a request under the Access to Public Information Act (APIA) on how the municipality plans to spend 3.5 million BGN granted by the EU for renovation of the arts gallery in the city.

While the authorities are embarrassed under the strict monitoring from Brussels, the nongovernmental sector has turned faster than the state in its attempt to defend the public interest.  

At a moment, when the government officials are claiming all the time that they are doing their best for the economic and efficient spending of EU operational programs money, and the EU officials are accusing them of the opposite, a civil organization from the city of Razgrad decided to test the readiness of the local government to work in a transparent way.

The NGO Center in Razgrad which has 70 access to information requests filed behind is back, is now using the power of the Access to Public Information Act (APIA) to cast light on the actions of the government officials related to the spending of EU money. 

In November 2008, the organization – recipient of the 2007 “Golden Key” Award, sent to the mayor of Razgrad Dencho Boyadzhiev a request for the file of documents related to the renovation of the Arts Gallery “Iliya Petrov,” the money for the project will be granted under the Operational Program “Regional Development.”

Pursuant to Art. 24 of the APIA, I request to receive information about the Project for reconstruction of the Gallery, the contracts granting funding with all its annexes, including plans, drawing, budget and tables.
We consider the documents of great importance to the local community, relating to the management of municipal property and finances.
An additional argument backing our request is the fact that the municipality holds a Certificate ISO 9000 of a municipality following global standards for transparency.

What will the reaction of the municipality be at one of the numerous requests sent to it for the past eight years? It is still not clear.

The experience shows that the local authority uses the same trick at every request of the stubborn NGO: We want to tell you, but the information affects the interests of a third party, who wants to keep the things secret.

Now, the clock mechanism of the officials arrogance will not work. First, the loophole in the law, which allowed for the protection not of the public interest but of those who undisturbed were spending public money, is closed. With the latest APIA amendment, the interest of the third party cannot prevail over the public one. 

That is why the municipality cannot use the dissent of the companies – executing the public tender for 3.5 million BGN, as a ground for refusing access to information. It is not possible to hide behind the donor’s dissent either, as it is precisely the EU which insists for more transparency in the process of EU money spending.

If the answer comes precise and in time, this will be a good sign for a new attitude and modern government. If the mayor’s administration reacts in the familiar way trying to conceal inconvenient truths, it would mean that regardless of the European certificates, the things are going on unchanged.

This will definitely give ground to the NGO Center in Razgrad to start the next court case under the APIA. And this will be the way till the day of the victory.

November 2008

This case is part of the book "Civil Participation and Access to Information (15 Years of the APIA, 37 stories of NGOs)" published by AIP within the implementation of the project “Enhancing the Capacity of Nongovernmental Organizations to Seek Public Information” supported with a grant under the NGO Programme in Bulgaria under the Financial Mechanism of the European Economic Area 2009 – 2014 (www.ngogrants.bg).

The whole responsibility for the content shall be taken by the Access to Information Programme Foundaiton and it cannot be assumed under any circumstances that the document reflects the official stance of the  Financial Mechanism of the European Economic Area and the Operator of the Programme for NGO support in Bulgaria.