Multi-Party System is not Trade
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The existing legal framework in Croatia allows the local self-government units to dispose of their own budgets independently, so that financing of the work of certain political parties from the municipal budgets is not illegal.
However, Transparency International Croatia believes that the budget funds, whether it is state or indeed local budget that is concerned, shouldn’t be allocated without application of very precise criteria. The ad hoc agreements that secure budget financing for a political party in return for its support may not break any law, but whether they remain ethical remains a big question. It could lead to a situation in which the political parties could simply purchase the votes in the representative bodies and promise in return budget funding for the political parties that supported any given policy. The major consequence of such a behaviour would be the reduction of multi-partyism into pure trade, instead of the competition of ideas and programmes that it should be. Political parties are not, and should not become middle-men in the trade with the votes of their constituencies. TI Croatia hopes that the appropriate legislation will be adopted as soon as possible, with the goal to curb and outlaw such agreements. Unless the opportunity for trading in votes is legally sanctioned, we may find ourselves in a situation in which an international corporation gathers enough support in the Sabor (Croatian Parliament) to adopt a law that would obligate the citizens of Croatia to purchase exclusively the products of that company. |
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