22/01/2015
On 20th January, the President of the Republic of Colombia, Juan Manuel Santos, signed the decree that partially regulates Law 1712 of 2014, better known as the Transparency Act.
This decree is one of the outcomes in which the Government of Colombia has benefited from the support of the European Union through the technical assistance actions initiated by the EUROsociAL II programme and furthered by the Anti-Corruption and Transparency project of the European Union for Colombia (ACTUE Colombia), both implemented by the International and Ibero-American Foundation for Administration and Public Policies (FIIAPP).
This action included the participation of senior representatives of the National Commission on Moralization and the Citizen Commission for Combating Corruption, with which President Santos also held parallel meetings for the purpose of reviewing the progress made in this area during the past year based on the Comprehensive Anti-Corruption Public Policy (PPIA) of December 2013.
The National Commission on Moralization is the highest inter-agency coordination body of the Colombian State in the fight against corruption, and it brings together the country’s highest authorities, including the President. The Citizen Commission for Combating Corruption monitors the policies, programmes and actions formulated and implemented by the State and the National Government for prevention, control and punishment of corruption.
During the meeting of the National Commission on Moralization, advances made in the fight against corruption, supported by ACTUE Colombia, such as the following were highlighted: strengthening of the Transparency and Anti-Corruption Observatory and of the system for internal control; and in coordination with the EUROsociAL II programme, implementation of the Transparency and Access to Public Information Act, the strategies for improving transparency in the mining-energy and health sectors, and the training given to prosecutors on the fight against transnational bribery. All of them represent significant advances in the promotion of transparency and integrity in the country. The EUROsociAL II and ACTUE Colombia programmes are financed by the European Commission and managed by the FIIAPP.
