Control Energy Program – fostering transparency in energy affairs
In our project based on several years of analysing work, we examine Hungary’s energy policy through its most characteristic manifestations (institutions, legal background, financial budget, decision-making mechanisms, data publicity etc.), treating the topic as a whole, putting it into context, which is a groundbreaking approach. The leading principles of the project are transparency and publicity as well as constructive criticism and solution-oriented attitude.
Type:
Open Society Institute Budapest, CEE Trust for Civil Society
Description:
In our project based on several years of analysing work, we examine Hungary’s energy policy through its most characteristic manifestations (institutions, legal background, financial budget, decision-making mechanisms, data publicity etc.), treating the topic as a whole, putting it into context, which is a groundbreaking approach. The leading principles of the project are transparency and publicity as well as constructive criticism and solution-oriented attitude. The project is continued owing to its success, and it evolved into a program in 2010.
The operation of the energy sector influences everybody’s life. Therefore it is especially important for the public to have detailed information on the processes therein and thus be able to control the sector. The Energiaklub has been dealing with issues in the Hungarian energy sector for 20 years, during which it repeatedly saw how not transparent the operation and decision-making of the energy sector is, how opaque the legislation is, how dysfunctional the system is. In each case, the Energiaklub informed the decision-makers and the public about these phenomena. The significant matters that gained publicity recently played an important role in establishing wider public attention and increasing awareness of the importance of dealing with this topic. In 2009, the Energiaklub decided to continue this work in a more structured, more systematically than before, actively involving other organisations, research institutes, external experts. The Control Energy Program, as its name shows, has a controlling function, critically analysing processes, with the help of which we can study and assess the complex system of this industry.
Our activities include the analysis of the situation and putting it into a study, the assessment of the corruption potential of each area of energy management, requesting access to data and in the event that these requests are rejected enabling the publication of investigative articles, and participation in the work group battling for greater publicity of information.
For further information please visit our website at www.energiakontrollprojekt.hu.
