Sponsored by the Group of States against Corruption and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe

9 November 2017 - 11.00-13.00 - Room 6 - Interpretation: FR/EN/RU

You can't understand the world today if you don't understand corruption.  While its cost and impact, are manifold, corruption can certainly be linked to current low levels of trust in the political institutions of many countries, feeding into d populist trends.  In this lab, we therefore ask how to strengthen the integrity of, and trust in, parliamentarians and other elected officials. The lab offers an opportunity for participants to discuss with representatives from international organisations (the Council of Europe’s Group of States against Corruption (GRECO), its Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) and the OSCE’s Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) about these questions. 


 Lab 2 final report

initiative 1

Integrity of elected politicians, OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights – ODIHR, Poland

The initiative aims at promoting the adoption of codes of conduct by national parliaments, to set high ethical standards for members of parliament in due consideration of their duties towards the state and the society. The codes also contribute to building public trust in parliaments and help MPs to perform their duties in an honest and dignified manner. Observing ethical norms by MPs is one of the main components of good governance and it improves accountability towards the society. ODIHR has been supporting more than 12 national parliaments in recent years across the OSCE region in their process of adoption of codes of conduct, following the methodology outlined in the ODIHR Background Study: Professional and Ethical Standards for Parliamentarians.

Presenter(s)

LEONE Jacopo

Jacopo LEONE

Democratic Governance Officer, OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR)

Italy/United Kingdom

Jacopo has been working as a political analyst for over six years in the field of democracy assistance and governance, with a focus on parliamentary strengthening, political party assistance, anti-corruption, public integrity, and civil society development. Currently working as a Democratic Governance Officer at the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), he monitors political developments and provides assistance to OSCE participating States on democratic governance issues, with a particular focus in strengthening integrity in parliaments and political party systems, promoting inclusive political institutions and youth and women’s political participation. Before joining ODIHR, he worked for the OSCE Mission in Kosovo, NATO, the European Union Institute for Security Studies (EUISS) and the European Parliament, among others. Jacopo holds an MSc in International and European Politics from the University of Edinburgh.

initiative 2

Group of States against Corruption - GRECO of the Council of the Council of Europe

Preventing corruption in the legislative and executive branches of powers, and increasing the transparency and supervision of political financing are among GRECO’s top priorities. Many significant reforms are being conducted in the member States (on declaratory obligations, financial transparency, rules of conduct, management of conflicts of interest, gifts and other benefits, lobbying and other third party contacts, effective supervision etc). The process can be lengthy and cumbersome but the reforms are essential in the current context. The combination of efforts of international organisations and of domestic institutions and civil society is instrumental.

Presenter(s)

SPECKBACHER Christophe

Christophe SPECKBACHER

Administrator Officer at the Secretariat of the Group of States against Corruption - GRECO

France

Christophe Speckbacher joined the Council of Europe in the mid-1990s after teaching activities at the university. He has been an Administrator Officer with the Secretariat of the Group of States against Corruption - GRECO, at the Council of Europe almost since the foundation of this monitoring mechanism in 1999. Mr. Speckbacher has also been involved in a number of other Council of Europe activities (monitoring, technical assistance, standard-setting and research) dealing with crime issues. GRECO’s current focus is the prevention of corruption in relation to members of parliament, top executive functions and members of the judiciary. 

Discussants

Discussants are invited to take part in the Labs in order to share their experience with the presented democratic initiatives and try to bring broader perspectives to the following discussions.

BILGEHAN Gülsün

Gülsün BILGEHAN

Member of Parliament and Member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe

Turkey

Gülsün Bilgehan was born in Ankara.She graduated from the Paris Institute of Political Sciences. Mrs.Bilgehan is an author as well as an academician.She has been elected for four consecutive legislative terms to the Grand National Assembly of Turkey from Ankara constituency.Mrs.Bilgehan is a member and honorary associate of the PACE.She is the former chairwoman of the Committee on Equality of PACE and current chairwoman of the Media and Information Society subcommittee. She has vast interferences on women’s rights especially focusing on “Violence Against Women”.She was awarded with the “Pro Merito” medal by PACE and was honored with the“Legion d’Honneur”of France.

HEINRICH Finn

Dr Finn HEINRICH

Director of Programmes, Democracy Reporting International

Germany

Finn Heinrich has close to 20 years of international programmatic and research experience on governance, democracy and civil society issues during which he served as Programme Director for CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation and more recently as Research Director for Transparency International.  Mr Heinrich joined Democracy Reporting International in June 2017 as Director of Programmes. He holds a doctoral degree in Political Science and has published widely in research journals on civil society and corruption issues. Finn is also drawn upon frequently by global media outlets (e.g. BBC, The Guardian, NPR, FAZ, Die Welt) to provide expert inputs on corruption trends around the world.

moderator
NICOLETTI Michele

Michele NICOLETTI

Member of Parliament and Member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe

Italy

Michele Nicoletti is currently the Head of the Socialist Group and the President of the Italian Delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, where he has been General Rapporteur of the High-level Conference of the Social Charter (Turin, October 2014). Since 2013, he is a MP in the Italian Chamber of Deputies, where he is member of the Foreign Affairs Committee. He was born in Trento and studied philosophy at the University of Bologna (Dr. Phil. 1980). He has been a research fellow of the Istituto Trentino di Cultura, in Trento, Innsbruck and Munich. From 1991 to 2000, he worked as a researcher and then as a professor at the University of Padua and in 2001 he became Full Professor for Political Philosophy at the University of Trento. His research interests span from ethics to political theory. He has been visiting fellow at several international universities (i.a. Freiburg i.B.. KU Leuven, Notre Dame, IN, USA) and scientific coordinator of national and international research projects.

rapporteur
BURTSCHER Juliette

Juliette BURTSCHER

Open Diplomacy

France

Juliette Burtscher est étudiante en dernière année du Master "Politiques Européennes" de l’Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Strasbourg. Sensibilisée dès son plus jeune âge aux enjeux transfrontaliers, européens et internationaux, elle s’est engagée à de multiples reprises dans des projets humanitaires, à vocation éducative et relatif aux droits de l’homme (Pérou, USA, Liban). Juliette sera rapporteur de ce Laboratoire pour le compte de l’Institut Open Diplomacy.

KOEDJIKOV Ivan

Ivan KOEDJIKOV

Head of Action against Crime Department, Council of Europe

Bulgaria

Born in Bulgaria, Ivan Koedjikov graduated cum laude in international law in MGIMO (Moscow) and had a diplomatic career, negotiating several landmark disarmament agreements including the Treaty on Conventional Forces in Europe and serving in the Embassies in Paris and to the UN in New York.  He joined the CoE Secretariat in 1994 as political adviser for enlargement, then Head of Division, Deputy Director of the Private Office of the Secretary General and Head of Department.At present, Ivan Koedjikov leads the Action against Crime Department, with responsibilities in standard-setting, monitoring and co-operation in criminal law, prison and police reform, countering terrorism and combating corruption and money-laundering.

LAB 2 - "Corruption and populism: can the international community help?"
Palais de l'Europe, Room 9 9 November 2017 - 11.00-13.00
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