Think Tank Rates Parties' Approach to Civil Society 'Confusing'

The Praxis Center for Policy Studies, which has been analyzing and commenting on party platforms for several months now, released an analysis on parties’ relationship to civil society yesterday, calling the approach ‘confusing’.

“The party platforms leave unclear which organization should be responsible for the development of civil society, and how the parties plan to better coordinate state functions and the cooperation of different state institutions,” reads the analysis.

In addition, party platforms are criticized for a lack of clarity and specificity – how will the state coordinate the delegation of certain public services to non-profit organizations? How will financing be improved and current funding made more efficient?

Overall, right-wing parties – the Reform Party and the Pro Patria and Res Publica Union (IRL), who also make up the current governing coalition, have promised to increase cooperation between the public sector and civil society, in line with their vision of reducing the role of the state in society. However, they fail to give specifics in how this is to be done. The Centre Party (centre-left) and the Social Democratic Party as well as IRL have promised to increase funding for non-profits, again, with few specifics.

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