The Parliamentary Centre in Eastern Europe

The ongoing transformation period in Eastern Europe has brought a new role for legislatures. From voiceless institutions with a role limited to rubber-stamping government decisions parliaments have come to play a major role in political life as one of the main branches of power. Inevitably this has challenged legislatures in the region with the need to build and strengthen their working capacity to meet the requirements of their new role. While during the last decade some of the parliaments in Eastern Europe have achieved significant progress in reforms, much remains to be achieved.

Our goal is to assist in strengthening the effectiveness of East European legislatures. Tools include assessment missions, capacity development and confidence building programs, research and publications as well as exposure to the experience of the Canadian Parliament. In order to be successful in our work we strive to combine ability to adapt our programs to the region’s political and cultural context, extensive expertise in the functioning of parliaments both in Eastern Europe and Canada as well as strong program management skills.

Our work is focused on the following main areas that we see as crucial for the successful functioning of parliaments and where we believe we have the necessary capacity to contribute to reforms:

Products and Services

Parliamentary Monitoring of Government Expenditures

Effective parliamentary monitoring of government expenditures (parliamentary oversight) is important because it ensures that parliament monitors how the executive branch spends public funds. To paraphrase the UN Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS), the purpose of governmental oversight is to ensure responsible administration of resources, a culture of accountability and transparency, and improved programme performance ... more.

Financial Resource Management in Parliament

Appropriate financial resource management is the key to ensuring that parliamentarians and the parliamentary administration put to best use the funds available. In addition, stronger and well-organized internal financial control within legislatures helps to ensure that legislatures not only advocate good governance and accountability, but also practice it… more.

Human Resource Management in Parliament

The availability of a well-organized parliamentary staff possessing the capacity to provide effective non-partisan, professional, and administrative services to parliamentarians is a prerequisite for the successful functioning of parliaments. Staff are the “institutional memory” of legislatures providing invaluable support, without which parliamentarians’ capacity to perform their duties would be severely limited… more.

Successful Review of the Accountability Strengthening Program

In Spring 2007, the Accountability Strengthening Program (ASP) underwent an extensive independent review and evaluation. The report released in June 2007 concludes that the ASP was highly successful in contributing to the development and adoption of new approaches and policies for reforming oversight of expenditures at the national and the regional levels in the Russian Federation. It was also concluded that the project assisted Russian counterparts to develop options for making parliaments at the national and regional level independent with respect to their budgeting and personnel administration processes.

The report also indicates that the project was well conceived, designed and executed, and was highly relevant to both Russian and Canadian priorities. It is also indicated that the ASP has been highly successful and highly appreciated by the Russian partners in terms of the partnership approach of the Canadians and that strong local ownership of reforms addressed was in place.

Parliamentary Centre meeting with a Delegation from the Parliament of Georgia. February 19, 2007

On February 16, 2007, Robert Miller, President and CEO of the Parliamentary Centre met in Ottawa with a parliamentary delegation from Georgia, headed by Her Excellency, Mrs. Nino Burdjanadze, Speaker of the Georgian Parliament. The delegation was in Canada on an official visit invited by the Speaker of the Canadian House of Commons.

Following up on previous contacts of the Centre with the Georgian Parliament, the delegation provided an update on the status of parliamentary reforms in Georgia. Speaker Burdjanadze shared her positive outlook on Canadian-Georgian relations, emphasizing that Canada could play a role in supporting democratic development in Georgia and the surrounding region. Her Excellency expressed particular interest in cooperating with the Parliamentary Centre to strengthen the capacity of the Georgian Parliament.

Princeton Study: Strengthening Legislatures for Conflict Management in Fragile States

The Parliamentary Centre’s work in Bosnia and Herzegovina is cited in a Princeton study on strengthening legislatures in post-conflict environments. For more information, please contact Sonja Vojnovic at vojnos@parl.gc.ca.

The Parliamentary Centre receives funding from UNDEF for new programming in Serbia

The Parliamentary Centre, in cooperation with ProConcept, a local NGO in Serbia, received a grant award by UNDEF to implement a new Project in Serbia: Parliament in Transition – Strengthening Accountabilityin Serbia. The Project, expected to begin in early 2007, will work with the National Assembly (NA) of Serbia to strengthen its capacity to oversee government spending and policy implementation and develop related internal policies and procedures for oversight. More…

Archive

PC continues work on introducing performance auditing in the regions of the Russian Federation under the Accountability Strengthening Program (ASP)

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