The state enterprise "Moldelectrica", the state enterprise "MoldATSA" and the Joint Stock Company "Energocom" are the most transparent enterprises with public capital in Moldova in 2020. At the opposite pole are "Apa-Canal Soroca", "Confercai" and "Gara Nord". The ranking of transparency of publicly owned enterprises in the Republic of Moldova, available on www.companies.viitorul.org, was presented on May 31, during an online conference organized by the Institute for Development and Social Initiatives (IDIS) "Viitorul ”And INEKO Slovakia.

 "Our institution has always been a promoter of public interest and money, and an important element in this regard is transparency. And because the enterprises with public capital represent a national patrimony, we considered it opportune to analyze their level of transparency and financial sustainability. We want that through this exercise, we want to show the companies in the country, a roadmap through which they can increase their transparency. When a company has all the rigors of transparency, the quality of management increases, and the benefit that the company obtains is much greater, because a good administration is good transparency", said Veaceslav Ioniță, economist at IDIS" Viitorul "and moderator of the conference.

In turn, INEKO Director, Peter Golias said: “This conference presents the rankings of transparency and financial health of the largest publicly owned enterprises in Moldova. These rankings reflect a part of their corporate governance, which also determines the quality of democracy in the country. Unattended SOEs can become a source of huge corruption and inefficiency that destroys ethical standards and democratic values. This goes hand-in-hand with delivering low-quality products to citizens and impeding quality of their lives. Moreover, the inefficiency often results in low dividends and high subsidies which is a burden for the state budget”.

For the calculation of the level of transparency the activity of 60 state-owned enterprises, municipal-owned enterprises and of whole and majority state-owned or municipal-owned enterprises of the Republic of Moldova in 2019 was monitored. State enterprises were assessed on the basis of six transparency criteria: economic indicators, transparency and access to information, public procurement and property, human resources, ethics and conflict of interest, grants and sponshorship. The maximum score for an enterprise is 100 points. Thus, the most transparent enterprises are the most transparent businesses in 2020 are "Moldelectrica" (58.4 points), "MoldATSA" (58.3 points) and "Energocom" (56.5 points).

Compared to last year’s ranking, there are improvements in the 2021 ranking at "Chisinau Printing Office" (+47 positions and 32.6 percentage points), followed by "Directorate for Real Estate Operation" (+23 positions and + 18%) and INGEOCAD Institute of Geodesy, Technical Surveying and Cadastre (+20 positions and + 24%). Overall, the score increased or remained the same in 51 of the 60 companies included in both editions of the ranking.

According to the third monitoring report on transparency of enterprises with public capital, the general average transparency of state enterprises, municipal enterprises and companies with full or majority state or municipal capital in the Republic of Moldova increased from 17.4% in 2018 and 17.9% in 2020 to 26.2% in the 2021 ranking. While state-owned enterprises average 26.7%, municipal enterprises have an average score of 24%. ,4%. In this sense, "Exdrupo" is the municipal enterprise with the highest accumulated score (39.3%) and ranked highest in the ranking (11th place). Publicly owned enterprises are best placed in the categories "Transparency and access to information" (45.5%), "Economic indicators" (25%) and "Public procurement and property" (21.8%).

Thus, 47 out of 67 companies monitored have websites, but not all are used as tools for informing the public. Likewise, only five publicly traded companies out of 60 have published their annual reports for 2020 on the website. "MoldATSA", “Moldelectrica”, “Metalferos”, "Energocom" and "Radiocommunications". Also, only. "MoldATSA", "Moldelectrica", "Chisinau Printing Office" and "Ungheni River Port" published in 2020 the results of economic and financial controls and audits. And the most detailed information about loans and credits was published by "Moldelectrica".

The analysis also shows that 62% of enterprises do not publish annual public procurement plans on the web, 57% do not publish public procurement announcements and no enterprise published public procurement contracts last year. At the same time, 11 enterprises with public capital out of 60 monitored did not carry out public procurement procedures in 2020 according to the provisions of the legislation on public procurement. However, around 1/3 of the monitored companies used electronic platforms for public procurement procedures in 2020.

In terms of human resources, 24 monitored companies publish job offers on their website and no company has published the results of the selection procedures for filling the vacancies in 2020. Similarly, only eight monitored companies have publicly communicated their CVs. the administrator. This is "MoldATSA", "Metalferos", "Directorate for Real Estate Exploitation", ZAL "Expo Business Chisinau",  "Radiocommunications", "Apa-Canal Straseni", "Apa - Canal Cahul", "Apa-Canal Chisinau". Only the State Enterprise "Manejul de Atletică Mșoară" and the State Enterprise "MoldATSA" provided information on the administrator's salary and the allowances of the members of the Board of Directors, it is shown on www.companies.viitorul.org.

