The institution claims to notice “an emerging unpleasant situation where complaints about possible violations committed by politicians may be ignored in municipalities”.
According to the Code of Conduct for State Politicians, the behavior of municipal mayors, vice mayors and council members is assessed by an ethics commission established in each municipality. According to VTEK, members of ethics commissions operating in municipalities do not meet for meetings within the set deadline, so complaints remain uninvestigated, and the behavior of politicians is not evaluated.
The commission, without specifying specific cases, states that it happens that the municipal commission that has received a complaint delays its decision on the initiation of an investigation, because the members of the commission simply do not come to the meeting, and in the end a formal decision is made not to initiate the investigation, because the deadline stipulated in the Code has passed – 10 days from the receipt of the complaint.
VTEK claims to have appealed to municipal ethics commissions and Government representatives, emphasizing the importance of complying with the provisions of the code and properly performing the duties of a member of the ethics commission.
“We cannot claim that the municipal ethics commissions are deliberately delaying the time so that the behavior of the accused politician does not have to be assessed. However, we notice that sometimes such a situation arises – due to missed deadlines, the behavior remains undervalued, so the Code of Conduct for State Politicians, which is supposed to increase trust in politicians, does not work in practice”, says Gediminas Sakalauskas, chairman of VTEK.
According to him, VTEK is ready to provide methodological assistance to municipal commissions in order to avoid such cases in the future.
G.Sakalauskas emphasizes that the more active activity of the municipal ethics commissions would also be useful for honest politicians, because the commission that completed the investigation on time and made a decision would dispel the doubts that have arisen in the society in cases where the complaints are unfounded.
VTEK also points out that it is important to take a decision on the findings in time after the investigation. This must be done within five working days from the end of the investigation. Otherwise, the politician’s behavior will also remain unappreciated.
#VTEK #missing #deadlines #complaints #behavior #municipal #politicians #remains #underestimated
2024-09-01 17:53:15
