site.btaNational Council for Anti-Corruption Policies to Hold First Meeting Next Week

National Council for Anti-Corruption Policies to Hold First Meeting Next Week

Sofia, July 3 (BTA) - The National Council for Anti-Corruption
Policies will hold its first meeting next week, it transpired
Friday at a discussion on the goals, challenges an good
practices in preventing and fighting against corruption. The
forum, which was organized by Deputy Prime Minister for European
Policy and Institutional Affairs Meglena Kuneva, presented
Croatia's and Poland's experience.

Addressing the forum, Kuneva expressed the hope that the
National Council for Anti-Corruption Policies will give an
impetus to the reforms aimed against corruption. The tasks in
this direction to be carried out in the following months include
the adoption by Parliament of a High-Level Corruption
Prevention Bill and the appointment of a director of the
National Corruption Prevention Office (NCPO), she said.

Another important task is the appointment of NCPO employees,
Kuneva went on to say. The officials working in the current
bodies will remain in office if they pass successfully the
integrity check. The NCPO will look for young and competent
people whose integrity will be checked periodically to ensure
their independence and competence, she added.

The Deputy PM also said that the High-Level Corruption
Prevention Bill will affect all high public officials. "We will
submit declarations, describe our property and that of spouses
and partners with whom we have been living for years, declare
more than what we have declared until now, and we will be
checked," Kuneva specified. In her words, this is personal space
intrusion but the Bulgarian society has an urgent need of
honesty. She expressed the hope that the MPs will understand
this well and will not "soften" the bill.