Also, 22 enterprises developed and published a Code of Ethics for the enterprise’s employees in 2020. Only "Franzeluța", “Termoelectrica”, “Metalferos” and "Energocom" have developed a Corporate Governance Code. And only ten publicly traded companies monitored and set up on the web about the existence of a mechanism for reporting unethical behavior and corruption.

"The monitoring of publicly owned enterprises in the Republic of Moldova shows that problems and deficiencies in ensuring transparency in the activity of these public entities still persist. This is due to both the imperfect legal framework and the non-compliance by companies with existing rules and the lack of viable tools to hold those who break the law accountable. The findings of the report reiterate the problems and gaps identified in previous years, current and present", considers Viorel Pârvan, author of the report on the transparency of publicly owned enterprises.

The most problematic area of ​​transparency for all businesses is "Grants and charity", with an average of no more than 2%. Therefore, only "MoldATSA", "Chisinau Polygraphic Plant", "Stiinta Publishing House", "Tracom" and “Radiocommunications” has published some partial information on the amounts and beneficiaries of grants, donations and sponsorships for 2020.

In this context, the lawyer Viorel Pîrvan recommends to the authorities, but also to the monitored enterprises a series of measures that would ensure the opening and efficiency of the enterprises with public capital. These include amending the Law on access to information to include publicly owned enterprises as information providers; regulating the obligation of publicly owned enterprises to carry out public procurement procedures through the MTender System; improving the search filters of the portal www.declaratii.ani.md; the publication by the companies of the annual reports, the statute of the enterprise, the public procurement contracts, the patrimony that manages it, etc.

According to the data from the State Register, on January 1, 2021, 187 state-owned enterprises and 80 companies in which the state holds a share in the share capital were registered in Moldova.

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Top of the most transparent state-owned enterprises in the Republic of Moldova can be found on the open data portal www.companies.viitorul.org.

The event is held within the initiative initiative "Supporting democracy, independence and transparency of key public institutions in Moldova". The initiative is implemented by the Institute for Development and Social Initiatives (IDIS) "Viitorul", in partnership with the Institute for Economic and Social Reforms in Slovakia (INEKO) and is financially supported by the Official Development Assistance Program of the Slovak Republic (SlovakAid). The initiative aims to inform the public about the development of democracy and the independence of key state institutions, as well as to improve the transparency and financial stability of local public authorities and state-owned enterprises in the Republic of Moldova.

The Balti, Chisinau and Falesti are the most transparent localities in the Republic of Moldova, and Straseni, Falesti and Criuleni - the most transparent districts in the country in 2020, for which they will be awarded. The ranking of the most open local public authorities, made by the Institute for Development and Social Initiatives (IDIS) "Viitorul" together with INEKO Slovakia was presented today, June 30, in a video conference.

"Our organization continues this year to monitor the transparency of local public authorities in the Republic of Moldova, and each ranking presented brings new challenges, but also good progress. Thus, with all the shortcomings that still exist at the local level, we want these results to be accountable, to encourage local authorities and to become more open to the citizens. We also thank the partners from Slovakia who help us to translate their methodology to the reality in our country ", stated Liubomir Chiriac, the executive director of IDIS "Viitorul".

Those 60 municipalities (40 towns and 20 largest villages/communes) and 32 rayons are evaluated, for the fourth year, and ranked in the following nine criteria of transparency: access to information, participation in decision-making, budgeting, public procurement, management of public property, professional ethics and conflict of interests, human resources, social services, investments and municipal companies in 2019. The maximum of the accrued points was 100. Thus, the most transparent localities are Balti (76 points), Chisinau (58 points) and Falesti (56 points). In turn, the most transparent local public authorities of level II are the district councils of Straseni (78 points), Falesti (61 points) and Criuleni (60 points).

According to the report on the transparency of local public administration authorities in the Republic of Moldova in 2019, the overall average transparency of 32 monitored regions is 37.67% and 24.0% in the case of cities and villages. Thus, compared to the 2018 ranking, the general transparency average increased by 0.39% for local public administrations of level II, but unfortunately, decreased by 4.47% in the case of local public authorities of level I. Among the positive examples we highlight Bălți municipality, which occupies the first position already three years, Chisinau municipality, which climbed with nine positions in the ranking compared to 2018 and Fălești city, with three positions compared to the previous ranking. Significant improvements are also found in the village of Peresecina (+28 positions and 22 percentage points), the village of Varnița (+27 positions and 24%) and the city of Anenii Noi (+27 positions and 19%). At the level of districts, the Straseni District Council occupies the first position three years in a row and the Criuleni (+14 positions and 23 percentage points), Floresti (+13 positions and 34%) and Dondușeni (+ 12 positions and 33%) districts climbed in the ranking ), is shown in the report.

