Skopje, 15 June 2023 (MIA) – The fight against corruption consists of several battles in several fields, which must take place continuously. Unfortunately, this process is long, radical changes overnight aren’t possible. But, in the past years we’ve had great progress in transparency and we have a more efficient access to information of public character, which narrows the space for corrupt actions, said Deputy Prime Minister in charge of good governance policies, at the “Rooting out Corruption through Good Governance Policies and Justice Reform” session at the Prespa Forum Dialogue on Thursday in Struga.

The Deputy PM stressed the fight against corruption must be fought continuously and with complete dedication, if we want to see a real step forward and changes. 

According to Grkovska, we can’t speak about preventing corruption without first working on transparency, accountability, the cohesive approach of making decisions. All these, she said, are complementary principles aimed at a single goal – building a healthy society and a stable system that will serve the citizens.

“I am happy that the policymakers, the civil sector and the media increasingly relate the process of preventing corruption with an adequate implementation of good governance principles. Regarding transparency, as one of the most effective tools for preventing corruption, in the past years we’ve made great progress which has been noted by both domestic and international organizations, especially if compared to the period we call ‘captured state’,” said Grkovska.

According to the Deputy PM, it is impossible to discuss the prevention of corruption, without working on boosting the integrity of everyone, starting from the judiciary, the politicians, administration, education and healthcare. 

At the session, Zoran Miljanić, Minister without portfolio from Montenegro, said that corruption in the field of medical protection, education, urbanism, is something Montenegro is facing after the change in Government

“It wasn’t easy to begin fighting corruption. We started an open fight against corruption, which produced tangible results. We have to prove that corruption and crime aren’t worth it. The only way to do this is by initiating cases, but also by concluding the cases against the holders of high posts,” said Miljanić.

The Minister of Justice of Albania, Ulsi Manja, stressed that a large part of the services offered by the national institutions in Albania can now be accessed online, and, he said, a lot of reforms are being worked on in the Albanian Parliament, as a result of which he said he thinks Albania is on the right path in the fight against corruption.

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