Integrity in Political Finance in Greece

Annex B. Implementation challenges and tools to address them

The role of the political finance regulator is a difficult one given the political ramifications that can result from its decisions. Even if many of the accusations made against oversight bodies are not entirely preventable, many can be refuted or minimised by proactive action. In addition to external accusations, there are challenges that arise from the nature of the work itself – its cyclical nature, staffing needs and limited funding. The following chart highlights some of the most common challenges and tools used to address them.

 

Challenge	Tools to address challenge
Accusations of political partiality	• Written policies that establish how the oversight body will approach issues • Clear procedures to guide staff in performing their work • Proper documentation for case decisions • Quality assurance reviews to ensure that the procedures have been followed • Proactive communication strategy
Delay in performing statutory functions	• All procedures should have established deadlines for each stage of the process • Monitoring of adherence to deadlines • Anticipate and plan for peaks in workload (e.g. around filing deadlines) • Risk assessment analysis
Accusations that oversight body is useless in the absence of significant enforcement action	• Definition of success (e.g. increased compliance) • Maintain statistics of activity undertaken (e.g. helpline calls answered, training sessions provided, number of reports reviewed, etc.) • Good communication strategy • Stakeholder outreach
Poor rate of compliance by regulated community	• Address common errors in targeted guidance • Proactive outreach and training • Warnings for first-time offenders of minor breaches with the threat of sanction if breach recurs. Carry through on the threat.
Gap or problems with the law	• Undertake periodic review of how law is working • Outreach to officials (governmental/legislative) about problem and proposed solutions
Allegation that complaints filed with oversight body get lost in a “black hole”	• Complaint-processing procedure should address what communication will occur with complainants and at what stage of the process • Establish time targets for completing action on complaints • Develop a policy on what information will be released about complaint and follow it
Accusation of holding back or rushing an enforcement matter because of an election	• Written policy about case handling during sensitive periods
Lack of funding for oversight body to do its job	• Risk analysis and prioritisation of work
Recruitment issues	• Ensure political neutrality of staff • Enhance skill sets through internal training and development • Staff peak periods through temporary recruitment (university work experience) and/or reallocation of staff