"The results of this year's monitoring highlight major transparency issues for district and local public authorities, as deficiencies were found in all monitored transparency indicators. This is due to non-compliance by local public authorities with existing rules, based on some objective reasons, but also the lack of viable tools for control and accountability of those who violate the law", believes Viorel Pârvan, author of the transparency report.

According to the ranking, in 2019, seven district public authorities (22%) and 35 local public authorities (58%) did not inform the public of the draft decisions and related materials. Examples in accessing the draft decisions of the Local Council are the cities of Soroca, Ceadir - Lunga and Straseni, which have on the website several search engines for documents developed, examined and adopted, including a search engine for draft decisions. The ranking also shows that 13 district authorities (41%) and 35 local authorities (58%) did not organize public consultations in 2019. In this regard, only nine districts (Basarabeasca, Cahul, Cimișlia, Criuleni, Falesti, Leova, Soldanesti , Ștefan Vodă and Straseni) and three cities (Chisinau, Balti and Codru) posted on the web the Transparency Report for 2019. Regarding public procurement, most authorities (45 localities and 15 districts) do not publish the announcements for participation in public procurement. Only the Falesti District Council and the City Hall of Balti published on the web all the award notices for 2019. At the same time, although it is important that the authorities publish public procurement contracts on their websites so that civil society can monitor them, this is not made. Respectively, only on the web page of Bălți municipality we find the public procurement contracts.

Regarding budgetary transparency, 34 local authorities of level I and 25 districts published on the web the budget for 2020. The study also highlights the fact that no locality has published a Code of Ethics for local elected officials, and at only the district councils of Cahul and Riscani have such codes on the web pages. Similarly, 18 districts (56%) did not publish on the web and made public the district's anti-corruption and integrity plans, and at the local level 93% of cities and villages did not develop and publish documents to ensure integrity. In this sense, only the Balti Town Hall published on the website the Local Strategic Plan for Anti-Corruption and Integrity Actions of Balti, the Report on the implementation of the local anti-corruption plan of Balti in 2019, the list of gifts and their beneficiaries for 2018- 2019, the composition of the Commission of evidence and evaluation of gifts. The town halls of Cimișlia and Ialoveni have published the Local Strategic Plan for Anti-Corruption Actions, and the village of Varnița has announced the Regulation on integrity warnings and the composition of the Commission for the registration of gifts.

The ranking of the most transparent local public authorities also shows that 49 town halls and 24 district councils did not make public through the website the results of vacant public positions in 2019 and only the Straseni District Council and the Balti Town Hall did so.

Other chapters analyzed are "public services" and "investments, municipal enterprises and participation in companies". Therefore, 52% of the districts and 41% of the municipalities do not publish any information on the existing social services in the territory. Also, only 11 town halls and seven district councils publish on the web the information on programs and projects, whose beneficiaries or executors they are. At the same time, only the Straseni District Council and the City Hall of Falesti publish all annual financial analyzes of municipal enterprises and majority-owned companies.

Top of the most transparent municipalities in the Republic of Moldova can be found on the open data portal: http://localtransparency.viitorul.org/.

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The initiative "Supporting democracy, independence and transparency of key public institutions in Moldova" is implemented by the Institute for Development and Social Initiatives (IDIS) "Viitorul", in partnership with the Institute for Economic and Social Reforms in Slovakia (INEKO) and is financially supported by the Official Development Assistance Program of the Slovak Republic (SlovakAid). The initiative aims to inform the public about the development of democracy and the independence of key state institutions, as well as to improve the transparency and financial stability of local public authorities and state-owned enterprises in the Republic of Moldova.

For details, contact Ana – Maria Veverita: ana.veverita@viitorul.org or at phone number (0 22) 221844

Editorial-Polygraphic Enterprise "Stiinta", the state-owned enterprise "Radio-communications" and Easy Athletics Management are the most transparent enterprises with public capital in Moldova. At the opposite pole are the "Confercai", the Central Printing House and the State Station for testing cars. Transparency ranking of publicly owned enterprises in the Republic of Moldova,  available on www.companies.viitorul.org, was presented on May 28, during a video conference organized by the Institute for Development and Social Initiatives (IDIS) "Viitorul" and INEKO Slovakia.

