The Office for the Promotion of Parliamentary Democracy was created within the European Parliament in response to an increase in demand for support from new and emerging parliamentary democracies.
“For many years, too much emphasis has been focused on the executive and civil society, and far less attention has been spent on helping parliaments to develop a proper technical and political capacity to act as what they are supposed to be: The voice of the people,” said Dick Toornstra, Director of the OPPD.
Speaking at a recent training workshop, which took place in the European Parliament in Brussels, Mr Toornstra said that European parliament offered an interesting role model of how divergent political styles could be brought together.
The event was set up to familiarise Commission staff with parliamentary development, so that they may become better equipped when implementing parliamentary support programmes. Participants also learned about different ways in which parliaments can be engaged in furtherance of development aid and national development strategies.
Mr Toornstra welcomed the Commissions increased involvement in parliamentary support.
“Donors should realise that unless you have institutions that are functioning well, civil society will not have a great impact either,” he said. “So instead of providing support to civil society they should do both: Continue to provide support to civil society but ultimately the voice of civil society should be best heard through elected representatives working effectively in a parliamentary institution.”
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