Although the European Union remains the region with the least corrupt public sector, the fight against corruption seems to be stagnating in most Member States, according to the Corruption Perception Index (CPI) for 2018 presented on Tuesday 29 January by Transparency International.
Assessing 180 countries and territories according to their perceived levels of corruption solely in public institutions, this index, published annually since 1995, is based on thirteen surveys and expert assessments. Countries are ranked on a scale ranging from 1, for an extremely corrupt country, to 100, corresponding to a country with very little corruption.
The main lesson from this report for the European Union is that although Europe remains the region with the highest score with an average of 65 points, most Member States are not making any progress in the grading, a trend that indicates stagnation in the fight against corruption in the EU.
In addition, there are significant disparities between Member States. The countries of the North and West of the EU generally score much higher than those of the South and East. Thus, while Denmark dominates the grading with 88 points, eight EU countries have scores close to or below 50. These are Malta (51st in the grading), Italy (53rd), Slovakia (57th), Croatia (60th), Romania (61st), Hungary (64th), Greece (67th) and Bulgaria (77th).
The report also reveals that corruption has increased significantly in two Member States in particular, Hungary and Malta, where scores have decreased from 55 to 46 points between 2012 and 2018, and from 60 to 57 points between 2014 and 2018 respectively.
Poland (36th) and Romania, the other two Member States in addition to Hungary that are on the EU’s radar for non-compliance with the rule of law (see EUROPE 12172, 12158), have not seen any significant developments.
For Carl Dolan, director of Transparency International EU, the main factor to explain this situation is time. The controversial measures taken by the Polish and Romanian governments are more recent than the similar reforms carried out by Budapest. Therefore, unlike the situation in Hungary, their effects in terms of increased corruption are not yet visible.
Finally, based on a cross-analysis with data on democracy, Transparency International demonstrates that there is a link between public sector corruption and respect for democracy. Countries considered fully democratic score an average of 75 points on the CPI, 'flawed democracies' 49 points, 'hybrid regimes' - which have autocratic aspects - 35 points and autocratic regimes only 30 points.
Reacting to the report’s publication, MEP Eva Joly (Greens/EFA, France) stressed the need to protect whistle-blowers, whom she said were "essential to transparency and the general interest". She hoped that the draft directive on the subject would be adopted before the end of the European Parliament's legislative term (see EUROPE 12180). (Original version in French by Damien Genicot - intern)