"Although the largest and most important enterprises in the Republic of Moldova have been evaluated, their average transparency does not exceed 18%. It is a rather bad indicator for enterprises with public capital, and 18% is insufficient for the stability of democracy in our country. We very much hope that these companies will improve their management and become more efficient in the current context of the economic crisis ", stated IDIS “Viitorul” Director, Liubomir Chiriac.

In turn, INEKO Director, Peter Golias said: “It is a good sign that the average level of transparency has improved slightly and almost half of the companies have relatively stable financial health. However, we can see a great potential for improvement in both areas, especially in terms of transparency ranking, where the average score lags behind companies in Slovakia or Ukraine. Of course, the ranking is only in its second edition, but it is a good start to increase the calls for a more transparent management of publicly owned enterprises in the Republic of Moldova”.

For the calculation of the level of transparency the activity of 67 state-owned enterprises, municipal-owned enterprises and of whole and majority state-owned or municipal-owned enterprises of the Republic of Moldova in 2019 was monitored. State enterprises were assessed on the basis of six transparency criteria: economic indicators, transparency and access to information, public procurement and property, human resources, ethics and conflict of interest, grants and sponshorship. The maximum score for an enterprise is 100 points. Thus, the most transparent enterprises are SoE Editorial-Polygraphic Enterprise "Stiinta" (44 points), the state-owned enterprise "Radio-communications"  (43 points) and SoE “Easy Athletics Management” (40 points). Compared to last year’s ranking, there are improvements in the 2020 ranking at S.A. "Energocom" (+43 positions), followed by SoE “ Știința” (+28 positions) and JSC "Moldetelecom" (+34 positions), and overall, the score increased in 25 out of 46 companies included in both editions of the ranking.

According to the second monitoring report on transparency of enterprises with public capital, the general average transparency of state enterprises, municipal enterprises and companies with full or majority state or municipal capital in the Republic of Moldova is 17.9%. While state-owned enterprises average 16.9%, municipal enterprises average 21.5%. In this sense, "Exdrupo" is the municipal enterprise with the highest accumulated score (30.1%) and ranked highest in the ranking (10th place). Publicly-owned enterprises are best placed in the "Transparency and access to information", "Public procurement" and "Economic indicators" categories.

Thus, 44 companies out of 67 monitored have web pages, but not all of them are functional. Likewise, only Î SoE Editorial-Polygraphic Enterprise "Stiinta" JSC "Franzeluța" published on the website the annual reports for 2019. Unfortunately, of the three annual reports published on the web, only those of the companies "Radio-communications"  and S.A. "Franzeluța" has a format that allows the public to search and copy a text from the report. The analysis also shows that 88% of companies do not publish annual public procurement plans on the web, 73% do not publish public procurement announcements, 75% did not communicate information about procurement results and no company published procurement contracts last year public.

In terms of human resources, one in three monitored companies publishes job offers on their website and no company published the results of vacancy competitions on the web in 2019. Only seven monitored companies publicly communicated the administrator's CV ("MoldATSA", "Center of Applied Metrology and Certification", FEZ "Expo Business Chisinau", "Radio-communications", "Apa-Canal Straseni", "Apa –Canal Chisinau ”and JSC“ Metalferos”), but no company publishes the CVs of the members of the Board of Directors. Only SoE "Easy Athletics Management", "Science Publishing House" and SoE "Radiocommunications" provided information, but incomplete, on the salary of the manager and the allowances of the members of the Board of Directors.

Also, only 11 companies developed and published a Code of Ethics for the company’s employees in 2019. Only JSC "Franzeluța", “Energocom” and JSC "Metalferos" have developed a Code (standards) of corporate governance. Only seven publicly traded companies monitored and set up on the web about the existence of a mechanism for reporting unethical behavior and corruption (telephone line, e-mail).

"Enterprises remain in arrears on all indicators of transparency, both legal and those that represent good standards of transparency and corporate governance. The results highlight major transparency issues for publicly owned enterprises, with shortcomings in all monitored transparency indicators. This is due both to the imperfect legal framework, which does not regulate a number of important issues in the activity of enterprises, the lack of viable tools to hold accountable those who violate the law and non-compliance by companies with existing rules", believes Viorel Pîrvan, author of the monitoring report on transparency of public capital enterprises.

The most problematic area of ​​transparency for all businesses is "Grants and charity", with an average of no more than 1%. Therefore, no company has published on the web information on donations and sponsorships from the previous year, it is shown on www.companies.viitorul.org.

In this context, the lawyer Viorel Pîrvan recommends to the authorities, but also to the monitored enterprises a series of measures that would ensure the opening and efficiency of the enterprises with public capital. These include the Amendment to the Law on access to information to include publicly owned enterprises as information providers; regulating the obligation of publicly owned enterprises to carry out public procurement procedures through the MTender System; publication by companies of annual reports, information and economic and financial results, etc.

