On June 21, 2022, Boiko Stankushev, Lora Georgieva, and Sofia Zheleva from the ACF team met with citizens and local government representatives in Silistra. The meetings took place within the project “Transparency and Accountability of Local Government.”
In the Municipality of Silistra, the ACF team met with Dr. Miroslav Velikov Todorov, Deputy Mayor for Finance and Economy, the Director for General Administration, and the Head of the European Projects and Programs Department of the Municipality. Specific recommendations were presented for the introduction of good practices by the municipality to increase its transparency and accountability to citizens.
The discussion, held later that day, was attended by civil society organizations, active local citizens, and representatives of the Municipal Council of Silistra.
Representatives of ACF and citizens of Silistra discussed the mechanisms and the specific tools for direct participation in the local self-government. They agreed that the end goal has to be opening more opportunities for every citizen to make suggestions and hold the representatives of the local administration accountable.
The citizens presented and discussed examples of the administration’s activities, illustrating their doubts about possible non-transparent spending of funds, on the one hand, and not sufficiently taking the public’s opinion into account, on the other.