Political parties and candidates need funding to properly carry out their ordinary functions or to campaign in elections. However, donations made by individuals and businesses to political parties and candidates may carry corruption risks.
Political financing scandals are not uncommon in the Western Balkans and Turkey. Over the past decade, media reports have reported cases such as €4.9 million in illicit donations accepted by a former ruling party in North Macedonia; allegations of foreign funding in Albania, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and fake donations aimed at hiding funding sources in Serbia, to name just a few examples.
Weak controls on political financing lead to the entry of dirty money into politics and initiate a vicious cycle of corruption and dependence. The overhaul of these controls is therefore essential to fight corruption and strengthen democracy.
This study analyzes political financing regimes in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, KosovoMontenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia
And Türkiye. It identifies regulatory and enforcement gaps and offers recommendations on:
1) Reinforcement legal foundationsincluding definitions of who can give, how much they can give and in what form.
2) Improve transparency
in terms of what is reported and published, and in what format.
3) Promote responsibility
through independent and well-resourced oversight institutions, and credible sanctions for those who break the law or abuse the system.