Also, during the event, economist Mihail Manoli highlighted the most transparent companies taking into account their financial sustainability. According to him, companies with public capital lack transparency and efficient management, complemented by the influence of the political factor. The results of the analysis for the years 2015-2018 demonstrate a lack of evolution in terms of financial health of enterprises. The analysis of the indicators of financial sustainability of enterprises with public capital for the period 2015-2018 also shows that only two enterprises in the top five by size of assets, sales and profit are at the top of the ranking, namely JSC "Metalferos" and SoE "National Center for Radio Frequencies". "The state is not the best asset manager. Thus, there is no serious reasoning for maintaining assets with high economic potential owned by the state. The best solution is the privatization of these enterprises, the adjustment of the legislation to the international standards and the promotion in the normative acts of the corporate governance principles”, says Mihai Manoli.

And Transparency International's expert from Slovakia, Michal Pisko, shared his experience on ranking the transparency of state and municipal companies in his country. Thus, the over 100 evaluated companies obtained only 47% of the entire ranking, a low level, according to the expert. According to him, the heating company Tepláreň Košice obtained 89% and is the only one with an A + rating in the Slovak ranking. On the company's website we find the annual action plans, managers' CVs, information about their salaries and all the details about the decision-making process.

According to the State Register, on 1 January 2019, 1 552 state and municipal enterprises and 4,416 joint stock companies were active in Moldova.

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Top of the most transparent state-owned enterprises in the Republic of Moldova can be found on the open data portal www.companies.viitorul.org.

The event is held within the initiative initiative "Supporting democracy, independence and transparency of key public institutions in Moldova" The initiative is implemented by the Institute for Development and Social Initiatives (IDIS) "Viitorul", in partnership with the Institute for Economic and Social Reforms in Slovakia (INEKO) and is financially supported by the Official Development Assistance Program of the Slovak Republic (SlovakAid). The initiative aims to inform the public about the development of democracy and the independence of key state institutions, as well as to improve the transparency and financial stability of local public authorities and state-owned enterprises in the Republic of Moldova.

For details, contact Ana – Maria Veverita: ana.veverita@viitorul.org or at phone number (0 22) 221844

11 successful policies were selected and evaluated recently by the members of an Evaluation Board at the special invitation of IDIS "Viitorul". Public policies were measured on the basis of methodologically approved criteria, taking into account their degree of acceptability and relevance, elements that ensure local sustainability and appreciation.

Measured policy decisions identified throughout the Republic of Moldova, correspond to the international criteria of positive practices: they are innovative, rare, notable and significant for local economic and social development, with the potential to be replicated in other localities. The 8 independent experts of the Evaluation Board had the task of examining an impressive number of privatization decisions, strategy papers, policy concepts, proposed or adopted, measures for the recovery and optimization of some services, infrastructure constructions made within the limits the competencies recognized by the legislation for local authorities. The scores were calculated on the basis of the average value obtained from the quality of the measure (policy) multiplied by the average value of the measure (policy) importance for the local socio-economic development.

The first six places included the public policies of the following localities: Chişcăreni commune (Sîngerei rayon) - with a final score of 236.7, Vinogradovca (Taraclia district) - 209.3, Selemet village from Cimişlia rayon - 184, Ţâpala commune from Ialoveni rayon - 168.3, Văleni village from Cahul district - 160.7 and Costeşti village (Ialoveni rayon) - 146.6.

Solar panels were installed in Chişcăreni at the kindergarten in the locality. Specialists have highlighted the economy of providing kindergarten with electricity and hot water. Experts noted the installation of solar collectors in 20 households and the children's kindergarten in the village of Ciumai, Vinogradovca. At Costeşti, a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) was established between Costeşti Village Hall and the House for sorting and packing of fruits and vegetables. But the experts noted that the Village Hall was involved in the public private partnership, but it was not clear what the Village Hall had obtained in return for participation.

The analysis was developed within the initiative „Promoting transparency and financial sustainability of regional policies, state – owned enterprises and local authorities in Moldova", implemented by IDIS "Viitorul",  in partnership with the Institute for Economic and Social Reforms in Slovakia (INEKO). The initiative is financially supported by the SlovakAid. It aims to improve the efficiency of the state administration, self-government and civil society in the area of creation and control of regional policies, administration of state-owned enterprises, and monitoring of budgets and information openness of municipalities.

For more details, contact the PR Officer, Victor URSU at : ursu.victoor@gmail.com or 069017396.