Home > 2.1.2 Executive bodies > KOSOVO - Kosovo - Opinion on the “draft law on amending and supplementing the Law no. 03/l-174 on the Financing of Political Entities (Amended and Supplemented by the Law no. 04/l-058 and the Law no. 04/l-122) and the Law no. 003/l-073 on General Elections
 
 
 
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Paragraph 61
 

The Venice Commission formulates the following main recommendations:


A. Further harmonise the provisions of the LFPE and the LGE relating to financial control, make it clear in both acts that the Office has veritable monitoring functions and define more precisely its competences. It would be advisable to give it the mandate to at least initiate (or even conduct) investigations of possible irregularities in political entities’ finances as well as enhanced powers and obligations for coordination with law enforcement and other relevant bodies [paragraphs 33/45.


B. Take additional measures to strengthen the Office’s independence. This could include vesting the Office with the right to administer its own budget and recruit its own staff, regulating the procedure for the appointment of the director of the Office and the rest of the staff more precisely – ensuring merit-based recruitment based on integrity and professional competence and excluding candidates with close ties to political entities – and introducing more precise guarantees for the Office’s operational capacities, preferably both in terms of financial resources and of a sufficient number of specialised staff able to provide effective follow-up to the audit reports submitted by the external auditors. As an alternative option, the whole audit process could be integrated in the Office, by recruiting financial auditors on a permanent basis [paragraphs 42/44].


C. Regulate more explicitly in the new provisions that publication requirements for political entities are independent of the audit process, in order to ensure that financial reports are published within the legal deadlines, even if they have not yet been audited (and possibly corrected) [paragraph 38];


D.Strengthen the regime of sanctions available for infringements of party and campaign funding rules. This should include increasing the fines provided for by the LFPE – in proportion to the seriousness of the different offences, – widening the arsenal of sanctions and making them applicable also to members of political entities and other individuals acting on behalf of them who are responsible for the violation of the law, and defining sanctions for violations of the new obligations introduced by the draft law [paragraphs 50/52];


E. Regulate more explicitly, both in the relevant LGE and LFPE provisions, that the Office is competent for the imposition of sanctions on political entities in the area of regular and campaign financing, and provide for consistent appeal channels [paragraphs 55/56].