Thousands of email inboxes all over the land came under an avalanche of press releases, memos and resolutions starting on the morning of April 1 with which the public sector and private companies saw fit to celebrate the international day of humor. More than a few journalists have been hospitalized following exhaustion from reading so many funny emails.
Decades ago, April Fool s Day usually meant newspapers running a couple of whacky stories. One paper invited people to a grand exhibition of donkeys to be held in the central square. It took some time for those who showed up to realize that they were indeed the asses being made fun of.
International Civil Society Letter to President Zelensky re. Draft Law #3450
OPEN LETTER SENT BY EMAIL AND POST TO:
Mr. Zelensky, President of Ukraine
16th February 2021
Dear President Zelensky,
We, the undersigned organisations join our voices to this letter from the Board of Trustees of the Whistleblowing International Network (WIN) to urge your leadership to defend the integrity of the law that protects those who risk their careers to fight corruption and block proposed draft Bill which undermines effective protection for public interest whistleblowing in Ukraine.
In December 2019, Ukraine enacted landmark anti-corruption legislation which included whistleblowing protection provisions which were unsurpassed in their compliance with international best practices principles.
ERR News republishes the full coalition agreement between the Reform and Center parties upon which the new government is formed. It will last from 2021 until 2023, when new national elections are called.
The aim of the coalition is to continue to resolve the COVID-19 crisis, to keep Estonia forward-looking, and to improve the country in all areas and regions.
This translation was provided to ERR News by the Center Party but it can also be read on the government s website:
OVERVIEW
The Estonian Reform Party and the Estonian Centre Party form a government that will continue to efficiently solve the COVID-19 crisis, maintain the progressive nature of Estonia, and develop the state in all fields and regions.
The Reform-Center coalition wants to make policy-making more transparent and plans to draft legislation to do so, negotiators said after Thursday s discussions. This includes looking into the funding sources of policy-making NGOs, establishing guidelines over conflicts of interest and making ministers advisers declare their interests.
On Thursday corruption prevention was discussed between the Reform and Center parties negotiators.
Speaking at a press conference in the evening, Chairman of the Reform Party Kaja Kallas said: We are developing guidelines for ministers to avoid conflicts of interest, we will come up with a bill that also stipulates that ministers advisers must declare their interests so that the picture is public and clear.
Anti-corruption civil society Transparency International Estonia (Koruptsioonivaba Eesti) has called for boosting the powers of the body tasked with monitoring party finances. The Center Party had previously tried to abolish the watchdog.
Transparency International Estonia sent their proposal to representatives of the Reform and Center parties, currently holding coalition negotiations, and said that the Supervisory Committee on Party Financing (ERJK) should have wider responsibilities. The organization had already lobbied the Riigikogu on the same matter last summer.
Steven-Hristo Evestus, board member at Transparency International Estonia, said: As the current situation is motivated by the suspicions of crime presented by the Office of the Prosecutor General and the Internal Security Service (ISS) on January 12, we consider it extremely important that Estonian society needs clear steps that condemn all forms of corruption and increase transparency in policy-making and governance.