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The President of the Republic decided not to enact the Parliamentary decree altering the Law that governs the funding of political parties and electoral campaigns.

Regarding this decision, the Presidency of the Republic publishes the following communiqué:

1 – The legislation approved by Parliament intended to very significantly change the rules currently governing the funding of political parties and electoral campaigns, substantially increasing the limits of private funding without reducing the amounts resulting from public funding.

2 – This change occurs without a provision for controlling devices which would ensure the required transparency of the sources of private funding, within the framework of a system that, as it should be stressed, adopts a model conducive to public funding, with special costs already resulting for the State Budget and for the taxpayer.

3 – There are several basic objections raised by the provisions of the legislation, as is the case of the substantial increase in the non identifiable financial funding of the political parties and in the receipts resulting from fund gathering initiatives, from the possibility of the political parties deriving profits from electoral campaigns or from the increase in the second round of the elctions for the President of the Republic. It should be equally noted that the changes which are now intended to be introduced do not seem opportune, considering the proximity of several electoral acts and the Country’s current economic and financial situation.

4 – Considering the above, the President of the Republic returned today, without enactment, Parliamentary Decree No. 285/X, altering Law No. 19/2003, dated 20 June, which governs the rules applicable to the funding of political parties and electoral campaigns.