“Corruption is like tobacco smoke, everyone knows that it is state-owned, but it can hardly be eradicated” – say the organizers of the training on corruption in the public sector

The anti-corruption training within the project of the EPEKA organization, which brought together twenty participants from numerous European countries in Pirot, is unique in the Balkans, and the project itself was awarded by the European Commission. EPEKA Serbia, in cooperation with EPEKA Montenegro and other partners, decided to organize a training on corruption in the public sector in Pirot, as well as a conference on the same topic in which eminent experts from the country and abroad participated.

The participants are representatives of numerous organizations from different countries of the Balkans and Europe, within the Erasmus + project, and the lecturers at the workshops are experts from Italy, Brussels, Iceland and the countries of the region.

Zoran Dabetić, executive director of EPEKA Montenegro, says that this is a unique project in the Balkans that was awarded by the European Commission and is a continuation of the “Digitalization against corruption” project. “The training that is held in Pirot is the fight against corruption in the public sector and it refers to the general analysis and assumptions of how and how to fight corruption in the public sector through the perspective of digitalization. The topic of the workshops is the challenges that all the countries in the region are facing,” says Dabetić.

The organizers and participants of the training say that this is an inexhaustible topic because there is corruption in all areas and it is present everywhere. “This is not the case only with countries that are not part of the EU, there is corruption in all countries in Europe. The greatest presence of corruption is in the public sector, which includes healthcare and education and all other public institutions, but there is also corruption in the private sector, in all parts of society” – points out the executive director of EPEKA Montenegro.

Štefan Simončić from the Slovenian EPEKA, which is a partner in the “Digitalization against corruption” project, notes that there are digital tools to prevent corruption, which is difficult to eradicate even in developed European countries. “Corruption is like smoking in Serbia, we all know it is harmful but it continues. We are trying to influence the prevention of this phenomenon through digitization. We have tools that can be used to monitor all transfers of funds from the public sector, everything that can be seen on the Internet” – pointed out the representative of the Slovenian EPEKA.

In front of the local self-government, the participants of the training, who have been staying in Pirot for the fifth day, were addressed by the president of the city assembly, Dragana Tončić, who pointed out that the suppression of corruption can be influenced if all members of the community are involved in this process, and the local self-government in Pirot advocates for respect for the principle of zero tolerance for corruption.