The Council of Europe on Monday published a report denouncing Austria’s “globally unsatisfactory” progress in the fight against parliamentary and judicial corruption.
According to the experts of the Council of Europe’s Group of States against Corruption (GRECO), only two of the 19 recommendations they had made on this subject in 2017 have been implemented.
They note the “persistent lack of progress” in the area of parliamentary corruption and encourage the Austrian Parliament “to seriously deal” with the implementation of recommendations concerning, inter alia, the transparency of the legislative process and the establishment of a code of conduct (including consideration of the different forms of conflict of interest).
Recommendations such as the selection of judges and prosecutors as well as the improvement of their evaluation systems have still not been finalised, also deplores GRECO, which nevertheless welcomes recent provisions prohibiting judges and prosecutors from holding political office in the executive or legislative bodies.
Shaken by several corruption scandals in recent years (Ibiza Gate in 2019, suspicions of funding of the conservative party by the gambling giant Novomatic in early 2020), Austria will have to submit, by 30 September at the latest, a new report on the implementation of GRECO’s recommendations. (Original version in French by Véronique Leblanc)