CONTEMPORARY NORMATIVE AND PRACTICAL PROBLEMS OF THE REGULATION OF POLITICAL FINANCEREGIONAL CONFERENCE MONEY IN POLITICSFEBRUARY, 2016, TBILISI

A S S O C . P R O F E S S O R D A N I E L S M I L O VU N I V E R S I T Y O F S O F I AC E N T R E F O R L I B E R A L S T R A T E G I E S , S O F I AS E C R E T A R Y O F T H E P A N E L O F E X P E R T S O N P O L I T I C A L P A R T I E S O F O S C E / O D I H R

Definition of “Political Party”

For the purposes of these Guidelines, a political party is “a free association of persons, one of the aims of which is to participate in the management of public affairs, including through the presentation of candidates to free and democratic elections”.

THE NORMATIVE GOALS OF POLITICAL FINANCE REGULATION

To secure the smooth and efficient functioning of representative democracy. Parties and elections are its most important institutions;

To generate trust in the basic institutions of democracy;

To help the fight against corruption and to ensure the transparent operation of the political regime.

Cтрана   Trust Distrust Do not know

    parties parliament parties parliament parties parliament

EU 2011 14 27 81 66 5 72015 16 31 78 62 6 7

BG 2011 14 25 76 66 10 92015 12 14 80 78 8 8

EE 2011 20 40 75 57 5 32015 15 33 70 51 15 16

RO 2011 8 9 86 83 6 82015 13 18 84 77 3 5

PO 2011 18 25 78 68 6 72015 13 17 79 74 8 9

CZ 2011 9 11 88 87 3 22015 10 13 86 83 4 4

SLO 2011 16 25 81 71 3 42015 13 28 80 65 7 7

HU 2011 15 28 80 66 5 62015 19 31 77 65 4 4

EL 2011 5 12 94 86 1 22015 9 25 90 73 5 2

AU 2011 30 46 64 47 6 72015 26 44 67 49 7 7

DE 2011 15 42 78 51 7 72015 26 53 64 39 10 8

UK 2011 11 24 86 70 3 62015 19 38 76 56 5 6

DO PARTIES HAVE SUFFICIENT RESOURCES?

In the Weimar Constitution parties were not mentioned and they were generally left on their own devices;

Before the end of the 1980s in France parties did not receive a state subsidy and there were prohibitions of private donations;

Bulgaria in the 1990s – no state help, but no enforcement of regulation either;

German parties (despite very generous subsidies) constantly required more along with tax deductible corporate donations – “Cartel Party” (Mair&Katz, 1995);

Today: most of the countries seems to have solved this problem – there are rules, state subsidies, legal opportunities for private funding

IS THERE SUFFICIENT COMPETITION AND PLURALISM?

Party regulation selectively enforced against the opposition;

Starving the opposition of funding;Abuse by the government of administrative resources;Harassment of the opposition by tax authorities,

regulators Republican Party v. Russia, Namat Aliev v. Azerbaijan;

Unequal access to public electronic media;Virtual pro-governmental monopolies of private media.Far-reaching prohibitions of foreign support for NGOs and

the ban of “foreign agents” to be involved in “political” activities;

The region is divided: Central Europe v. post-soviet countries although there are exceptions in both directions.

CORRUPTION AND APPEARANCE OF CORRUPTION

Buckley v Valeo (1976); Elrod v. Burns (1976) – Watergate scandal and political patronage;

Germany in the 1980s after the Flick scandal;

Eastern Europe towards the end of the 1990s, especially in the context of the pre-accession process;

What is corruption, however? Quid pro quo and structural corruption: Austin v. Michigan Chamber of Commerce

CORRUPTION, POPULISM AND THE LEVEL PLAYING FIELD

Citizens United v. FEC (2010) and the triumph of the “libertarian” model of political finance in the US;

Egalitarianism under stress from various developments: populism and globalisation.

British ban of payed ads on the public electronic media.Pressure to eliminate or reduce public funding in many

places – by populist leaders. From Bepe Grillo to Eastern Europe.

The “Trump”and “Bloomberg” phenomena.Corruption in the Aristotelian sense: country ruled not in

the interest of all.

State is governed in the interest of all?

Fully or as a whole agree

Fully or as a whole disagree

Do not know

BG 16 83 2

PO 40 45 4

CZ 70 28 2

SLO 33 63 4

DE 41 58 2

UK 52 45 3

MEDIATISATION AND SOCIAL NETWORKSAre parties different from the media?Are they necessary in an age of social networks?What are political parties paying for and do they

have their own expertise?Novel ways of funding through small donations by

a large number of donors: the Obama phenomenon;

Voting with Dollars? Isn’t it time to think of radically novel ways of the financing of politics?

  Trust Distrust Do not know

    Government TV Governemnt TV Government TV

EU 2011 24 53 70 42 6 52015 31   63   6  

BG2011 38 73 53 24 9 32015 23   67   10  

EE2011 49 72 48 26 3 22015 38   49   13  

RO2011 10 61 84 36 6 32015 27   69   4  

PO2011 28 57 65 37 7 62015 20   71   9  

CZ2011 15 71 83 27 2 22015 28   66   6  

SLO2011 21 69 76 29 3 22015 29   65   6  

HU2011 26 52 68 45 6 32015 34   62   4  

EL2011 8 22 90 77 2 12015 37   59   4  

AU2011 46 72 47 26 7 22015 42   52   6  

DE2011 32 59 62 35 6 62015 50   43   7  

UK2011 21 53 74 43 5 42015 37   58   5