LFMI proposes solutions for health care reform

On 19 February 2003 in Vilnius, the Lithuanian Free Market Institute will hold a seminar “Measures for Reforming Health Care System: Financing or Solutions?” The aim of the seminar is to increase public awareness about the need to reform the financing of health care system and spring forward a new approach and ready solutions. At the event, LFMI will present a conceptual framework for the health care system reform in Lithuania that would allow quality medical treatment and transparent financing. The seminar will also address the problems of compensation for pharmaceuticals, private health insurance, and the principles of distribution of mandatory health insurance fund.

The seminar is organised within the framework of LFMI’s project “Creating Financially Viable Health Care System in Lithuania” which aims at promoting an effective health care system in Lithuania, in line with the free market principles. The developed package of policy proposals on health care reform will be finalised after the seminar and disseminated widely among decision making institutions, the medical community, media, and the general public.

LFMI’s course on freedom continues

In February 2003, LFMI will start delivering a semester-long university course Capitalism and Freedom for a third year, which is aimed to instil in students self-conscious liberal thinking through the study and internalization of sound social and economic ideas. By giving this course, LFMI seeks to develop a tradition of teaching freedom as a subject that requires profound public understanding. It is tailored for second-year students of law, economics, political science, sociology, philosophy, journalism, and others. This year the course will be delivered at Vilnius University and the International School of Management.

LFMI’s course on freedom was launched in 2001, when LFMI became a winner of the Sir John Templeton Foundation's International Freedom Project, directed by the Atlas Economic Research Foundation. This project aimed to encourage and support studies on freedom in the universities of many countries. An international jury of judges selected fourteen applications, among which was LFMI’s application for the course. Other winners were universities from Italy, Spain, Australia, Philippines, Montenegro, Serbia, Russia, Turkey, France, Nigeria, and Guatemala.

For a detailed description of the course, please visit our home page at http://www.freema.org/Projects/Course.phtml.

A survey on the ethics of civil servants and politicians

In November 2002, LFMI and the international organisation Transparency International conducted a survey which was aimed at eliciting the attitudes of people in Lithuania to the ethics of civil servants and politicians.

The survey showed that nearly half of Lithuanian people have negative opinion about the ethics of civil servants and politicians. Forty-one percent of the respondents evaluated their ethics as unsatisfactory; 9.5 percent reported that state officers did not follow the norms of ethics at all. Forty-five percent of those polled voiced a satisfactory opinion about the ethics of state officials.

According to the survey, people are most disappointed with the level of ethics in the parliament; officers in ministries were evaluated as the most ethical. People in Lithuania believe that civil servants and politicians break the ethics because they want to attain personal gain, lack responsibility, feel total impunity, and have opportunities to abuse the official power. The majority of the respondents, 43 percent, think that state officials lobby for group interests and 32 percent believe they protect personal interests.

The main source of information about unethical behaviour of officials is mass media. Slightly less than a half of the survey participants learned about unethical behaviour from personal experience and one-third, from relatives and friends. A total majority of people in Lithuania support the idea that stricter rules of conduct should be imposed on civil servants even outside their service.

Asked if they had heard about the codes of ethics of civil servants and politicians being drafted, 70 percent of the respondents reported negative answers. Sixty-four percent believe that the said codes will be adopted albeit not at one fell swoop.

LFMI presented the results of this survey to Parliament Chairman Arturas Paulauskas and the parliamentary commission of anti-corruption as well as at a press conference.

LFMI submits recommendations on the EU future

In the autumn of 2002, LFMI completed and disseminated a study Debate on the Future of Europe: a View from Lithuania which presents the principles of, and recommendations for, reforming the EU and its institutions, dividing competencies among the EU and member-states, and drawing the citizens into decision-making process of the EU. The study developed by LFMI is the first comprehensive collection of analysis-based recommendations that was prepared in Lithuania with a view to joining the debate on the future of EU.

The study provides a short presentation of the on-going debate about the future of Europe and its major issues. It also presents a description of EU institutions, their functions, the fundamental principles and methods of the EU, and the explanation of major terms. Most of the study was devoted to formulating specific recommendations for the development of EU activities in order to ensure better conditions to implement the goals of the EU and to establish democratic and effective methods of activities of the EU after the enlargement.

The main conclusion of this study is that the EU currently operates under the rules which allow for a good balance between legitimacy and effectiveness. The main challenge for the EU and, in particular, its member states is to observe in its daily activities the main principles which are set forth in its Treaty and to take the current rules of decision making seriously.

The study was prepared in English and Lithuanian and submitted to institutions of Lithuania and the EU as well as the organisers of the Convention on EU Future. The study was developed within the framework of LFMI’s project on the future of Europe, supported by European Commission Delegation in Lithuania PHARE Small Grants Programme and the Swedish Embassy.