Brussels, 06/06/2012 (Agence Europe) - Close relations between the world of politics and the economic world foster corruption and harm economic stability in Europe, said the NGO Transparency International on Wednesday 6 June, when presenting its annual report on the scale of corruption in Europe. The NGO has examined tendencies and measures to fight the phenomenon in 25 countries and observes, amongst other things, that the countries of southern Europe, such as Greece, Portugal, Spain and Italy, which are the ones under greatest threat from the crisis today, continue to show serious deficits as regards “integrity”, particularly in their civil service sector. These countries also suffer from almost structural corruption and dubious practices, which are not sanctioned sufficiently. In its report, the NGO goes on to reveal that most of the new member states of the EU have made progress in their fight against the phenomenon. It notes, however, that Bulgaria and Romania, whose entry into the Schengen zone may be decided on this September, are the worst of the newcomers and still have gaps in their anti-corruption arsenal.
The report by Transparency International generally highlights “a lack of transparency in decision-making and the funding of political parties”, the latter problem being one that concerns several countries. The NGO therefore notes that the countries of northern Europe, such as Sweden, Germany, Finland and the United Kingdom, have effective legal instruments to counter the plague and dedicated agencies to combat it. The NGO notes, however, that even the countries at the top of the class are not fully immune to the risks of corruption, with Sweden (and Switzerland) having no binding rules on the funding of political parties, whilst the systems for the funding of political parties in Denmark, Germany and the United Kingdom “are far from exemplary”.
The report goes on to stress that 19 of the 25 countries examined “have still not regulated lobbying activities and just 10 of them have total bans on undeclared political contributions”. “In Europe, many institutions which characterise democracy and allow a country to fight corruption are weaker than we think. This report raises worrying questions at a time when Europe needs a political culture of transparency to get out of economic crisis”, stresses Cobus de Swardt, Managing Director of Transparency International.
In its report, the NGO goes on to reveal that the political parties, businesses and public services are the worst-performing institutions when it comes to combating backhanders and misconduct, whilst the Court of auditors, ombudsmans and bodies tasked with holding elections are top of the class. Too many governments also fail to “account sufficiently for their actions in terms of public finances and public procurement contracts, representing €1.8 trillion in the EU every year”, the NGO continues.
Amongst the other corruption risks identified, the report states, 12 countries have set no upper limit on individual political contributions and 17 countries have no code of conduct for members of parliament. Last year, when the European anti-corruption strategy was launched in the 27 member states, to feed into an initial Commission report on the subject in 2013, the competent European commissioner, Cécilia Malmström, stated on her blog that the phenomenon continued to be a problem for all member states and that if all 27 were seen as a single country, the EU would be in 30th place in the world, just above Botswana and Puerto Rico. Corruption in the EU is estimated to cost €120 billion a year, or 1% of total EU GDP. (SP/transl.fl)