CorrWatch has pushed public enterprises towards greater transparency and accountability. However, public procurement continues to be sensitive to corruption. This was stated at the third annual conference on the topic “Increasing Public Oversight and Institutional Accountability in Kosovo,” organized by CorrWatch, an initiative of a consortium composed of the Group for Legal and Political Studies (GLPS), the GAP Institute, and the Institute for Development Policy (INDEP), as reported by KosovaPress.
The Executive Director of the Group for Legal and Political Studies, Arbëresha Loxha-Stublla, said that CorrWatch’s approach has shown high effectiveness in addressing legal violations and canceling processes.
As a challenge, she identified the prevention of monitoring some public processes. The British Ambassador to Kosovo, Jonathan Hargreaves, emphasized that only by fighting corruption can Kosovo move closer to the European Union. According to him, civil society has helped Kosovo strengthen transparency.
The CorrWatch report, presented by GLPS researcher Ema Pula, stated that in recruitment processes, a major concern was the high number of acting officials in senior public positions.
According to her, this situation has started to improve, and in 2024, a total of 74 job vacancies were opened, whereas in 2023, there were only 20.
The report indicates that, like in previous years, public procurement remains sensitive to corruption. Data from this report show that all institutions had poor and overly ambitious planning. Regarding the issuance of licenses, permits, and fees, CorrWatch was denied active participation in monitoring the process of issuing licenses by the Independent Commission for Mines and Minerals and the Ministry of Environment and Spatial Planning.
The conference “Increasing Public Oversight and Institutional Accountability in Kosovo” was held within the project “Support for Civil Society to Enhance Public Oversight and Accountability of Public Institutions in Kosovo,” a project financed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the British Embassy in Kosovo.
